The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a darkly comic tale of moral and social rigidity in which an unseen act brings out the inherent darkness in its protagonist. The balance that Lanthimos strikes between absurdity and horror is superb but does our protagonist deserve what befalls him?
You ask whether Steven “deserves what’s happening to him”, but the thing is, it’s not happening to HIM, but to his family, who have done nothing at all to deserve it.
It’s not clear the curse is due to Martin’s “actions”, because he doesn’t really do anything. It’s unclear if Martin himself could undo the curse without Steve taking action to “balance the books”.
If this had taken the Groundhog’s Day route of having Steven learn to be a better person like Phil Connors, then it wouldn’t be a horror movie at all, would it?
You ask whether Steven “deserves what’s happening to him”, but the thing is, it’s not happening to HIM, but to his family, who have done nothing at all to deserve it.
It’s not clear the curse is due to Martin’s “actions”, because he doesn’t really do anything. It’s unclear if Martin himself could undo the curse without Steve taking action to “balance the books”.
If this had taken the Groundhog’s Day route of having Steven learn to be a better person like Phil Connors, then it wouldn’t be a horror movie at all, would it?