
Movie review
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Woke Score
Lower is better
- Release Date
- October 20, 2017
- Age Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 121 min
Where to Watch
United States · Last checked 5/13/2026
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Breakdown
Factors & Ratings
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
Representation / casting choices
The all-white cast perfectly matches the suburban Cincinnati professional family setting with no forced diversity, identity signaling, race/gender swaps, or story-world mismatches.
Political / ideological dialogue
Dialogue is uniformly deadpan and awkward with zero political, activist, ideological, or social-justice content.
Identity-driven story themes
The story engine is a mythological revenge curse and impossible family sacrifice choice; no identity politics, gender dynamics as power struggles, LGBTQ elements, or representation arcs drive the narrative.
Institutional / cultural critique
No modern activist-style institutional or cultural critique is present; the story's focus on personal revenge and moral choice from Greek myth does not reframe into critiques of whiteness, patriarchy, or systemic issues.
