Chills & Thrills: Raw (2016)

Movie Name/Year: Raw (2016)

Tagline: What are you hungry for?

Genre: Drama, Horror

Length: 98 minutes

Rating: R

Production Companies: Petit Film, Rouge International, Frakas Productions, Wild Bunch, Canal+, Ciné+, Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), Le Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Fédéral de Belgique, Casa Kafka Pictures Movie Tax Shelter Empowered by Belfius, La Wallonie, Bruxelles Capitale, Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF), VOO, BE TV, Arte / Cofinova 12, Torino Film Lab, MEDIA Programme of the European Union, Angoa-Agicoa, Ciclic - Région Centre, Ezekiel Film Production, Rouge International

Producer: Jean des Forêts, Julie Gayet, Amélie Jacquis, Thomas Jaubert, Philippe Logie, Jean-Yves Roubin, Antoun Sehnaoui, Nadia Turincev, Cassandre Warnauts       

Director: Julia Ducournau

Writer: Julia Ducournau

Actors: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella, Laurent Lucas, Joana Preiss, Bouli Lanners, Marion Vernoux, Thomas Mustin, Marouan Iddoub, Jean-Louis Sbille

Blurb from Netflix: Forced to eat raw meat during a hazing ritual at her veterinary school, a young vegetarian develops an overpowering hunger for flesh in all its forms.

Selina’s Point of View:

That’s it?

That was the movie that disgusted/disturbed people so much that they couldn’t stay in the theater for the whole thing? Really?

Movie creators do themselves a disservice with that kind of rumor. I hear something about people being scared out of the building on their first watch-through and I expect to be frightened. I don’t want to hear about jump scares. I don’t want subtle. I want to be completely white-haired terrified. Slow burn is fine, but it’s gotta at least end in an inferno.

My hopes were SO high for this film, that there was very little chance it was going to live up to my expectations.

I know most people would want a ‘but’ at this point, but there is none. Except that one. Two. Whatever.

I just didn’t care. Aside from some basic cringe and a slow burn that you never really get any pay off for – it’s got nothing. I don’t understand the hype. Even the twist at the end is completely predictable.

You never even learn why things are happening. It was all just so disjointed and purposeless.

The one thing I can say, with absolute certainty, is that Raw is definitely a movie that exists.

Cat’s Point of View:

Oh, good Lord, what have I just watched?

To say that this movie is horrific is an understatement.

Let me rewind a little. I do try to find something good in everything – even when I generally don’t like the movie in question. The premise regarding this particular path to cannibalism is something I haven’t seen before. It was intriguing. I didn’t even see the twist at the end coming. I just wish the rest of it wasn’t so tedious.

It was as if the film meandered drunkenly along, in no particular hurry to end.

I was not surprised to learn that people have been known to leave the theater in droves while watching this movie – others required barf bags. Fans of body horror might get more of a kick out of this one, but that was decidedly not my cup of tea. In fact, I was wishing I had one of those barf bags for myself.

While I enjoyed the fact that our Chills & Thrills ended up with a Foreign Film Friday throwback, it’s a pity it just wasn’t a different movie. 

Languages

Speech Available: French

Subtitles Available: English

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 91%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 76%

Metascore - 81/100

Metacritic User Score – 7.4/10

IMDB Score – 7.0/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 2/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 1/5

Movie Trailer: