Critics walked out of a ‘disgusting’ serial killer movie screening. Here’s the trailer
A new trailer for the controversial serial killer film, “The House That Jack Built,” came out on Wednesday and people are still having a love/hate relationship with the movie.
The Matt Dillion film, directed by Lars von Trier, carries heavy baggage from the Cannes Film Festival, and in a new interview Dillon says he’s not sorry for making it.
People walked out when it was screened at Cannes in May, where critics and movie-goers reached for words like “vomitive” and “disgusting” to describe it.
“Numerous moviegoers at Cannes detested the film’s graphic violence, which includes scenes of mutilation and gun violence towards children,” notes IndieWire.
“I’ve just walked out of #LarsVonTrier premiere at #Cannes2018 because seeing children being shot and killed is not art or entertainment,” tweeted Al Jazeera correspondent Charlie Angela from Cannes..
But IndieWire also noted that the film received a standing ovation from those who stuck it out and there are critics willing to praise the film, including IndieWire’s senior film critic David Ehrlich.
The uncensored director’s cut that was shown at Cannes will play in select theaters across the country on Nov. 28 before the R-rated version opens in theaters on Dec. 14, according to Slashfilm.com.
The movie’s website has a list of theaters showing the director’s cut.
“I sincerely regret to inform you that THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT will 100% be on my list of the year’s best films. please make your peace with that now,” Ehrlich tweeted on Wednesday when the trailer was released.
Dillon is glad he made the film and doesn’t mind the backlash.
“I’m OK that people are upset,” he recently told The Journal, a weekly online magazine published by the men’s style website, Mr. Porter.
“It’s meant to be upsetting to you, and you should know, if you’re going to see this that it is going to some very dark, disturbing places. But I think it’s a good film. Really good. And I’m glad that I did it.”
IFC Films pranked journalists to gin up the release of the trailer. The journalists received robocalls this week, “albeit decidely creepier than those typical political calls people receive,” reported The Playlist movie website.
The targets were “some of the same journalists that gave the film such polarizing reviews out of Cannes, securing the film’s current ‘rotten’ status on Rotten Tomatoes,” according to Playlist. “You see, von Trier just loves to poke the bear, so to speak.
“As you might expect from anything that Lars von Trier is attached to, the reaction ranged from people praising the call to some calling the call disrespectful.”