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A screening of a new French cannibal film that’s premiering at the London Film Festival next month turned into a medical emergency at Toronto this week, when paramedics were called to treat audience members who’d fainted during the grisly bits. ‘An ambulance had to be called to the scene as the film became too much for a couple of patrons,’ a spokesperson for ‘Raw’ said afterwards.
The film is the directing debut of 32-year-old rising-star filmmaker Julia Ducournau, and the story follows a strict vegetarian and veterinary student, Justine (Garance Marillier), who's forced to eat raw liver during freshers’ week at uni – which gets her hooked on flesh.
The film looks more arthouse than ‘Saw’ horror show though. It has been praised for tackling female body issues and director Ducournau won a critics' prize in May at the Cannes Film Festival. 'Raw' also joins a long tradition of movies that send audiences into fainting fits: from that shower scene in ‘Psycho’ to James Franco chopping his hand off in ‘127 Hours’.
Have you got what it takes to sit through 'Raw'? Find out at the London Film Festival, where 'Raw' screens on October 10, 11 and 12, or early in 2017, when it hits cinemas.