Things got a little too Raw at a TIFF midnight screening on Tuesday night.
While watching the debut feature film from director Julia Ducournau, the Hollywood Reporter claims a couple of audience members simply couldn’t handle the horror.
Ryan Werner, the person handling Raw’s marketing at TIFF, confirmed with them that “An ambulance had to be called to the scene as the film became too much for a couple patrons.”
Raw is a horror film that follows a shy 16-year-old girl who, as she journeys to become a veterinarian, must endure a gruesome hazing tradition that sends her spiralling through a “grisly tale of female sexuality and cannibalism.”
Which, apparently, is not for the faint of heart.
So, amazing marketing ploy or real life terror? No one seems to know for sure but Twitter obviously has a few thoughts:
Was anyone at last night’s #TIFF screening of Raw? Trying to figure out if those fainting audience members were real or plants.
— Hannah Shaw-Williams (@HSW3K) September 14, 2016
I hope some marketing genius paid these people to pass out. Skipping RAW at #TIFF to see it at #FantasticFest https://t.co/cHmZxTCOV5
— April Wolfe (@AWolfeful) September 13, 2016
Either way, it looks like we’re just going to have to see it for ourselves to find out if the hype – and horror – are real.
What do you think – does the idea that it could be so scary/visceral as to make viewers pass out make you want to see Raw more or less than before?