The Ravenous – Les affamés (3/5)

The Ravenous (Les affamés) is an extremely bloody zombie drama on Netflix. Even though it’s full of blood, the pace is more drama than horror or thriller. Not that this is a bad thing, but it isn’t for everyone.

The Ravenous (or Les Affamés) actually isn’t a Netflix production. It’s a Canadian movie, which is now being released globally on the streaming platform. This is after having enjoyed quite a successful run at film festivals worldwide.

It’s not that most viewers will care whether The Ravenous is a Netflix production. However, we’ve seen a lot of people complain about the quality of Netflix productions recently. For this reason alone, I wanted to mention that The Ravenous isn’t one of them.

Having said that, we feel pretty damn certain here at Heaven of Horror that The Ravenous isn’t for everyone. It will definitely receive mixed reviews from viewers. After all, this is a very character driven movie, where drama and silence (oh yeah) are driving forces.

For one thing, there really isn’t any soundtrack in large parts of the movie. This brings a fascinating feel of realism to the story. Something I really enjoyed, but also respect that many will find boring or just plain strange.

You can watch the trailer for The Ravenous (Les Affamés) right here or continue reading our review below.

Crazy amounts of blood

While the pace is very slow and the characters are pretty understated, the amount of blood certainly isn’t. Even though The Ravenous initially keeps viewers from seeing the most brutal actions, this changes. Before reaching the end of the movie, you’ll get Kill Bill volumes of blood fountains.

There are wild and intense scenes of characters battling zombies, but the story is generally a very gloomy outlook. There really isn’t much hope of happiness anywhere. This also means many of the characters will die before the movie is over.

Maybe part of the reason and inspiration for the story can be found in the ”Thank you” section at the end of the credits. The director literally starts out by thanking “My dad, my mom and George A. Romero”.

In other words, we’re definitely dealing with a director who’s a zombie fan.

Also, please, do yourself a favor and let the credits run. There’s an extra scene after the end credits. It doesn’t offer much additional information, but you should still watch it to get the full experience.

Zombie Chairway to Heaven

There are some elements of The Ravenous, which will leave audiences confused or baffled. In this movie, the zombies have some strange projects going on. Basically, they build towers. And not just by throwing various things on top of one another. Oh no, the towers have themes.

There’s the tower built entirely of chairs and another one built from children’s toys. Why? Who knows.

In general, The Ravenous simply offers you to visit this post-apocalyptic world for a few days. There isn’t much hope, but you will experience how the survivors try to work together. And also how they initially never trust one another. Still, everyone accepts the fact that there’s strength in numbers.

Various parts of this movie reminded us of everything from It Comes at Night to Here Alone as well as elements from I am Legend. All are among our favorite zombie movies – and yes, there are many!

However, The Ravenous isn’t a copy of anything else we’ve seen. It’s very much it’s own story – for better and worse.

A zombie story worth watching

Buttom line, The Ravenous is definitely worth watching, if you love zombie movies. It’s not the big rush for a Friday night, since it is very much a doom and gloom story. Still, you can always rewatch a George A. Romero movie afterwards and you’re back in business.

And honestly, The Ravenous does have quite a few memorable scenes.

Particularly one of the female characters is all kinds of awesome. She’s a pearl-necklace-wearing and machete-wielding woman, who has lost everything and is taking back some power. Not only does she try to get zombies to approach her, she even starts running towards them, when they attack her group.

Robin Aubert wrote and directed The Ravenous with the original French title Les Affamés. The movie won “Best Canadian Feature Film” at Toronto International Film Festival in 2017. Also, it won the audience award at Montréal Festival of New Cinema.

The Ravenous is available on Netflix from March 2, 2018.

Details

Director: Robin Aubert
Writer: Robin Aubert
Cast: Marc-André Grondin, Monia Chokri, Charlotte St-Martin

Plot

In a small, remote village in upstate Quebec, things have changed. Locals are not the same anymore – their bodies are breaking down and they have turned against their loved ones. A handful of survivors goes hiding into the woods, looking for others like them.