You haven’t heard from William Friedkin for a while, have you? He was the director that gave us The Exorcist and The French Connection and hasn’t done a film since 2006′s Bug. Friedkin is excellent at doing films that deeply unsettle you, just look at the three films already mentioned.

Anyway, he’s finally returned with NC-17 thriller Killer Joe. The plot’s a bit of a doozy, but here we go:

When 22-year-old Chris (Emile Hirsch) finds himself in debt to a drug lord, he hires a hit man to dispatch his mother, whose $50,000 life insurance policy benefits his sister Dottie (Juno Temple). Chris finds Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a creepy, crazy Dallas cop who moonlights as a contract killer. When Chris can’t pay Joe upfront, Joe sets his sight on Dottie as collateral for the job. The contract killer and his hostage develop an unusual bond. Like from a modern-day, twisted fairy tale, “Killer Joe” Cooper becomes the prince to Dottie’s Cinderella.

Yeah, certainly a doozy. The early reviews have been mostly positive, calling it riveting, compassionate, uncomfortable and savage. There’s a lot of praise for McConaughey’s performance as well, which you can certainly tell from the trailer. This isn’t an ordinary McConaughey movie. As for the NC-17 rating, it looks like the MPAA assigned it that for violence and sexuality and a scene containing brutality. [via Movies.com]

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