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'Vile' New Serial Killer Movie Causes Mass Walk-Out At Cannes Film Festival

'Vile' New Serial Killer Movie Causes Mass Walk-Out At Cannes Film Festival

The new movie, starring Matt Dillon, was called 'disgusting' and 'unpleasant'

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

Cinema-goers at the Cannes Film Festival were spotted walking out of gruesome new serial killer flick The House That Jack Built.


The film, starring Matt Dillon and Uma Thurman, centres on 12 years of the life of a serial killer who mutilates and strangles his (mostly female) victims. It proved to be tough viewing for some with reports of over 100 people leaving early - the first 'mass walk-out' at Cannes this year.

Ramin Settodeh, New York bureau chief for Variety, reported that he overheard one woman say 'it's disgusting' as she left. He tweeted photos of dozens of empty seats in the theatre as well as scores of people stood outside having left early.

Entertainment reporter Roger Friedman took to Twitter to say: "Walked out on Lars von Trier. Vile movie. Should not have been made. Actors culpable." Another called it 'vomitous', which may be my new favourite word.

Mat Dillon and Lars von Trier
PA

Others accused the film's creator Lars von Trier of 'going too far' with this film, and for a man who once joked that he 'sympathised' with Hitler 'a little bit', that's a bold claim.

One particularly brutal scene is said to show the killer blowing the heads of two young children with a hunting rifle. Other scenes show women being strangled and mutilated.

Despite the mass walk-out, other viewers appeared to enjoy the movie and it was given a standing ovation at the end of its airing.

Similarly, some critics have given it a mauling - Peter Bradshaw, from the Guardian, calls it a 'smirking ordeal of gruesomeness' and gives just two stars out of five - but others have been kinder, with IndieWire awarding it an A- and calling it 'horrifying, sadistic, possibly brilliant'. Meanwhile, over on IMDB, the movie has a solid 8.4, which is not bad at all.

Zentropa

The film is due to released in Denmark in November this year, but as yet has no UK release date.

If anything, the mass walk-out has just made me want to see it even more - what do you guys reckon, will you be giving it a watch? Or do you think the 100 or so people might be onto something?

Featured Image Credit: Zentropa

Topics: TV and Film, US Entertainment