31 Nights of Halloween Horror part 22 - Raw

Raw
99 mins.
Dir. Julia Ducournau
2016/France

Raw is more a coming of age film then a horror film, though coming of age via cannibalism, and that is going to be what appeals most to us horror fans.  Raw joins that new wave of slow burn horror, so if you are expecting people to be disemboweled and organs to be consumed with quick cuts and tense action scenes you will be disappointed.

Instead what you are going to get is the story of Justine, a strict vegetarian who is entering her freshman year in a veterinarian college that has a surreal and intense hazing ritual.  Justine doesn't have many friends at school, only her gay roommate and her older sister Alex who doesn't seem to cut her any slack during the belittlement of the rookies by older classmates as seen in the scene where Justine is made to eat a raw rabbit kidney.  She tries to tell them she is a vegetarian, and asks for her sister to confirm as Alex was also brought up as a strict non-meat eater, but Alex offers no consultation and tells to basically eat that shit now.

There is definitely a sibling rivalry going on between Justine as Alex.  They constantly seem to be fighting with each other and then the next scene making up as only family members can.  But when Alex attempts to give Justine a bikini wax and loses a digit in the process, it gives a whole new meaning to the term finger food.  Raw is also a movie about a young girl discovering her sexuality via cannibalism.  New comer Garance Marillier does a great job as a young woman trying to come to terms with herself adjusting to a new school away from her parents, the changes in her body and her sudden desire lay off the greens and start chowing down on that succulent warm flesh.

If you read reviews of this film, you are going to get reviews from Rolling Stone, Variety and a whole bunch of other non-horror movie reviewers praising Raw for its ingenuity in female movie directing and a metaphor for woman empowerment and being so disturbing at times that people fainted or left the theatre.  You are also going to get the people that hate the film because it is not scary and they link cannibalism to Hannibal Lector and not Ruggero Deodato.  I am hear to tell you Raw is a good film and as slow as it is, it does keep you interested and wanting to see how the story is going to develop.  It is slightly reminiscent of a movie like Starry Eyes where the lead actress is going through a body metamorphosis, but the movie I most relate Raw to is Teen Wolf.

Yes, the Michael J Fox 1985 comedy where he turns into a wolf upon hitting puberty.  And while Justine's cannibalistic qualities are not quite as obvious as sporting hair like a wolf and suddenly become a better athlete and the popular kid at school, there are scenes where some of her flesh chomping traits might raise an eyebrow with classmates.  One scene in which Justine is drunk at a rave party at school, her sister lures her to the morgue and teases and tempts her with a cadaver to feast on while being filmed by a classmate and the video goes viral.  It portrays Justine literally looking like a rabid animal jumping and trying to chomp down on some corpse meat.  This scene advertently leads into a big sibling fight the next day after Justine is shown the video by her classmate ,and both Alex and Justine go at it and chomp down on each other's arms and not let go like vicious dogs as they stare into each other's eyes. It is in the end where the Teen Wolf comparison's are most notable though, and no it does not turn out that Justine's dad is a cannibal too.

Raw is the full length directorial debut from French director Julia Ducournau and while the film is striking, you can also see where it is green around the edges.  But god bless the French for always giving us interesting genre films worth the watch and never shying away from the red stuff.  Check out Raw for a different take a cannibal movie.  Not one in the Amazon jungle, but one that can take place right in front of you.  It won't leave you scared but it might make you hungry.  And the moral of the whole movie is, don't eat raw rabbit kidneys.  This whole movie could have been avoided if Justine just said no.