“Any animal that’s tasted human flesh isn’t safe.”
I am never going to watch Raw again. That’s not because it isn’t good – in fact, it’s exceptionally well-made. But it isn’t a film you watch; it’s something you experience. This isn’t the kind of horror that will make you jump out of your seat, but rather the kind that wraps its hand around your heart and squeezes until you beg for it to end. I’ve watched a ton of horror movies for this column (by the end of the month, it’ll be up to 124), but Raw is one of the few that has induced a visceral reaction. This might not be a necessary disclaimer when discussing a movie centered around cannibalism, but consider this the mother of all content warnings.
Justine (Garance Marillier) is a vegetarian. She’s also going to veterinary school. There she’ll join her sister, and continue a family tradition; both parents are graduates of the same school. Right away things are off to a rocky start. Justine finds a meatball in her mashed potatoes, and her sister, Alex, is a no-show when Justine needs a ride. Her first night on campus, her dorm is ransacked and she (and the other “rookies”) are bustled, in various states of undress, to a rave, where the hedonistic nature of the school becomes a little clearer. It also becomes apparent that the institute is more like a cult than a school. Alex shows Justine pictures of former classes; those with heads cut out of the picture are referred to as “traitors.” The upperclassman dictate dress code, and demand to be referred to as “Elders” or “Great Ones.”
The cultish groupthink is of a piece for Raw, which at its core is a film about how traumatizing it can be to be a teenage girl. Early on, Justine is peer-pressured, by her sister, into eating a raw rabbit kidney. It’s part of her initiation. Soon she develops a rash all over her body. As the skin flakes and peels off, it looks as though she’s molting, becoming a new person entirely. Some of the imagery in Raw is less than subtle, sure, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t effective or striking.
Garance Marillier’s performance is nothing short of revelatory. She’s in every scene of Raw, and carries an enormous emotional burden on her shoulders. I can throw adjectives at Marillier all day, but the word that keeps coming to mind is fearless. This is a performance devoid of vanity. Marillier inhabits every inch of Justine, wearing the character like a second skin, so that even at her most depraved and debased, Justine never feels anything short of profoundly, tragically human. By the time she eats her sister’s severed finger, it’s as sad as it is repulsive.
Raw is akin to Hereditary in its intensity. This is a film that challenges you to watch it. And it’s not just the viscera. Watching Raw is a nearly masochistic experience: harrowing and confrontational. Somehow, watching a drunken Justine on all fours act like a dog is just as awful as watching her succumb to her cannibalistic urges.
Justine is abetted by her sister, Alex, played by Ella Rumpf in a performance that matches Marillier’s for sheer bravado. Alex is impulsive, reckless, and just as deranged, in her own way, as Justine. Initially standoffish towards each other, the sisters grow closer through the course of the film. Leaving the hospital, her hand still bandaged, Alex runs into the street, causing a car to crash. “I did it for you,” she tells Justine, while taking bites out of a man’s head. In one of the film’s most surreal scenes, the two play video games while calmly discussing cannibalism. “You taste like curry,” Justine tells Alex. It’s the closest the film gets to a laugh; at times like this, Raw rounds the bend into Grand Guignol absurdity, and it’s a testament to Ducournau’s sure hand that the tone remains evenly balanced. I can’t imagine a harder tightrope to walk than making Raw, but Ducournau nails it.
It’s as hard to write about Raw as it is to watch it (well, almost). It’s a film that leaves you weary, almost dazed, as intimate an experience I’ve had with a horror film in a long time. The final shocking shot will sear itself into your brain. Watch this film. But do whatever you can to get ready. It won’t be enough.
10/1: Hellraiser / The Invitation
10/2: Splice / Banshee Chapter
10/3: Jennifer’s Body / Raw
10/4: Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist / Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
10/5: Kill List / A Field in England
10/6: Halloween II / Halloween III: Season of the Witch
10/7: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge / A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
10/8: Ginger Snaps / Creep
10/9: Cube / Creep 2
10/10: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) / The Ritual
10/11: Hell House LLC / The Taking of Deborah Logan
10/12: Re-Animator / From Beyond
10/13: Beetlejuice / Sleepy Hollow
10/14: Idle Hands / The Lords of Salem
10/15: The Ring / Noroi: The Curse
10/16: I Know What You Did Last Summer / The Monster
10/17: Night of the Living Dead / Train to Busan
10/18: The Devil’s Backbone / Southbound
10/19: Event Horizon / Dreamcatcher
10/20: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari / The Bad Seed
10/21: Eyes Without a Face / Goodnight Mommy
10/22: The Strangers / The Strangers: Prey at Night
10/23: In the Mouth of Madness / The Void
10/24: The Amityville Horror / Honeymoon
10/25: Gerald’s Game / Emelie
10/26: The Monster Squad / Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/27: Veronica / Jacob’s Ladder
10/28: High Tension / You’re Next
10/29: The Innkeepers / Bug
10/30: The People Under the Stairs / Vampires
10/31: Saw / Saw II
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