Many moons ago, I was a fan of gore or, at least, the playful kind of splatter on display in the popular 80s Horror film series, “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” That meant that I was also a fan of “Fangoria” magazine – at the time, the gore-to bible for fans of films with ample amounts of spectacularly simulated blood and guts.
I took this trip down memory lane because, though Julia Ducournau decorates “Raw” (2016) with plenty of splatter, she doesn’t soften it with laughs or artful touches like Wes Craven and the special effects crews did during Freddy Kruger’s sleepytime assaults. Instead, Ducournau takes the “no frills” approach and, because of that, manages to unsettle us all the more.
On her very first day of veterinary school, 18 year old Justine (Garance Marillier) is chilling in her dorm room, when, all of the sudden, the door swings open and a gang of masked men stomp in and ransack the place. Though she’s instantly terrified, there’s no need to take it personally, because every first year student is getting the exact same treatment. It’s all part of a hazing ritual that goes back to when her mother and father were students at the very same school.
Though Justine, like all of the other newbies, initially plays along with the seniors’ sick initiation schemes, she draws the line at eating the raw liver of a rabbit – can’t blame her. She’s not grossed out because it isn’t cooked to her liking, but because she’s a vegetarian. Not just a vegetarian, but, because of a previous school cafeteria conversation about bestiality, we know that she’s also a budding animal rights advocate who thinks that the rape of an animal is just as awful as the rape of a human being.
Justine isn’t all alone at her new school – her sister, Alexia (Ella Rumpf) is a senior there. Unfortunately, she’s also a pain in the ass. She treats her little sister terribly, though, to her credit, she does eat that raw rabbit liver for Justine and does lend her a sexy dress for a party.
The plot kicks into high gear during a pubic hair waxing accident – how cliche! That’s right, somehow, Justine accidently slices off the top of Alexia’s right middle finger with a pair of scissors. Lest I reveal anymore, let’s just say that, in ‘Raw’, family is everything – especially everything that is f@cked up.
Equally blunt, gross and compelling, “Raw” tells the story of every teenagers’ worst nightmare – not fitting in – and dresses it up in disturbing scenes that depict an initiation of a more personal kind, further sibling torment and the on-going complications of unhinged desire and a serious lack of self-control.
Not for the squeamish and maybe not even for the non-squeamish, “Raw” is one lean and bloody cut of meat, as Ducournau doesn’t waste a single second of screen time. It grabs a hold of you and refuses to let go.
Please, though, watch it on an empty stomach. You’ll thank me later.
