''Thoroughbreds'' is a 2017 American

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

written and directed by

Cory Finley Cory Finley is an American screenwriter, playwright, and Film director, director. Finley wrote and directed the black comedy film ''Thoroughbreds (2017 film), Thoroughbreds,'' which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2017. He also directed ...

in his directorial debut. It follows high school student Lily (

Anya Taylor-Joy Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy (; born 16 April 1996) is an actress. Born in Miami and raised in Buenos Aires and London, she left school at the age of 16 to pursue an acting career. After a series of small television roles, her Breakthrough ...

) and her emotionless friend Amanda ( Olivia Cooke) as they scheme to kill Lily's stepfather ( Paul Sparks) via a contract with a drug dealer ( Anton Yelchin). ''Thoroughbreds'' was filmed in mid-2016. Two weeks after production wrapped, Yelchin died in an accident. The film premiered as ''Thoroughbred'' at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

on January 21, 2017. Over a year later, on March 9, 2018, it received a wide release by

Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American independent film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as a unit of Universal Pictures, which is itself a unit of Comcast's division NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and fore ...

. It is the last U.S. film to star Yelchin, and is dedicated to him. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised the ambitious direction, screenplay, and performances, particularly from Cooke and Taylor-Joy. It grossed $3 million against a $5 million production budget.

Plot

In suburban Connecticut, upper-class high schooler Amanda euthanizes her crippled horse with a knife, resulting in charges of

animal cruelty Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse, animal neglect or animal cruelty, is the infliction of suffering or Injury, harm by humans upon animals, either by omission (neglect) or by commission. More narrowly, it can be the causing of harm ...

. Sometime later, Amanda arrives at the home of the more popular and academically inclined Lily. The girls were previously best friends but grew apart after the death of Lily's father. They meet under the pretense of hanging out and having a casual tutoring session, but Amanda knows that her mother has paid Lily to socialize with Amanda. Lily denies being paid, but Amanda, who says that she does not experience emotions due to an unspecified mental disorder, is unfazed. Lily meets with Amanda again, this time voluntarily, and they rekindle their friendship. Lily lives with her mother Cynthia and stepfather Mark, whom she hates. One night, Amanda asks if Lily has ever thought about killing Mark, upsetting Lily. However, tensions flare between Lily and Mark when Mark enrolls Lily in a boarding school for girls with behavioral issues. After seeing him berate Cynthia, Lily reconsiders and calls Amanda about the notion of killing him. She proposes that Amanda perform the murder as Amanda would not experience guilt. However, Amanda believes that her pending animal-cruelty trial would make her an immediate suspect. They decide instead to blackmail drug dealer Tim (who had previously been in jail for

statutory rape In common law jurisdictions, statutory rape is nonforcible sexual activity in which one of the individuals is below the age of consent (the age required to legally consent to the behaviour). Although it usually refers to adults engaging in sex ...

) into murdering Mark while the two girls are out of town. On the night of the planned murder, Tim arrives at the property but leaves without killing Mark. The girls agree not to contact Tim again, as his own criminal history will prevent him from alerting the police. Lily impulsively prepares to kill Mark herself but is talked out of it by Amanda. One night, Lily and Amanda are watching a film at Lily's home when Lily reveals she spiked Amanda's drink with

Rohypnol Flunitrazepam, sold under the brand name Rohypnol among others, is a benzodiazepine used to treat severe insomnia and assist with anesthesia. As with other hypnotics, flunitrazepam has been advised to be prescribed only for short-term use or by ...

so she could stab Mark to death and frame Amanda. Lily attempts to back out of the plan, but Amanda, realizing a life spent without emotions is "meaningless," willingly finishes her drink. While Amanda falls unconscious, Lily murders Mark and smears Amanda with his blood, crying and holding her for comfort. Sometime later, Lily encounters Tim, who now works as a restaurant valet. Following Mark's death, Lily has once again found academic success and is interviewing for college admission. They talk about the murder (though Lily lies about what really happened), and Lily mentions having received a letter from Amanda, who has been committed to a psychiatric hospital for the crime. The letter is shown to detail Amanda's life at the hospital, including a recurring dream about a future in which humans let the world fall into disarray due to their vanity, leading to it being overrun by thoroughbred horses. Amanda smiles at a photo of her and Lily together, riding horses. When Tim asks what the letter said, Lily says she threw it away without reading it.

Cast

* Olivia Cooke as Amanda *

as Lily Reynolds * Anton Yelchin as Tim * Paul Sparks as Mark, Lily's stepfather * Francie Swift as Cynthia Reynolds, Lily's mother * Kaili Vernoff as Karen, Amanda's mother * Alex Wolff as party friend

Production

The script, which Finley had expected to be produced as a

stage play A play is a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than mere reading. The creator of a play is known as a playwright. Plays are staged at various levels, ranging ...

, was instead acquired for production as a film by companies B Story ( Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, and Kevin J. Walsh) and June Pictures. In April 2016, Olivia Cooke,

and Anton Yelchin were announced to have joined the cast. Finley would direct the film.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began on May 9, 2016, in the Massachusetts towns of Cohasset, Tewksbury, Scituate, Westwood, and Wellesley, concluding on June 5, 2016, 14 days before Yelchin died. Finley said of his experience with Yelchin: "The whole experience was really amazing. As soon as he came on board, we had a great dinner, where we talked about

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

as a genre. He was very keyed into that aspect of this movie, he loved film noir. I felt really, like I knew nothing about movies, talking to him. He was also the sweetest guy, he would never make you feel less-than for not knowing these things. He was just delightful and funny from the beginning, he was awesome throughout and brought a jolt of energy."

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on January 21, 2017, under the name ''Thoroughbred''. Shortly after,

acquired distribution rights to the film, retitling it ''Thoroughbreds'' later in the year. It was released in the United States on March 9, 2018.

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 87% based on 167 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Thoroughbreds'' juggles genres with panache, delivering a well-written and refreshingly unpredictable entry in the teen thriller genre." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 5649108 2017 films 2017 black comedy films 2017 directorial debut films 2017 psychological thriller films 2010s buddy comedy films 2010s comedy thriller films 2010s female buddy films 2010s teen comedy films American black comedy films American buddy comedy films American comedy thriller films American female buddy films American psychological thriller films American teen comedy films Films about horses Films about mental health Films about murder Films about the upper class Films directed by Cory Finley Films set in Connecticut Films shot in Massachusetts Teen thriller films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films American independent films 2017 independent films English-language black comedy films English-language independent films English-language comedy thriller films English-language buddy comedy films