You know that feeling when a movie trailer makes your skin crawl before a single line of dialogue is even spoken? That’s exactly what happened back in 2017. When the trailer for The Killing of a Sacred Deer first dropped, it didn't just market a movie. It basically issued a threat.
Director Yorgos Lanthimos had already established himself as a master of the "weird" with The Lobster, but this was different. This was cold. Clinical. It felt like watching a surgery go wrong under fluorescent lights. If you haven't seen it in a while, or if you're just now discovering why everyone was obsessed with that eerie cover of Ellie Goulding's "Burn," there is a lot to unpack about why this specific piece of marketing is a masterclass in psychological dread.
Honestly, most trailers try to sell you on a plot. This one sold a vibe. It's a vibe of impending, unavoidable doom that starts in the pit of your stomach and stays there long after the screen goes black.
The Anatomy of a Perfect Teaser
Let’s talk about the sound. Most trailers use "BWAHM" sounds or high-octane orchestral swells to get your heart racing. Not this one. The trailer for The Killing of a Sacred Deer relies on a haunting, a cappella rendition of "Burn" sung by Raffey Cassidy, who plays Kim in the film.
It’s flat. It’s monotone. It’s deeply unsettling.
By stripping away the upbeat pop production of the original song and turning it into a funeral dirge, Lanthimos and the A24 marketing team signaled exactly what kind of subversion we were in for. Colin Farrell looks like he’s aging ten years in every frame. Nicole Kidman is statuesque and terrifyingly calm. Then there’s Barry Keoghan. Before he was an Oscar nominee or a Marvel star, he was just this kid eating spaghetti in a way that made everyone uncomfortable.
The editing isn't fast. It doesn't jump-cut to hide a lack of substance. Instead, it lingers. It forces you to look at the symmetry of the hospital hallways and the sterile perfection of the Murphy household.
Why the "Sacred Deer" Reference Matters
If you aren't a Greek mythology nerd, the title might seem a bit random. It’s actually a direct nod to Euripides' play Iphigenia in Aulis. In the myth, King Agamemnon accidentally kills a sacred deer belonging to the goddess Artemis. To appease her and get the winds to blow so his ships can sail to Troy, he has to sacrifice his own daughter.
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The trailer for The Killing of a Sacred Deer hides this plot in plain sight. It hints at a "debt" that must be paid. When Keoghan’s character, Martin, tells Farrell’s Steven, "It’s the only thing I can think of that’s close to justice," the stakes become clear even if the mechanics of the "curse" aren't explained. It’s about a mistake that cannot be taken back.
Breaking Down the Visual Language
Lanthimos uses a very specific lens for this film. Everything is wide. The camera often sits high up in a corner, looking down like an indifferent god or a CCTV camera.
When you watch the trailer, pay attention to the space between the characters. They are rarely close together. Even when they are in the same bed, there is a clinical distance. This visual style—often called "Lanthimoid"—strips away the warmth of the traditional family drama.
- The Spaghetti Scene: This is the most famous shot. Martin eating pasta while explaining a death sentence. It’s mundane horror at its finest.
- The Hospital Corridor: Long, receding perspectives that make the characters look small and replaceable.
- The Blindfold: A quick flash of a character in a makeshift hood. It’s a classic image of an execution.
People often ask if the movie is a supernatural horror or a psychological thriller. The trailer leans into the ambiguity. Is Martin a wizard? A demon? Or just a very disturbed teenager with a terrifyingly strong will? The genius of the marketing is that it never answers. It just shows you the symptoms: paralyzed legs, bleeding eyes, and a total loss of appetite.
Colin Farrell and the "Deadpan" Style
If you’ve seen Farrell in In Bruges or The Batman, you know he has incredible range. But here, he’s doing something very specific. The trailer showcases the "Lanthimos acting style," where every line is delivered with almost zero emotional inflection.
"I don't understand why I should leave my own house."
It sounds like a robot trying to pass as human. This isn't bad acting; it's a deliberate choice to highlight the absurdity of the situation. By removing the "acting," the horror of the words becomes much more apparent. You aren't distracted by a performer crying or screaming; you're focused on the cold reality of the threat.
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How A24 Changed the Game with This Trailer
Back in 2017, A24 was still solidifying its brand as the "prestige horror" powerhouse. This trailer was a turning point. It proved that you could market a slow-burn, intellectual thriller to a wider audience by focusing on a singular, creepy hook.
They didn't use a voiceover guy. They didn't put "In a world..." at the beginning. They let the silence and the singing do the work. This approach influenced how films like Hereditary and Midsommar were eventually marketed. It’s about building a sense of "wrongness."
The Significance of the "Burn" Lyrics
"We can burn, burn, burn, burn."
In the context of the movie, these lyrics take on a literal and metaphorical meaning. It’s about the destruction of a family unit. It’s about the heat of guilt. The trailer uses the repetition of the word "burn" to create a hypnotic effect. By the time the title card appears, you’ve been lulled into a trance, which makes the final, sharp musical sting even more effective.
What Most People Miss
There’s a brief shot in the trailer of a heart surgery. It’s real. It’s visceral. It’s not a prop.
Lanthimos actually filmed a real quadruple bypass for the opening of the movie. Including a flash of this in the trailer serves a dual purpose. First, it establishes Steven’s profession as a cardiothoracic surgeon. Second, it grounds the "curse" in biological reality. It tells the viewer: "This might feel like a fairy tale, but the bodies are real, and they are fragile."
The juxtaposition of ancient Greek tragedy with modern medical science is the core of the film's tension. We think we are safe because we have hospitals and technology, but the trailer suggests that some debts are older than medicine.
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The Power of Barry Keoghan's Stare
If there is one reason the trailer for The Killing of a Sacred Deer went viral among cinephiles, it’s Barry Keoghan.
His face is incredible. He manages to look innocent and predatory at the same time. The trailer focuses on his eyes—often slightly red, always unblinking. It’s a performance of stillness. In a world where movie villains are often loud and chaotic (think the Joker), Martin is terrifying because he is so quiet. He just waits.
Actionable Takeaways for Your Next Rewatch
If you’re planning on revisiting the film or watching the trailer again, look for these specific details that reveal the deeper layers of the story:
- Watch the power dynamics. Notice how Martin is often framed from a lower angle when he’s with Steven, making him appear more powerful despite being a "guest."
- Listen to the background noise. Beyond the singing, there is a low-frequency hum throughout many scenes. This is designed to trigger a physical feeling of anxiety in the listener.
- Count the "choices." The movie is about an impossible choice. The trailer highlights this by showing Steven in various states of indecision—standing in halls, staring at his family, looking at his hands.
- Note the wardrobe. The characters are almost always in blue, white, or grey. It’s a cold palette that mimics the sterile environment of a hospital, suggesting that the characters are patients in a trial they didn't sign up for.
The trailer for The Killing of a Sacred Deer remains one of the most effective pieces of film promotion in the last decade. It doesn't just tell you a movie is coming out; it prepares your mind for the specific type of discomfort you're about to experience. It’s a warning. And like the characters in the film, once you’ve seen it, you can’t really look away.
Check out the original teaser on the A24 YouTube channel to see how the pacing compares to modern "TikTok-style" trailers. You'll notice the difference immediately. The patience of the editing is exactly what makes it so much scarier than a jump-scare-heavy promo.
Once you've re-watched the trailer, pay attention to the dialogue. Notice how nobody ever says "please." In Lanthimos's world, politeness is a skin that people wear, but it doesn't actually mean anything. The trailer perfectly captures that hollowed-out feeling of a society that has all the right manners but none of the heart.
Now, go back and listen to that Ellie Goulding song one more time. You'll never hear it the same way again. That's the power of a perfectly executed trailer. It reclaims something familiar and makes it unrecognizable. It makes it sacred, and then it kills it.