Raw (2 Stars)

This is the sixth film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

A French teenager called Justine goes to university to study to become a vet. She's immediately caught up in outlandish initiation rituals for the new students. I thought that only happened in America. She goes along with things like being drenched in blood and having her bedclothes thrown out of the window, but when all the new students are required to eat a raw rabbit kidney she has problems. She's been a vegetarian all her life. Out of fear that she'll be a reject for the rest of her time in university she submits to the pressure.

This brings about an unexpected change. First Justine has a craving for raw meat. Then she has a craving for human flesh. The previously timid little girl terrifies all the students around her.

When the film was introduced the festival's host said that "Raw" would polarise people, that we would either love it or hate it. I made an effort to enjoy the film, but it was visually too disgusting for me.