William Friedkin delivers a trailer trash neo-noir with a touch of Southern flavor. Killer Joe is directed by William Friedkin and written by Tracy Letts, based on his play of the same name. The film features Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church, and Gina Gershon. Tyler Bates composed the music, and Caleb Deschanel handled the cinematography. The story centers around Chris Smith (Hirsch), who, burdened by substantial debts to local criminals, devises a plan to eliminate his irresponsible mother and collect on her life insurance policy. Involving his dysfunctional family, he hires Killer Joe (McConaughey), an officer of the law with a side hustle in murder—though the Smiths are unaware of the true cost of his services. It's a film so intensely pulpy and darkly humorous that it’s likely to appear on many movie fans’ lists of best films from 2012. However, I can also see someone dismissing it as one of the worst, and I would understand their view. It certainly doesn’t have broad appeal; you either connect with it or you don't. You’ll either share in Friedkin’s dark observations and find them funny, or feel that the whole thing is simply too unpleasant to be entertaining. It’s great to see Friedkin back, deliberately provoking audiences! Filmed in Texas in less than three weeks, Killer Joe treads a precarious line between misogyny and perverse behavior for its own sake. But it doesn't cross over into outright exploitation, even though the characters are disreputable and inhabit a bleak world filled with sex, violence, simulated sexual acts, and nudity—all wrapped up in a crime caper gone wrong. The film relies heavily on dialogue; be warned, it’s very talky. Yet Friedkin manages to extract maximum tension and salaciousness from every character interaction, the deliberate pacing only amplifying the sense of foreboding. When the ending arrives, which is quite impactful, there's a near-welcome feeling of relief that it's over. These are people you wouldn’t want to spend time with, but Friedkin seems to be chuckling to himself for having made us endure an hour and forty minutes with this grimy group. If you feel the need for a shower afterward, that’s completely understandable. Friedkin has elicited excellent performances from a strong cast. Hirsch (a walking powder keg), Church (an expert in naivete), Temple (an innocent caught in the middle), and Gershon (bold and suspicious) all bring unsettling credibility to their roles, but they are overshadowed by McConaughey’s work. Like Cage, he’s a frustrating performer—his filmography is littered with mediocre movies—but occasionally he delivers a performance of such undeniable quality that it demands recognition. As Killer Joe, he embodies a Faustian menace, delivering his lines with cold precision while still hinting at something darker beneath the surface; he's capable of charming a snake or coaxing a girl out of her clothes. With its uncompromising direction, outstanding acting, and neo-noir elements at their finest, it’s one of the best films of 2012—at least for some viewers. 9/10

Source on TMDB