Overall rating: 4.3 / 5 from 10 reviews.
Review topics: ["film","horror","extras"].
"A very unique, slow burn horror story that takes place among French bullfighters that takes the intensity of the bull and makes it the analogy for deeper trauma, it’s a beautifully shot and well acted movie that is unlike anything I have seen before."
"Bull racing, although moderately less cruel than bullfighting, is still very male dominated. Emma Benestan’s second directorial feature Animale is another reminder of how the New French Extremity subgenre is such a fertile field for female storytellers. Being of French-Algerian heritage, Benestan has likely experienced othering on many occasions. It makes perfect sense she's so sure-footed in her portrayal of Nejma, a young woman struggling to break through in the hypermasculine, homosocial world of bull racing. Nejma’s male colleagues are seemingly kind and supportive but can't help reminding her that she's “good for a girl”. Even the gay son of the ranch owner–whose sexuality is apparently a poorly kept secret–carries more social currency with the other men. One night after a drunken celebration of her first run, Nejma blacks out and awakens in the field with no memories of how she got there and unexplained injuries. As she begins to notice strange bodily changes, her teammates begin dying in the field, seemingly from bull attacks. Lycanthropy is a well-worn path in horror but Berenstan creating her own “werebull” mythology is a fascinating choice. I'm hard pressed to come up with a more masculine animal avatar than the bull. It makes sense that it's the result of Nejma’s inevitable transformation, even if the metaphor is a little heavy handed. There are pacing issues as well but a bloody, harrowing climax is a payoff worth the journey. Extras are surprisingly slim for a Film Movement release. Shelagh Rowan Legg’s essay in the booklet is a concise, interesting read and Hunter Whaley’s video essay helps fill in some blanks. Other than a too-short VFX reel, that's it. This is a release that would have benefited greatly from an audio commentary. Still, the slip is gorgeous and a nice complement to the soon-to-be (or should be, in my opinion) original cover art. It's limited to 500 and at the time of writing, it looks like there are 11 copies. Avoid the coming sale’s stampede and grab one while you can."
"The DOP was beautiful on the shots outside. But the movie has zero mementum and it drags like a bad reality series on loop sadly."
"Excellent film! Great extras."
"Pretty decent body horror!! As usual great pucture and sound quality"
"Can't miss French folk horror. Great release! 4/5 stars!"
"Love this film and this slipcover is very nice!"
"Interesting film, great pickup."
"Horror film but different"
"A beautiful tale of horror with lots of extra features!"
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