Main cast: Garance Marillier (Justine), Ella Rumpf (Alexia), Rabah Naït Oufella (Adrien), Laurent Lucas (Justine’s Father), and Joana Preiss (Justine’s Mother)
Director: Julia Ducournau

There have been many horror films that were designed to be some kind of allegory to a woman’s puberty or sexual discovery. A popular example is that cult classic Ginger Snaps, which has young ladies turning into wolves when their hormones kick in. Teeth takes it to a more literal level – a young lady discovers that her vagina has teeth, which leads to some pretty painful consequences for the men who try to get it on with her. Raw is one of those films that assure viewers that yes, being a woman is a frightening, monstrous thing indeed. Beware the bloody vagina, people! Only, instead of turning into hairy monsters or gnawing off pee-pees, here the young ladies turn into cannibals yearning for raw flesh.

Justine’s mother has raised her and her older sister Alexia to be vegetarians, but you know how it is when kids go to college: they forget their parents’ hard-taught lessons and go wild. This college is a very fun one, as the hazing period ends up being more of one long, never-ending ball of orgies, spilled blood, and other nonsense that make the whole thing resemble a vat of contagious pathogens of sexually transmitted diseases. As part of the hazing, Justine is forced to eat meat for the first time. This leads to the development of some mysterious rash all over her body, followed by a rising craving for meat… any kind of meat. Even the human kind.

There are some pretty intense scenes here that are not for the squeamish sort, but on the whole, the frights here are more visceral than visual. There is a well done build up of suspense and even a sense of mounting terror as poor Justine begins to lose control of her actions. On one hand, her gay roommate Adrien is supportive – the popular kid does his best to help her fit in with the kids in college, but her sister Alexia on the other hand does her best to draw Justine further into the dark side once Alexia realizes what is happening to Justine. Not that Alexia is being malicious, mind you – it’s just that her way of helping her little sister cope is not what Justine has in mind for herself at all. The whole thing results in a tug-of-war of sorts in Justine’s increasingly besieged head as she tries to get a grip on herself.

Unlike, say, Ginger Snaps, there is no dramatic spectacle at the denouement of the film. Just a horrifying event that happens as it is, and a return to illusory normalcy that is quickly shattered when Justine discovers one more horrifying secret about her craving.

As a result, Raw is a low key yet viscerally evocative movie that can leave me squirming uncomfortably in my seat. Sure, cynical old me can say that it’s quite played out to keep using the whole “femininity is a monster, a terrifying one” trope for female filmmakers to win awards and what not, but so long as the result is something like this, I’m not really complaining. Besides, we can always use more smart cannibal movies in the genre.