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Movie
Poster for The Butcher Boy

The Butcher Boy

1998 · 110 min

A disorienting, darkly comic plunge into a child's unraveling mind, by turns funny, disturbing, and deeply sad.

Tagline
This little piggy laughed all the way home!
Overview
Francie and Joe live the usual playful, fantasy filled childhoods of normal boys. However, with a violent, alcoholic father and a manic depressive, suicidal mother the pressure on Francie to grow up are immense. When Francie's world turns to madness, he tries to counter it with further insanity, with dire consequences.

Search YouTube for the trailer

Rent or buy in the UK
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video
  • Sky Store
More options Data from JustWatch
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • darkstrength 3 of 3
  • bleakstrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • absurdstrength 2 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • madness
  • isolation
  • trauma
  • family
  • death
Places
  • small town
  • home
  • school
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • unreliable narrator
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language strong
  • Violence strong
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action3
Horror4
Humour5
Realism7
Romance1
Tension6
Darkness9
Complexity7
Emotional weight9

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Where to watch in the UK

Rent or buy
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video
  • Sky Store
  • YouTube

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
comedy, drama
Directed by
Neil Jordan
Written by
Pat McCabe, Neil Jordan
Starring
Eamonn Owens, Alan Boyle, Fiona Shaw, Stephen Rea, Ian Hart, Peter Gowen, Sean McGinley, Aisling O'Sullivan
Music
Elliot Goldenthal
Cinematography
Adrian Biddle
Runtime
110 min
Country
Ireland, United States of America
Languages
Irish, English

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