Movies

L.A. Theater Hands Out Barf Bags At Screenings For Cannibal Movie 'Raw'

raw barf bags
By Hoai-Tran Bui

The critically acclaimed cannibal coming-of-age movie Raw became one of the genre darlings of the film festival circuit last year. It has also become infamous for causing audience members to faint, with its scenes of gore reportedly inducing spells of nausea and vomiting.

But one Los Angeles theater has the remedy to that: barf bags.

Now in limited release, Raw features its fair share of human flesh-eating, scenes that apparently made some people really, really sick during a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. While there have been rumors that those faintings were staged, those stories have become a part of the film's narrative. Now, ushers at the Nuart Theatre in L.A. are giving viewers custom-made barf bags and explaining that the graphic nature of the film has caused some vomiting and multiple instances of fainting (via The Hollywood Reporter). 

"One of the staff at the Nuart took up the initiative to make the barf bags out of paper lunch bags. What a fun idea! I remember that used to be done with some horror releases in the 1970s," Mark Valen, a film buyer with Landmark Theatres told THR.

The barf bags feature a red cross and some text advertising Raw and its release date.

Hopefully, the filmgoers won't be confusing their barf bag with their popcorn bag.

The film, directed by Julia Ducournau, opened to critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival last year (our own Jacob Hall loved it at Fantastic Fest) and was picked up by Focus World soon after its debut. Jacob says that Raw isn't nearly as violent as its reputation suggests and that the scenes of extreme gore only arrive key moments and that more jaded horror fans will be perfectly fine. But everyone else? They may need those bags.

Raw follows a young girl, Justine (Garance Marillier), whose stringent vegetarian appetite is thrown to the wind when she develops a taste for human flesh after a brutal hazing ritual at veterinary school. Here's the official synopsis:

Everyone in Justine's family is a vet. And a vegetarian. At sixteen she's a brilliant student starting out at veterinary school where she experiences a decadent, merciless and dangerously seductive world. Desperate to fit in, she strays from her family principles and eats RAW meat for the first time. Justine will soon face the terrible and unexpected consequences as her true self begins to emerge...
Raw opens in select theaters this month. It has grossed $78,000 to date from nine cinemas, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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