Arts Orbit

There are quite a few of surprises in Killer Joe; the first is a hilarious and frightening performance from Matthew McConaughey as a private detective moonlighting as a contract killer. From the first moment we see McConaughey’s Joe Cooper, one would almost think that we are being put on. Displaying his uncanny Southern drawl and, of course, his physically fit body, this cowboy-hat-wearing enforcer is not your usual typical hunky McConaughey character—his performance feels eerily similar to Frank Booth, Dennis Hopper’s psychopathic character in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. The other is the direction by William Freidkin, who has had more misses than hits over the past 25 years but who really digs deep in this sadistic tale, earning some serious laughs and mayhem and never slowing up from start to finish.

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