History Film / KillerJoe

* AffablyEvil:
** Digger, a loan shark seen only in the middle of the film, who acts toward Chris as a [[CoolOldGuy cool uncle]] would toward his nephew before casually ordering his men to beat Chris for unpaid debts.
** Joe himself kind of qualifies, but it becomes clear toward the end that he's more FauxAffablyEvil.

%% * BreakTheHaughty: Chris and [[spoiler:Sharla]] are on the receiving end of this trope.

%% * DiesWideOpen: How [[spoiler:Chris]] meets his end.
%% * DirtyCop: Works as a hitman in his spare time? Yep.
%% * EroticEating: A literal, forced and [[FanDisservice disturbing]] example.

%% * KilledOffScreen: [[spoiler:Rex]], judging by Joe's comments.

* SoundtrackDissonance: Clarence Carter's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-W-a7ZLpFs Strokin']] gets used in two odd instances: Once when Chris gets beaten by Digger's goons and another time right at the end credits after the film's NoEnding.

* BreakTheHaughty: Chris and [[spoiler:Sharla]] are on the receiving end of this trope.

* DiesWideOpen: How [[spoiler:Chris]] meets his end.
* DirtyCop: Works as a hitman in his spare time? Yep.
* EroticEating: A literal, forced and [[FanDisservice disturbing]] example.

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Dottie, as explained in ALighterShadeOfBlack.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:[[TheUnreveal Possibly Joe.]]]]
* KilledOffScreen: [[spoiler:Rex]], judging by Joe's comments.

* MoralityPet: Dottie for Chris.

* ReluctantFanserviceGirl: Dottie, though Joe at least turns around as she takes her underwear off.

* BlackComedy: Multiple murders, and a scene where Ansel's poorly-sewn sleeve falls off his suit at the lawyer's.

* ViolenceIsDisturbing

''Killer Joe'' is a 2011 SouthernGothic BlackComedy directed by Creator/WilliamFriedkin, based on the play of the same name by Tracy Letts. One of the rare movies to be released to theaters with an NC-17 rating. [[note]] For those who don't know, the NC-17 rating has long been associated with borderline pornography and arthouse flicks that contain a lot of explicit sex and nudity. The last movie that tried to show that NC-17 was a commercially viable rating was ''Film/{{Showgirls}}''. It failed. Only about 90 or so films carry the rating to this day, as opposed to the thousands upon thousands of R rated films[[/note]]

''Killer Joe'' is a 2011 SouthernGothic BlackComedy directed by Creator/WilliamFriedkin, based on the play of the same name by Tracy Letts. One of the rare movies to be released to theaters with an NC-17 rating. (For those who don't know, the NC-17 rating has long been associated with borderline pornography and arthouse flicks that contain a lot of explicit sex and nudity. The last movie that tried to show that NC-17 was a commercially viable rating was ''Film/{{Showgirls}}''. It failed.)

!!Tropes:

2011 SouthernGothic BlackComedy directed by Creator/WilliamFriedkin, based on the play of the same name by Tracy Letts. One of the rare movies to be released to theaters with an NC-17 rating. (For those who don't know, the NC-17 rating has long been associated with borderline pornography and arthouse flicks that contain a lot of explicit sex and nudity. The last movie that tried to show that NC-17 was a commercially viable rating was ''Film/{{Showgirls}}''. It failed.)

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler:Sharla is having an affair with Rex, Adele's boyfriend. In fact, she is actually scheming with Rex to trick Chris and Ansel into having Adele killed.]]

2011 SouthernGothic BlackComedy directed by William Friedkin, based on the play of the same name by Tracy Letts. One of the rare movies to be released to theaters with an NC-17 rating. (For those who don't know, the NC-17 rating has long been associated with borderline pornography and arthouse flicks that contain a lot of explicit sex and nudity. The last movie that tried to show that NC-17 was a commercially viable rating was ''Film/{{Showgirls}}''. It failed.)

Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) is a young drug dealer in Dallas County who owes money to a loan shark. He can't pay it back himself as he doesn't have the cash, and his father isn't going to bail him out again. He hatches a scheme upon hearing from his stepfather that his mother has a $50,000 life insurance policy on her with his sister listed as the beneficiary. He convinces his father to plan to have her killed, and collect the policy to be split amongst them and his current wife Sharla (Creator/GinaGershon), which will give him the money he needs. But rather than do it himself and risk messing it up he decides to go ahead and hire Joe Cooper (Creator/MatthewMcConaughey, in what was widely seen as a CareerResurrection role), a Dallas PD detective who works as a contract killer on the side.

* BlackAndBlackMorality: Our heroes are two idiotic trailer-trash crooks who want to murder their mother/ex-wife to pay off a debt to gangsters. The villain is a monstrous psychopath who enjoys psychologically manipulating a troubled, unstable young woman. The initial victims are a pair of adulterers, one of whom arranges for the other to be killed and the other stole her son's drugs and put him in the mess to begin with. There is no good here, only varying levels of bad. Dottie, the only character who is within hailing distance of "nice", is completely okey-doke with the murder of her mother.

* FamilyValuesVillain: Joe displays a bit of this. He insists that the Smiths speak politely to him rather than swear, be hospitable while he lives with them as part of their arrangement and even wrangles them into a twisted caricature of a traditional family dinner around the table towards the end of the movie. He also seems ''ecstatic'' to learn that [[spoiler: Dottie is going to have his baby]].

* AffablyEvil: Digger, a loan shark seen only in the middle of the film, who acts toward Chris as a [[CoolOldGuy cool uncle]] would toward his nephew before casually ordering his men to beat Chris for unpaid debts.

* FromBadToWorse: First, there's a insurance-related murder plot with a hitman who soon gets a crush on the contractor's sister. Then [[spoiler:the protagonists discover they won't get the insurance money]] and it all goes to hell.
* TheGhost: Rex and Adele are absent from almost the entire film. [[spoiler: We get to see Adele's corpse latter while Rex is arrested - and presumably KilledOffScreen - by Joe]].

* HumiliationConga: Chris' entire role seems to be this. It culminates in [[spoiler: his father and step mother enthusiastically helping Joe beat the shit out of him, followed by his sister shooting him in the chest.]]

* MsFanservice: Subverted with Dottie; she's frequently naked and in various states of undress, but the context is more disturbing than sexy.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Chris receives an absolutely devastating one from Digger's men and also vicious but shorter one from Joe in the finale.

* ProfessionalKiller: Joe probably makes more money doing that than he does as a policeman.

* YourCheatingHeart: Sharla is having an affair with Rex, Adele's boyfriend. In fact, she is actually scheming with Rex to trick Chris and Ansel into having Adele killed.

* AntiHero: Chris starts out as a Type V, assuming he could be even considered a hero at all. By the end of the film he's moved up to a Type IV or even Type III.

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Depending on if Dottie really didn't go through with shooting Joe. Dottie also points out that he's the father of her baby.]]

** UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: In addition to being the above trope, the protagonists also count as this in a ''very'' dark way.

The problem is, Joe requires his $25,000 fee up front, and the family can't afford to pay him. He's about to call the deal off...until he sees the daughter Dottie (Juno Temple), and makes an exception on the ground that she serve as a "retainer" to take in case they aren't able to pay him. The family ends up agreeing to the deal and even tricks Dottie into having a one night affair with Joe to seal the deal. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong Well it turns out, a lot.

2011 SouthernGothic BlackComedy directed by William Friedkin, based on the play of the same name by Tracy Letts. One of the rare movies to be released to theaters with an NC-17 rating. (For those who don't know, the NC-17 rating has long been associated with pornography and arthouse flicks that contain a lot of explicit sex and nudity. The last movie that tried to show that NC-17 was a commercially viable rating was ''Film/{{Showgirls}}''. It failed.)

2011 SouthernGothic BlackComedy directed by Creator/WilliamFriedkin, based on the play of the same name by Creator/TracyLetts. One of the rare movies to be released to theaters with an NC-17 rating. (For those who don't know, the NC-17 rating has long been associated with pornography and arthouse flicks that contain a lot of explicit sex and nudity. The last movie that tried to show that the NC-17 rating was a commercially viable rating was ''Film/{{Showgirls}}''. It failed.)

* BlackAndGreyMorality: Our heroes are two idiotic trailer-trash crooks who want to murder their mother/ex-wife to pay off a debt to gangsters. The villain is a monstrous psychopath who enjoys psychologically manipulating a troubled, unstable young woman. The initial victims are a pair of adulterers, one of whom arranges for the other to be killed and the other stole her son's drugs and put him in the mess to begin with. There is no good here, only varying levels of bad. Dottie, the only character who is within hailing distance of "nice", is completely okey-doke with the murder of her mother.

2011 SouthernGothic BlackComedy directed by Creator/WilliamFriedkin. One of the rare movies to be released to theaters with an NC-17 rating. (For those who don't know, the NC-17 rating has long been associated with pornography and arthouse flicks that contain a lot of explicit sex and nudity. The last movie that tried to show that the NC-17 rating was a commercially viable rating was ''Film/{{Showgirls}}''. It failed.)