Right, it doesn't make sense until you try and interpret what idea the Director was trying to convey. Faced with that situation, you and me both would expect the father (Ansel) to come to the aid of his son (Chris) and the stepmother (Sharla) would take the opportunity for retribution against her tormentor (Joe).
Some movies are just to entertain and the Director delivers a mainstream, often obvious and simplistic, message to the audience. And then there are movies like this one which requires the audience to try and interpret what the Director is trying to communicate.
As you know, art is subjective and what I get from the movie and what you get may be completely opposite. To me, I believe the Director was trying to depict a family unlike most happy-go-lucky movie families where everything is hunky-dory like the Brady Bunch. While most families are not the trailer park brood that this family is, I would say every family has some level of dysfunction. I think the Director took it to the extreme to clearly show the happy-go-lucky family is not reality and to rebel against the typical Hollywood portrayal of family.
Far from perfect, this family was however getting through life just fine until Chris brought all the trouble. Pretty much everything bad that happened in the movie can be attributed to the fault of Chris. To me, Chris represented the bad apple in a family that everyone secretly just wants to go away. If you recall, Ansel even told Chris to do them all a favor and just kill himself. So at the end when Joe was beating Chris, Ansel and Sharla helped Joe so they could get rid of the root of all their problems. It didn't matter that Chris tried to redeem himself (by trying to keep Joe from taking Dottie), they just wanted him gone, taking all their problems, and future problems away too.
I believe the Director was trying to say that when a person brings so much misery, there comes a point where salvation is not possible. People want you gone, even family.
It still would've made more sense to take out Joe. Joe represented the greater threat to their lives. After taking out Joe, they could've done whatever they wanted to a weakened Chris.
shareI believe they were so completely subjugated by Joe they couldn't even consider going against him.
shareYes, i was actually surprised then they helped Joe, who would probably sluaghter all of them.
This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time.
This is the most frustrating part of the movie for me.. It actually pissed me off that Chris' dad would help Joe and shout "kill him Joe!" about his own son. Didn't make sense! A pretty decent/twisted movie but frustrating ending.
shareWhy wouldn't that make sense? Throughout the entire movie, the dad kept saying how little he cared about his son and how he either couldn't or wouldn't help him. He wasn't interested in being in his life at all until there was some money to be made and his son screwed him out of getting any of the money by not knowing that Rex would inherit the insurance money.
And right before they went to the funeral, the dad told him to "Do the world a favor and kill yourself". He hated his son as much as his son hated him. Killer Joe had been the good guy to Ansel at this point. He exposed Ansel's girlfriend as a cheater who was attempting to run off with his part of the insurance money, Joe offered a better life to Dottie by taking her off of his hands and being better able to provide for her and was actively attempting to murder the son he hated.
Ansel had every reason in the world to want Joe to kill his son at that moment. It sounds like you just didn't understand the money.
This. +1. That was the entire point of the drawn out "dinner" scene. Kind of like "Reek" in Game of Thrones
I would say my memory is not what it used to be. But I don't remember what my memory used to be.
Sorry for the late response.
Joe says, "If you allow Chris to leave this trailer, I will slaughter you all like pigs. Do you believe I'd do that?"
Thus, they wouldn't allow Chris to leave the trailer. If they didn't help, they would face certain death.
Chris was a complete and total *beep* up. While Joe was a stone cold killer. If the movie taught you anything betting on Chris is a big mistake. Plus he was instrumental in getting all of them in that situation in the first place. I was surprised that they sided with Joe, mainly because they hadn't been that smart throughout the movie. He must have really put the fear of god in them. Yet again, cause he's good at what he does.
Clever things make people feel stupid and unexpected things make them feel scared
Yes, that scene was the turning point of the rest of the family members' minds (except Dottie). They were totally subjugated by the charisma and terror that Joe exuded in the extreme. Thus they were like the unpopular kids going along with the leader just to stay on his good side because in that moment their fear had tricked their subconsciousness into it.
That's why the movie is called "Killer Joe," it's about him and only him. They could of told the same story with a completely different family/set of circumstances because it is simply a character study of a profoundly terrifying psychopath.