User Reviews

Walk outs in film are a dime a dozen, Bad acting , Terrible script or maybe the vibe is all off, it's all part of the Hollywood game. When 20 people walked out of RAW in Paris last year at it's first screening it was for none of these reasons. The reason 20 people walked out and two fainted is because RAW is one of the most intense films to come out of the European state in quite awhile,

The crime of RAW is not that it is provocative it is that has the intelligence to smooth it over with focused direction and smart writing thanks to the helm at both ends, Julie Doucornow in her debut.

Justine,played by an excellent Garance Marillier is a strict vegetarian in first year in veterinarian school On the first night her dorm is raided by senior students and so begins the process of a week long hazing exercise, One afternoon she is forced to eat a raw rabbit kidney. The results are almost immediate as she discovers within herself a craving for meat and as with the title preferring the raw variety. With all these events happening at the same time she struggles to find her place in school. Juggling students, family, teachers with a crippling disease I found my self drawing similarities between this and Brian De Palma's CARRIE.

Justine, at a loss slowly succumbs to cannibalism but you won't see any zombies or Italian inspired cannibals here. The second act leads us to the reasons all those people walked out and missed the payoff and satisfying end. At heart a cannibal film but also and more importantly a story of young woman trying to find her feet and the most blistering of circumstances.

An original film from a first time director and something you can surely sink your teeth into.

This movie definitely oversells itself. From the rumors of overwhelmed audience members passing out, to the promotional barf bags being doled out at the screening, Raw can't help but prime you for a big bloody letdown. I scare easily, so truth be told, I was shaking in my boots before the promotions guy started butchering the stars' names and joking that we'd all enjoy a steak dinner afterwards. That comment ended up being cheeky in more ways than one.

None of this is the movie's fault (the overtly candid title notwithstanding). Raw does come with early promise, as exemplified by the fact that nearly the entire film takes place in a veterinary hospital with an alarmingly lax attitude towards hazing. No matter how humdrum a scene becomes, there's always the possibility of something furry and four-legged being cut open to get you writhing in your seat. It's gross; those unaccustomed will no doubt be shocked. But it never reaches apex sensationalism.

Part of the problem lies with the foundations of the story. Our protagonist, the young, innocent and vegetarian Justine (Marillier) gets plopped down in the middle of campus and is immediately swept up in a montage of fraternal initiations and college ragers. Her black sheep of an older sister (Rumpf) stays at arm's length and her roommate Adrien (Oufella) isn't much of a help either. Thus she allows herself one too many indulgences and gets lost in a downward spiral that would put the goody-goody on your dorm room floor your freshman year to shame. Because we've all seen the exact same kind of thing before, not just in real life but in other films ad nausium, there's really no real tension as far as the story is concerned. We know where all this is going, the question is how far will it go.

It goes about as far as you would expect, but does it all in a way that at times feels too literate and at other times too literal. In one scene our heroine is compelled to make out with a fellow freshman to the approval of their gracious "elders". "Come out when you're both green," says one senior who had just doused them in blue and yellow paint and stuffed them into a dorm room bathroom. The color, the poppy music, the very situation, just screams art house overkill. It forces the audience to swim in a soup of hook-up excess masquerading as sex positive messaging, and gets us all to feel self-satisfied when we pick up on the films very clear themes.

Other times the camera lingers on gaping wounds and savagely ripped tendons for the sake of primal shocks. By the time we actually get to those scenes however, half the audience is conked-out while the other half is frustrated by the lack of I Drink Your Blood (1970)-level lunacy. Raw only really finds its balance in one incredibly effective scene: a scene in which the characterizations, thickly laid thematic groundings and primal sensationalism all coalesce to bring new meaning to the phrase nail-biting.

Raw is ultimately an interesting failed experiment in genre-crossing. It tries to take the gore-induced shocks of a very particular sub-genre of horror and attempts to elevate it via art house trappings and pseudo-feminist sensibilities. I admire the attempt, and I understand its zeal in the midst of successes like A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) and The Witch (2015). Yet as far as having its Chianti and drinking it too, I really think the farthest this sub-genre can stretch is Cannibal! The Musical (1993).

For her debut feature film, writer and director Julia Ducournau opted for the particularly taboo subject matter of cannibalism. It's a bold and admirable move, as if there's anything that gets audiences members up in arms and storming out of a movie theatre, it's the sight of a non-zombie human being chowing down on another of their kind. Making its way onto movie screens after a successful festival run, Raw arrives with both critical acclaim and a sense of notoriety, having apparently rendering festival-goers faint and puking in the aisles, to the point where the paramedics were called. As it usually the case with movies that have generated similar controversy, Raw really isn't that gruesome, and is in fact very careful and patient when delivering those squirm-in-your-seat moments.

The incredibly bright but socially awkward Justine (Garance Marillier) has been mollycoddled by her parents from a young age and raised a strict vegetarian. We meet her on her first day at veterinary school, following the same path as her parents before her, and that of her older sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf), who still attends. As she settles down for a quiet read at night, the dorm is invaded by older pupils who don balaclavas and proceed to trash the place, forcing Justine and her gay roommate Adrien (Rabah Nait Outfella), along with her fellow freshmen, into submissive behaviour before introducing them to a crazy rave. The rituals don't stop there, and the new starters must also spend a day drenched in animal blood and eat raw rabbit kidney. Of course, the eating of meat goes against Justine's beliefs, but she gobbles the kidney down after some guidance from her sister. This first taste of the forbidden seems to awaken something inside of the teenager, and she is soon covered in a nasty body rash and craving raw flesh.

Anyone reading the synopsis will likely assume this to be a story of a twisted college campus turning its pupils into blood-drinking monsters, but this is not the case. While the school is rather weird in its inauguration traditions, this is a far more personal story of sibling rivalry and sexual awakening. It could be labelled a feminist piece, but I believe its themes will be familiar to both sexes. Why these themes play out within a story of cannibalism, I don't quite know, but they provide the opportunity for some memorable set-pieces that reach Cronenbergian levels of body horror repulsiveness. The instinctive, almost absent-minded suck on the end of a severed finger will leave you open-mouthed, but Ducournau films the scene with such gravitas that it doesn't just disgust, but also represents the emergence of something primal and confusing within its protagonist. Marillier's youthful beauty and timid curiosity brings life to the character, and the actress puts herself through many difficult scenes that would have most actors turning their nose up at. Visceral and quite unforgettable, Raw is a very rare beast - an excellent cannibal movie.

Raw is a French-Belgian horror film written and directed by Julia Ducournau. I first heard about this movie in 2016, when it was getting rave reviews out of Cannes. Being a big fan of horror, I have always been fascinated with cannibalism in both fiction and real life, so I just knew I had to watch it somehow. And the movie is very good, I really enjoyed it. First thing you need to know is this is not your typical cannibal movie. It is not a Cannibal Holocaust or a Green Inferno and it is not even a Silence of the Lamb. What really gripped me about the film is it is not about a serial killer or an evil tribe capturing and eating trespassers. The movie is actually a coming of age story, centering on a first year veterinarian student's slow descent into hell, transforming from a vegetarian to having an insatiable hunger for human flesh.

Justine is heading off to college to become an animal doctor. She goes to this school where hazing of freshman is a tradition. The very first night they get their beds thrown out the window, have animal blood splatter all over them and are forced to eat raw intestines by their seniors. The main character is a meek, quiet girl who is not used to the harsh treatment she is receiving, so she finds solace with her gay male roommate, Adrien and her older sister who also goes to the school, Alexia. After being forced to eat a raw rabbit kidney, Justine develops horrible rashes all over her body, and her thirst for blood and flesh is unlocked. Justine's developing desire to consume human meat can be interpreted as an allegory for many things one in real life might discover, be it sexuality or the belonging in a social clique. This subtext adds an extra layer to the movie beyond the blood and violence.

The movie is a horror film without the use of jump scares or other conventions; instead the scares rely solely on tension and suspense which in turn stem from the unpredictability of the characters. At certain points, I was truly surprised at some of the turn the movie takes, and I was my holding breath whenever two characters are alone together in a room with the back of my mind telling me something "might" happen, and even if nothing ends up happening, the scene still works because of how it took my breath away. I actually flinched more in this film than others that are far more violent. Mainly because the movie grounds itself into reality, a reality with real people in a realistic setting, so when the violence hits, it hits hard. I never cover my eyes in even the goriest of films, but I almost did here. Not going to spoil anything, but there was one scene involving an allergy and another involving Brazilian wax and scissors that almost made me pause the movie. The quality of the scares and violence in this movie goes to show you, you do not need a bucket of blood or a numerous loud noises to be effective. What is more effective is having a good script, good actors and the filmmaking talents to play with the audience's expectations.

I do not understand French, but I could still tell the acting in this movie is very good all around. I want to especially applaud Garance Marillier who plays Justine in the movie. She was really good, and I really bought her as both the timid vegetarian and the disinclined cannibal she slowly becomes. The director really puts this young actress through some hell, as she is covered in blood, rashes or some other bodily injuries throughout most of the movie, and you feel sorry for her, but at the same time, fear her. This is a testament to Marillier and I really hope she does not get typecast the rest of her career so I can see her in other things.

There are some flaws to be had the movie. I felt the pacing of the movie was little off during the second act. Some of the character motivations was not really explained really well, so the editing seems disjointed. Justine goes from a vegetarian in one scene to sneakily eating raw chicken in another without much of a smooth transition. And the ending was kind of disappointing in my opinion as it felt like the director did not know how to end the movie, so she had one of the characters make a choice that was alluded to the entire movie. This is really unsatisfactory because up to that point the movie was tension- filled and unpredictable. Why Julia Ducournau chose to end the movie in such an obvious way leaves me in wonder.

Overall I think Raw is a very good horror movie that is anything but typical. The tension stems from character development, and not a masked killer with a machete. It does have some pacing issue and a copped-out ending, and it is not a perfect movie nor is it for everybody. Fans of cheap jump scare horror might not enjoy this movie, and those who are squeamish probably will not be able to sit through it either. But if you are someone who enjoys a well-acted, character drama juxtaposing with some really intense horrific scenes, then by all means, please go and watch Raw.

Raw or Grave (original title) is a French horror film about cannibalism. This is not the first time I'm drawn to French films of this genre, for instance Martyrs and High Tension are only a few I could mention that are definitely worth a watch.

Unfortunately Raw doesn't deliver. It tried to be disgusting and I guess it is but shock value doesn't really work if you don't have a decent plot/story-line.

During the film it is noticeable it tried to be edgy and over the top but it fails miserably. It's just a bunch of nonsense with an awful soundtrack in the mix.

For instance in one scene the sister of the main character (forgot the name) jumps in front of a car, killing the passengers and proceeds to eat them. Luckily no more cars pass by while she was feeding herself and luckily in France the police is nonexistent which explain why she can kill so many people without any suspicion whatsoever.

I could go on and on.

In conclusion if you like annoying music, young adults trying to be edgy and people biting each other because it's lunch time, then this is for you.

'RAW' made me remember why I love movies. I can't wait for you all to feast your eyes and stomachs on first time French director Julia Ducournau's masterpiece in cinema, simply titled 'RAW'. Julia takes an overly done genre trope (cannibalism) and completely makes it fresh, organic, and ready to serve to the masses in a very beautiful, elegant, and most disturbing way in which a young woman is on a coming- of-age quest in her life and discovers her sexual side as well as a new appetite.

This film hits on some real primal emotions that I did not think I had in me and had me completely hypnotized from start to finish in this well-paced magnificent movie. The film follows the smart and shy young woman Justine (Garance Marillier) as she enters her very first day of university where everyone is learning to become veterinarian. At her first party, she runs into her older sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf), who is also studying to be a veterinarian and who wants to both look after her younger sister and torment her.

The older students certainly haze the incoming freshman, by making them do some grueling tasks, including throwing animal blood over all of them and making them eat raw animal organs. It's a difficult job for Justine to eat the animal organs, since she and her whole family have been vegan for all their lives, but in order to fit in, she is more or less forced to take that first taste of raw meat. Turns out, she loves it. Perhaps too much as she craves more and more of that raw meat.

At the same time, Justine is undergoing her sexual awakening, whether it be with her gay male roommate or someone else in the school. The parallels of both her food and sexual appetite are done in the most subtle and gracious ways, and at no time do you ever dislike Justine or her sister Alexia. On the contrary, these characters are so well "fleshed" out that you want to be friends with them. As the film plays out, Ducournau (who also wrote the screenplay) keeps delivering surprises at every corner, keeping our minds racing, stomachs rumbling, and story flowing.

The relationship between Alexia and Justine is simply fantastic. These two sisters are so real and one of the themes of the film is loyalty and family, which in no matter what obstacle comes your way, you stick together. Mariellier and Rumpf turn in exquisite performances and this being Ducournau's first film – I can't imagine how amazing her second foray into filmmaking will be. The practical effects of gore here are so realistic, that you might second guess yourself as to whether or not anyone was really harmed during the film. That's how good it is. 'RAW' is one of those films that comes around once every ten years and you shouldn't miss it.

MUST-SEE!

Paints, biting and picking out pubes. Insert some of the most annoying panting sounds produced by mankind and give it a shake. Not too good shake, there needs to be some lumps and bumps, serve the product and call it a movie. This time its name was "Raw" in English and "Grave" in French. Grave because it dug itself a big one and Raw because it is not even a finished product. As we can agree, it needed two different titles.

The R18 and mature audience logos are there only for the nudity and "erotic" content that maybe turns on a painter, but not many more. This so called horror doesn't exists. It is like The Shining for that matter except even The Shining did a better job as a horror than this one.

I guess some critics liked this one because it is just the right amount of tedious and pseudo-artistic to please a person who hates themselves for watching all the blockbuster movies just to call them the same old sh#t and get a minimal pay check, but also contains nothing deep and complex so they can still understand the movie and call it symbolic, smart and claim that everyone who didn't like it didn't get it. Despite there being nothing to get.

I'd recommend watching this if a) you're looking for a new fetishes and tend to like slimy, or b) if you want to be a generic critic with bad taste and like something hipsters might like, or c) you want to hear the beast OST this has and witness the worst panting sound from any movie ever + hear 2 car horn honk 2 minutes straight and realize it is nowhere near the most annoying thing in this.

The vegetarian Justine (Garance Marillier) has never tasted meat since she is allergic and protected by her mother. When the rookie Justine joins the veterinary school, she is hazed and forced by the older students including her sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf) to eat meat. Soon she feels attracted to eat not only meat but also human flesh and learns a family secret.

The overrated "Raw" is an erotic and gross European horror film with an original story of cannibalism. The plot is weird, shocking and confused and most of Justine and Alexia's attitudes are not explained including their evil relationship with each other. Why Justine lets her gay roommate deflowers her is also strange. However, the story is well- resolved in the end with the explanation of Justine's father but does not justify the hype. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Grave" ("Grim")

I can appreciate the horror theme of cannibalism, although I religiously hold Hannibal Lecter as the only cannibal movie done right because it choose not to just focus on the shock and horror of gore but also include a psychological nature that wasn't encrypted, symbolic or metaphorically executed. It was in the open and allowed for an actually intriguing story to unfold as we got a mix of horror, gore, drama, romance and psychology all in one.

The problem most movies make nowadays alike Sci Fi copying Star Wars is that they don't understand how to make a movie alike the original. Instead they copy the themes and reckon the horror tropes, blood, and value of visuals will be sufficient.

I feel that Raw commits the same mistake. It tries so hard to magnify the suppressed desires of our lead character with various color palettes, hardcore music, overdone theatrics. And it basically turns into a complete horror show without the horror. Instead with dead corpses, blood, murder and outrageous actions that have no rhyme or reason other than to shock you and give you the impression of chaos, death, reveling in destruction and devouring of flesh.

THe issue with this is that the characters are poorly designed and their progress is forced and lackluster. For instance. The lead characters sister by accident loses her finger. She faints by watching this event. Yet about 30 minutes later in the movie its revealed that shes a cannibal who has embraced her desires and she has no problem looking at blood, nor even biting people. One moment we think the lead character is unique and has gory pleasures, the next we discover that the entire freaking school is packed with freak shows.

And that's another thing that bothers me with thing. THe entire school is packed with your typical overblown frat groups. Messing up peoples bedrooms, tossing paint at people, embracing hedonism to insane extent. THe teachers don't care at all. Barely present. And basically. Its anarchy.

Yet hilariously the frat boys talk about freedom !!! yet 5 minutes later they force people to call them specific names per hierarchy, and enforce dress codes.

What the f. Freedom ... yeah right.

All in all, this movie annoyed me. Its packed with stereotypes, overblown frat dudes that just force you to be free by conforming to brainless mentality. And the biggest crime of this movie calling itself a horror is... that most of the really bad scenes actually occur WHEN OUR LEAD CHARACTER IS Subconscious. Meaning the evil and loss of control is not something we directly see happening. Only the aftermath. And sure its gory and all that. But honestly. The movie is non-sensical.

And that's why I used the word decadence in my title.

Because by the end of this movie that is the ultimate emotional expressal you experience. How its worn, how its tired, wrong feeling, sad and self destructive.

If that's what the director was aiming to nail, well done. You managed to capture that perfectly. But in my opinion, I don't see why we would want to experience this as viewers. You walk away feeling you've seen better, compared to Hannibal you never form a sense of catharsis. There is no greater knowledge gained from this. It has meant nothing.

And that's because you discover not only what I've mentioned but the story takes a detour when it begins to focus on a the lead characters sister instead until she gets captured, goes to jail for murdering someone. Multiple people actually. Completely unhinged but whatever.

And the baby sister with similar desires, for no bloody reason other than vegetarians tasting meat apparently triggers monstrous desires... life goes on only to discover that this apparently runs in the family. Being the cause of their vegetarianism.

Look. I get the gorefest here is to some peoples liking. But I didn't enjoy it. It felt overdone, unfinished, sporadic, lackluster and extremely over the top to the extent that I just shook my head at times.

The movie is decadent. Better movies have been done and those are the ones you should watch instead because they offer you an ending that actually gives you a sense of continuum with characters you enjoy, evil as they are. Sir Anthony Hopkins being a prime example, or Clarice Starling, being an incredibly interesting character.

Why do I keep referring to Hannibal? For 2 reasons. Its story and characters. Well written, well done, and they have much more to them than just this mix of teen rebelliousness and the metaphor for desire, lust, lack of control translated into hunger for flesh. Because that is what it is. Make no mistake.

We've seen the whole medical school gone nuts before. And it wasn't that well done the first time, nor second. And this movie is no different.

You walk away feeling meh because of how it ends, because of how everything transpired, because of this awful music that tries so hard to nail the sad, hopeless atmosphere, when its not riling up the inner demon within you to have sex with everything including the dead and murder people.

But yes. Enough of this rant/review. 3 out of 10. Absolutely tries to hard and ends up decadent, sad, without any catharsis WHATSOEVER. And the color palette amplifying the scenery, emotional turbulence manages only to capture death, sorrow, decay and rot. Even the sex scenes are touched by this. THe correlation between Hedonism and destruction in this movie served no purpose other than to annoy me.

Watch something else. Want psychological horror. Watch Hannibal. Want gore? Watch Eat from 2014, or Excision. Those movies do this better.

"Grave" is a French horror drama movie from 2016 and actually, without showing up at the really big events, a truly meaningful player during the awards season back then. This made it a huge success and breakthrough film for writer and director Julia Ducournau as well as lead actress Garance Marillier. The vegetarian aspect that is mentioned so prominently in the plot description can really be neglected. Even the interesting scene early on when we see it is basically pressed upon the protagonist by her mother is not as significant as it sounds, well at least not until the very end when we find out something intriguing about this perspective. The film runs for almost 100 minutes and basically depictes a young woman being sucked deeper and deeper into the abyss of carnal desires and with that I only mean sex to a lesser extent, but it's really all about the meat and she cannot get enough of it, even in pretty violent and disturbing manners. The best example is of course when she eats her sister's finger after a freak accident instead of trying to keep it cold, so it can be "reinstalled" by doctors immediately. The sister is a good example here for the example of a seemingly wild character, also extreme to some extent, but the longer the film goes, the more we find out she is nothing compared to Justine, our "hero" here, a seemingly shy and reserved girl who turns out the exact opposite. Marillier felt perfect for the character and I can see why many found the film and story so appealing with what she invests in the role. I am not sure if it was a great performance, but it is hopefully something that can keep her in the industry for a few years more, hopefully even decades. And there's no denying her physical appeal, for example in the shower scene or the bloody sex scene with the allegedly gay room member. Another great moment from her is also a great moment for Ducournau and I am speaking of course about the scene under the blanket in bed where she tries to keep her desires back, but not a chance as they have overtaken her long ago. Aside from her, those parts about her family, her fellow students, her friends etc. are all fairly decent, but those moments where the film really stands out are those that she has alone I would say like the scene I just mentioned. It's tough to put a finger on what I mean, but I must say for greatness and including it in my favorite list of the year, something is missing still, but it may very well make my list of top5 horror films from 2016 and also always nice to see something of quality coming from France with this genre these days compared to how bad things are looking here in Germany. Go check out "Grave". It's easy to appreciate this one as a quality film, a guilty pleasure, a film with a most desirable protagonist or something that is just very different compared to everything else in film these days, also everything else in horror film. Especially recommended on the big screen. Thumbs up.