Killer Joe
Directed by William Friedkin
Written by Tracy Letts
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Gina Gershon, Thomas Haden Church, Marc Macaulay
LD Entertainment
Rated NC-17 | 102 minutes
Release Date: July 27, 2012

Directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection), Killer Joe stars Matthew McConaughey as a charming, soft-spoken, Dallas Police Detective who moonlights as a contract killer.

Friedkin’s film, which is rated NC-17 for “graphic disturbing content involving violence, sexuality, and a scene of brutality,” will no doubt shock some people with its twisted, unrestrained look at dysfunctional, desperate rednecks in the American South. It’s certainly offensive, but gloriously so.

22-year-old Chris (Emile Hirsch) finds himself in debt to drug lord Digger Soames (Marc Macaulay) after his own mother steals the cocaine he was given to sell. Chris, who is as Texas white trash as they come, comes up with the harebrained scheme to hire a hitman to kill his mother, whose $50,000 life insurance policy could easily cover his debts. The problem is, Chris’s little sister Dottie (Juno Temple) is the beneficiary, and she’s a few egg noodles short of a tuna casserole, if you know what I’m saying.