NECROMANCER – Very 1988-looking cheapo horror about a college student resorting to supernatural revenge after being raped by three slimebags. In fact, pretty much all the men in it are slimebags of one stripe or another, up to and including a security guard who decides to have a wank in the toilet rather than potentially prevent a violent sexual assault. This makes it pretty interesting from a gender angle, despite the usual slightly coy T&A. I loved how all the weird stuff is set in motion after a friend of the main character spots an ad in the paper saying something like “Want Revenge? - Call THE POWER”. Which she does, and gets to meet a drama student in a red dress who swirls about putting curses on rape bros and making random objects levitate. As far as horror bits go, all I can say is that there's an entertaining lameness at play, with a badly done, barely glimpsed demonoid imp with ridiculous glowing green eyes. This is entirely in keeping with the rest of 'Necromancer', a film made up of a slew of minor eccentricities beneath which a slightly strange psychodrama pulses away and reaches a climax at the 'struggling with my mirror image' showdown. Off key, a bit weird, but with a sadness or at least a seriousness at its core that feels heartfelt somehow. Maybe I read it wrong. There is a vague slowness in places which might put off 21st century adrenalin junkies a little, but 'Necromancer' was a bit of a discovery for me.
RAW – Pretty excellent art-house horror from Julia Decournau. It's about a student who starts at veterinary college and finds herself out of her depth in a world that feels like a cross between army barracks and a big party. As she struggles to fit in, a few pivotal events lead her to shed the stiff background she's inherited from her parents, including their strict vegetarianism, a big problem as foremost among her burgeoning new desires is cannibalism. 'Raw' is really good, a hazily filmed, oblique black comedy about the annihilative nature of desire. There are some wonderful scenes – Decournau has a great talent for turning the screw and inverting things... when the Brazilian sequence tips over into finger chewing, we're almost relieved (well, I was). There's a bit of gore, but 'Raw' is more psychologically impactful than anything, and manages to resonate emotionally despite being pretty twisted in places. Nice to hear 'The Long Blondes' on the soundtrack, although my interest was piqued more by that French rap about corpse shagging. Definitely one to see.
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