Raw (2016) Movie Review: Not Fit for Vegetarians

Raw (Grave) is a horror and drama movie directed and written by Julia Ducournau magnificently starred by Garance Marillier who is given a life changing opportunity that does not go wasted.

Terror that is not suitable for all audiences in a movie that goes into the taboo of cannibalism.

Raw is the (already famous) movie directed in 2016 by Julia Ducournau. And, yes, it is about cannibalism, so if you are having a bad day… it is not a movie for you. However, the movie is not bad at all and it surprises us with a different focus and although at times it is sensationalistic and even morbid, it undertakes the narrative in a special, different way and with a blatant setting that matches the plot very well.

Storyline

Justine is a brilliant girl who starts studying veterinary sciences. She, and her family, is vegetarian, and a sort of initiation ritual leads her to try meat for the first time in her life, which is a fateful event that provoques a significant change in her life, arousing an unusual wish to eat meat, at the any type of meat and later on… human…

The Movie

This is not your usual horror film. There are no ghosts or zombies or apparitions, bult we are faced with a disease that makes our pretty protagonist end up with a serious problem.

The film is not a butchering bloody thing, don´t be expecting that. This is a horror film that is very well told and which leads us little by little by means of a subtle seduction and, yes, at times repulsive seduction. It is harder in the beginning, while it gradually seduces us into the atmosphere, placing from the very start, meat as the catalyst, always in the foreground.

Obviously, it is a story that is very evident so don´t let the kids watch it, you have been warned.

If you have an issue with meat, like I do, I don´t recommend it, at times it is especially unpleasant, although I knew what I was in store for when I went to see it.

This is a movie that is raw and fleshy, Raw is also a movie that does not use lots of special effects (which is rare in a horror movie). The sensation that gradually takes over in us is achieved by a good screenplay and excellent direction.

We liked it, but we still warn that it is a horror gore film and this brings about the effect that it sets out to do. Be careful.

Our Opinion

Raw is a serious film, which enables a glimpse of the irony of brutality.

A totally recommendable film… to make you never taste meat again.

Director

Julia Ducournau is a French director and screenwriter born on November 18, 1983 in Paris. She is a graduate of the 2008 class of the screenplay department of La Fémis and Columbia University1. On January 29, 2017, she received the grand prize at the 24th edition of the Gerardmer Fantastic Film Festival for her film Grave.