So when horror fans tuned in at the Toronto festival, it was all too much for some. Such is the case with the Midnight Madness cannibal film Raw, which proved too intense for some TIFF moviegoers earlier this week when a screening ended in a call to the local paramedics.
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The film, created by writer-director Julia Docournau, has been getting a lot of attention since it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where it took the FIPRESCI Critics’ Prize.
Controversy struck Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) following a screening of feminist cannibal film Raw that saw several cinema-goers pass out.
Ryan Werner, who is in charge of the movie’s marketing in Toronto, told The Hollywood Reporter that an ambulance had to be summoned to the scene.
The gruesome, R-rated horror film follows a young vegetarian who develops a deadly taste for meat after enduring a carnivorous hazing ritual while attending veterinary school.
After Dark selections include dark comedy “Prevenge”; “Raw”, victor of the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week; and firsttime filmmaker Nicolas Pesce’s “The Eyes of My Mother”. After that, the controversial film will travel to a variety of other film fests, including Fantastic Fest, Mayhem Film Festival, Celluliod Screams, Beyond Fest and Sitges Film Festival. I want to see where they will be reacting.
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Werner said he had only seen this type of physical reaction to a movie before with Lars von Trier’s Antichrist. It’s like being judged by my peers, because myself, I am a huge genre and horror buff’.
