Another director who’s had quite a dry spell between films is William Friedkin. He will take his latest, Killer Joe, to the Venice International Film Festival at the end of August and to Toronto in September and we have the first trailer. Made for a song (a budget of $10 mil), Killer Joe is Friedkin’s first feature since 2006′s Bug, an underrated thriller with Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon. Given Friedkin’s amazing resume (To Live and Die in LA, The Exorcist, French Connection, Sorcerer, The Brink’s Job), anything with his name on it is worth a look.

When a debt puts a young man’s life in danger, he turns to putting a hit out on his evil mother in order to collect the insurance. Matthew McConaughey plays the hitman and I see the the same icy cool that I saw in McConaughey’s Buddy Deeds from John Sayles’ Lone Star, with a touch more malice. That’s what that East Texas twang was made for. Emile Hirsch (Milk, Into the Wild, Alpha Dog) plays the young man, Chris Smith. Written by Tracy Letts (Bug), based on his off-Broadway play of the same name, cinematography is by the great Caleb Deschanel (Dreamhouse, The Passion of the Christ, The Patriot), the cast also includes Juno Temple, Gina Gershon (oh please let her be playing the mother!) and Thomas Haden Church.

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Once it completes its festival run, Killer Joe will hopefully be picked up for a theatrical run. As of right now, there are no release dates available. We’ll keep you posted.