History Film / KillerJoe

* DawsonCasting: Juno Temple was twenty-two when playing preteen Dottie. Justified as there is absolutely ''no way in Hell'' that an actual child actor would be allowed to film some of the scenes she did.
** WordOfGod is that Dottie is actually twenty-one and said she was twelve as that was the time of her first sexual encounter (from one of her teachers) She does act like a preteen though.

* PlayingAgainstType: {{Matthew McConaughey}} is known primarily for playing charming slackers in lighter, more mainstream comedy films (particularly the romantic comedies). Here he plays a sociopathic killer.

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

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 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.

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 ''{{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 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 (MatthewMcConaughey, in what was widely seen as a CareerResurrection role), a Dallas PD detective who works as a contract killer on the side.

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. What could possibly go wrong? Well it turns out, a lot.

!! This Movie Contains Examples of:

* CatapultNightmare: Chris wakes up this way after having a dream of Dottie in the nude.

* TheGhost: Rex and Adele are absent from almost the entire film.

* DiesWideOpen: How Chris meets his end.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Chris receives an absolutely devastating one from Digger's men.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Very much averted with Sharla and Chris.
* 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.
* BlackComedy

* 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 (presumably fatally).]]

* PlethoraOfMistakes

Chris 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 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, a Dallas PD detective who works as a contract killer on the side.

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, 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. What could possibly go wrong? Well it turns out, a lot.

* 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.

* FakeAmerican: Juno Temple, who plays Dottie, is originally from England. Not that you'd guess from her accent.
* FairCop: Being played by MatthewMcConaughey, Joe qualifies as he works as a cop in his day job.

* [[spoiler: NoEnding:]] [[spoiler: After Joe finishes showing Sharla why you shouldn't try and double cross him (involving an interesting use of a chicken leg), Chris comes home and pulls a gun on Joe after he announces Dottie and him are getting married. Sharla stabs Chris in the back, and she, Joe, and Ansel proceed to savagely kick the shit out of him, including bashing his face in with a can of pumpkin pie filling. Dottie picks up Chris' dropped gun, and shoots her father Ansel in the gut, and then appears to fatally shoot her brother in the chest. She then announces that she's having a baby, prompting an overjoyed reaction from Joe. She then trains the gun on him, puts her finger on the trigger, and.........roll credits.]]

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Chris]]

* HotMom: Sharla is played by GinaGershon, and though made up to be kind of trashy looking, she is still rather attractive.

2011 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 ''{{Showgirls}}''. It failed).

2011 BlackComedy directed by Creator/WilliamFriedkin. One of the rare movies to be released to theaters with an NC-17 rating.

The premise in a nutshell: Chris is a young drug dealer in Dallas County who owes an awful lot of money to a loan shark he's simply not able to pay, nor can his father 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 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, a Dallas PD detective who works as a contract killer on the side.

* HumiliationConga: Chris' entire role seems to be this.

* [[spoiler: NoEnding]] [[spoiler: After Joe finishes showing Sharla why you shouldn't try and double cross him (involving an interesting use of a chicken leg), Chris comes home and pulls a gun on Joe after he announces Dottie and him are getting married. Sharla stabs Chris in the back, and she, Joe, and Ansel proceed to savagely kick the shit out of him, including bashing his face in with a can of pumpkin pie filling. Dottie picks up Chris' dropped gun, and shoots her father Ansel in the gut, and then appears to fatally shoot her brother in the chest. She then announces that she's having a baby, prompting an overjoyed reaction from Joe. She then trains the gun on him, puts her finger on the trigger, and.........roll credits.]]

* [[spoiler: NoEnding]]

2011 BlackComedy directed by WilliamFriedkin. One of the rare movies to be released to theaters with an NC-17 rating.

* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: When Sharla opens the front door and gives Chris (and the audience) a full frontal beaver shot, he begs her to get dressed.

* MsFanservice: Kind of subverted with Dottie; she's frequently naked and in various states of undress, but the context is more disturbing than sexy, and might even qualify as FanDisservice.

* PlayingAgainstType: {{Matthew McConaughey}} is known primarily for romantic comedies. Here he plays a sociopathic killer.

* BlackComedy: Holy shit yes.
* DawsonCasting: Juno Temple was twenty-two when playing preteen Dottie. Justified as there is absolutely no way in hell that an actual child actor would be allowed to film some of the scenes she did.
** WordOfGod is that Dottie is actually twenty one and said she was twelve as that was the time of her first sexual encounter (from one of her teachers.) She does act like a preteen though.
* FakeAmerican: Juno Temple, who plays Dottie, is English. Not that you'd guess from her accent.

* 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.