# Killing Season (film)
**Killing Season** is a 2013 action thriller directed by Mark Steven Johnson, in which an American veteran of the [Bosnian War](https://www.edgepedia.org/bosnian-war), Benjamin Ford ([Robert De Niro](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-de-niro)), is tracked down in the [Appalachian Mountains](https://www.edgepedia.org/appalachian-mountains) by Emil Kovac (John Travolta), a former Serbian soldier seeking revenge for an encounter during the conflict. The film was the first big-screen pairing of De Niro and Travolta, received sharply negative reviews, and earned about $1.07 million worldwide against a limited theatrical release.[1](https://www.screendaily.com/killing-season/5057882.article) • [2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1480295/credits/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Limited theatrical release July 12, 2013 (Los Angeles and New York openings); DVD and Blu-ray August 20, 2013[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/69547-KILLING-SEASON) • [4](https://www.moviefone.com/movie/killing-season/10073355/where-to-watch/) |
| Director / writer | Mark Steven Johnson / Evan Daugherty[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/69547-KILLING-SEASON) |
| Lead cast | Robert De Niro as Benjamin Ford, John Travolta as Emil Kovac, Milo Ventimiglia as Chris Ford[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/69547-KILLING-SEASON) |
| Runtime / rating | 91 minutes, rated R[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/69547-KILLING-SEASON) |
| Production | Corsan Pictures and FilmEngine; distributed by Millennium Entertainment; countries of origin United States, Belgium, and Bulgaria[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/69547-KILLING-SEASON) • [5](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/killing-season/umc.cmc.41z0adug35rq1injvv7rrhill) |
| Box office | $27,713 domestic opening; $39,881 domestic; $1,071,322 worldwide[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1480295/credits/) |
| Reception | 10% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (20 reviews); Metascore 25 on Metacritic[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/killing_season) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/killing-season/critic-reviews/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Benjamin Ford, an American military veteran, has retreated to a remote cabin in the Appalachian Mountains to forget his wartime experiences. A rare visitor, a European tourist, appears and the two men strike up an unlikely friendship. The visitor is in fact Emil Kovac, a former Serbian soldier whom Ford had shot and intended to kill during the Bosnian War some fifteen years earlier, and he has come to settle the score. What follows is a cat-and-mouse battle of physical and psychological force across the mountains.[8](https://travolta.com/killing-season/) • [1](https://www.screendaily.com/killing-season/5057882.article) • [9](https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/49260760/Bosnia_beyond_good_and_evil.pdf)
The film frames the duel with the adage that "the purest form of war is one-on-one," and, according to Screen Daily's Mark Adams, favors the notion of a kinship between soldiers in which peace is found through confession.[8](https://travolta.com/killing-season/) • [1](https://www.screendaily.com/killing-season/5057882.article) Supporting roles include [Milo Ventimiglia](https://www.edgepedia.org/milo-ventimiglia) as Ford's son Chris, Elizabeth Olin as Sarah Ford, and Diana Lyubenova as Elena.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/69547-KILLING-SEASON)
## Production
Evan Daugherty wrote the screenplay in 2008, and it made that year's "Black List" of Hollywood's best yet-unproduced scripts. His original story took place in the 1970s and followed an American World War II veteran confronted by a Nazi he had met during the war; the setting was later changed to Bosnian War veterans.[10](https://www.deepfocusreview.com/reviews/killing-season/)
After pre-production began in Georgia in late 2011, filming started in late January 2012. The filmmakers considered locations from the American Rockies to Louisiana to rural [Connecticut](https://www.edgepedia.org/connecticut) before choosing Georgia for its rugged scenery and its established film base in the Atlanta region. Shooting locations included Tallulah Gorge, where the 1972 film *Deliverance* was filmed, as well as Black Rock Mountain, Sweetwater Creek State Park, and [Stone Mountain](https://www.edgepedia.org/stone-mountain). Production designer Kirk M. Petruccelli designed the secluded cabin where Ford lives.[11](https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/32375369/press-notes/10)
The film was produced by Corsan Pictures and FilmEngine, with Paul Breuls, Ed Cathell III, Anthony Rhulen, and John Thompson as producers; Peter Menzies Jr. served as cinematographer, Christopher Young composed the score, and Sean Albertson edited.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/69547-KILLING-SEASON) The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival program lists the production as a Belgium–United States co-production, and Apple TV lists the regions of origin as the United States, Belgium, and Bulgaria, with original audio in English, French, and Serbian.[12](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/29/7758-killing-season) • [5](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/killing-season/umc.cmc.41z0adug35rq1injvv7rrhill)
## Release
Killing Season had its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.[1](https://www.screendaily.com/killing-season/5057882.article) It opened in Los Angeles and New York on July 12, 2013, in a limited release distributed by Millennium Entertainment.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/69547-KILLING-SEASON) Peter Sobczynski of RogerEbert.com described the release as being "dribbled out into a handful of theaters, presumably a contractual obligation connected to its upcoming home video release."[13](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/killing-season-2013) [Home video](https://www.edgepedia.org/home-video) followed on DVD and Blu-ray on August 20, 2013.[4](https://www.moviefone.com/movie/killing-season/10073355/where-to-watch/)
The film earned $27,713 at the domestic opening weekend and $39,881 domestically overall, with $1,031,441 internationally for a worldwide total of $1,071,322.[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1480295/credits/) It later became widely available on streaming and ad-supported platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, Pluto TV, and [The Roku Channel](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-roku-channel).[14](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/killing-season)
## Critical reception
The film was critically maligned. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 10% Tomatometer from 20 reviews and a 29% Popcornmeter score from more than 5,000 ratings; on Metacritic it has a Metascore of 25, labeled "generally unfavorable," based on 9 critic reviews.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/killing_season) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/killing-season/critic-reviews/)
**Recurring criticisms.** Sobczynski called it "badly written, ineptly staged, horribly acted, historically suspect and boring beyond belief," rating it 0.5 out of 4, and noted that the film reduces the Serbian-Bosnian conflict to a personal duel while cycling through torture sequences in which each man gains the upper hand only to make a mistake that lets the other escape.[13](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/killing-season-2013) The New York Times' David DeWitt wrote that "as a genre film, it's too ambitious; as an art film, it's too obvious."[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/killing-season/critic-reviews/) Reviewers also singled out Travolta's Serbian accent; Joe Neumaier of the [New York Daily News](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-daily-news) wrote that Travolta "has the accent down pat" but with "Boris-and-Natasha-style syntax," and the Los Angeles Times' Robert Abele called the film "one of the biggest missed opportunities in iconic matchups."[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/killing-season/critic-reviews/) Screen Daily's Adams was more measured, calling the film "a hit-and-miss affair" that was still "worth admission to see Travolta and De Niro face up to each other," while noting repetitive action sequences and a tame, unsatisfying ending.[1](https://www.screendaily.com/killing-season/5057882.article)
## Historical accuracy and scholarly criticism
The film has drawn academic criticism for its treatment of the Bosnian War. [Stephen Harper](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-harper), a scholar of Bosnian War representation in film, notes that Killing Season incurred widespread ridicule for its "raft of cultural solecisms," with detractors targeting Kovac's un-Serbian name and incongruously Islamic beard.[9](https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/49260760/Bosnia_beyond_good_and_evil.pdf) Harper also identifies a flashback in which Ford's unit appears to "liberate" the Trnopolje camp as an invention: US ground troops did not enter Bosnia in 1995, and the camps had been closed down by the end of 1992.[9](https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/49260760/Bosnia_beyond_good_and_evil.pdf) Audience reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes have similarly criticized the film for removing political and historical context and reducing genocide and war crimes to a personal duel.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/killing_season)
## References
1. [Mark Adams, "Killing Season," Screen Daily, 30 June 2013](https://www.screendaily.com/killing-season/5057882.article)
2. [Killing Season (2013), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1480295/credits/)
3. [Killing Season (2013), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/69547-KILLING-SEASON)
4. [Killing Season where to watch, Moviefone](https://www.moviefone.com/movie/killing-season/10073355/where-to-watch/)
5. [Killing Season, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/killing-season/umc.cmc.41z0adug35rq1injvv7rrhill)
6. [Killing Season, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/killing_season)
7. [Killing Season critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/killing-season/critic-reviews/)
8. [Killing Season, John Travolta official site](https://travolta.com/killing-season/)
9. [Stephen Harper, "Bosnia beyond good and evil," University of Portsmouth](https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/49260760/Bosnia_beyond_good_and_evil.pdf)
10. [Brian Eggert, "Killing Season (2013)," Deep Focus Review, 17 July 2013](https://www.deepfocusreview.com/reviews/killing-season/)
11. [Killing Season press notes, Yumpu](https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/32375369/press-notes/10)
12. [Killing Season, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival programme](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/29/7758-killing-season)
13. [Peter Sobczynski, "Killing Season," RogerEbert.com, 17 July 2013](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/killing-season-2013)
14. [Killing Season streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/killing-season)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Action thrillers, 2010s › Crime and vigilante thrillers*
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