Raw

Year of Release:  2016

Director:  Julia Ducournau

Screenplay:  Julia Ducournau

Starring:  Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Naït Oufella, Laurent Lucas

Running Time:  99 minutes

Genre:  Horror

Lifelong vegetarian Justine (Marillier) starts her first term at a veterinary school.  During a hazing ritual, Justine succumbs to peer pressure and eats some meat for the first time.  Shortly afterwards, she develops bizarre physical symptoms, and a disturbing craving for raw meat.  

This disturbing twist on the cannibal horror genre marked the feature debut from French writer/director Julia Ducournau.  This mixes college drama with a deeply unsettling horror element.  I have seem many horror films, and even I winced from the screen in some parts.  The thing is that the violence looks real, it's not over the top gore, it looks intimate and painful.  Garance Marillier is wonderful as Justine, moving from wide-eyed innocent to self-hating cannibal without ever losing the audience's sympathy.  Ella Rumpf plays Alex, Justine's older sister, who guides her into the cannibal world.  Rabah Naït Oufella plays Justine's gay friend, who she develops a disturbing fixation for.  as the virginal Justine develops her obsession with flesh, so she becomes increasingly fixated on sex, which really does work.  The grim tone is leavened by some very dark humour.  The film is very well made, and well performed, but the overwhelmingly bleak tale makes it difficult to like, although there is much to admire.

Garance Marillier in Raw