This is much better than other low budget zombie flicks, but that's not necessarily a huge compliment.

One of the best zombie films out there! There's something about it was told and the way it was presented makes it intriguing to watch.

I really liked this movie and Brigitte Pouparts character is an absolute badass!

Arguably one of the best zombie films, (television series/productions included), in the past 15 years - second only to the recent mumblecore masterpiece, "THE BATTERY." A must watch for any fan of horror movies, and if you watch The Walking Dead you probably won't like a zombie story that actually cares about character development, larger themes about what it is to be human, and all that comes with this aabsolutely jarring new style of depicting the undead apocolypse.

I was at the edge of my seat watching this film. Great movie. Must watch.

A partir do filme Night of the Living Dead (1968), o realizador George A. Romero deu a conhecer ao mundo o zombie como hoje o idealizamos: uma pessoa reanimada com desejos canibais. Desde então, cineastas e argumentistas de todo o mundo debruçam-se sobre estas criaturas para contar histórias nas mais variadas categorias. Picando com sucesso alguns aspetos da checklist do subgénero, Les Affamés do realizador e argumentista Robin Aubert, deixa a sua marca ao utilizar quietude e subtileza para acumular tensão na audiência.De acordo com a sinopse, estamos numa pequena vila em Quebec, onde seguimos vários sobreviventes de uma epidemia de origem desconhecida, que transformou a maior parte da população em mortos-vivos sedentos. Mas os infetados têm algumas particularidades. Não reagem todos da mesma forma ao vírus. Enquanto uns se comportam enfurecidamente, outros, talvez ainda agarrados à sua humanidade, constroem pilhas de cadeiras ou brinquedos.Onde Aubert sucede em termos de argumento, é no facto de nos transmitir apenas o suficiente para que estejamos em pé de igualdade com as personagens. Sendo uma epidemia recente, não existe muita informação sobre o sucedido, o que evita uma série de exposição. Por outro lado, em certas partes arrastasse tal como um zombie, principalmente quando mudar de local é estritamente necessário.A equilibrar o ritmo está a fotografia de Steeve Desrosiers, que é muitas vezes composta por descampados onde vemos os mortos-vivos a olhar fixamente para o nada, ou a admirar as pilhas que construíram. São imagens que, em conjunto com a atmosfera e o design de som perturbador, permanecem horas depois do fim do filme. Tudo isto, em conjunto com os longos zooms nos rostos das personagens e montagem precisa, fazem as palmas suar de ansiedade.Não há queixas a fazer deste elenco canadense. Com personagens fáceis de diferenciar, têm todas a sua quota-parte de mistério, tendo a maioria passado por experiências traumáticas quando as conhecemos. Algumas expressam arrependimento (Marc-André Grondin), outras revolta (Monia Chokri), e há sempre quem tenha de encarar esta dura realidade desde tenra idade (Charlotte St-Martin). Existe uma personagem secundária que existe puramente para fins cómicos e apesar de atingir esse fim, é altamente dispensável.Mesmo quando todas as personagens se reúnem, Aubert nunca expõe totalmente o enredo. Muito permanece na nuvem da imaginação, quer em relação aos sobreviventes como aos estranhos comportamentos dos mortos-vivos. Deste modo, proporciona uma experiência contemplativa como nunca vi neste subgénero.Com Les Affamés, Robin Aubert não reinventa o cenário pós-apocalíptico, mas redireciona a história o suficiente para transmitir pavor e apreensão com nuances diferentes. Construído como um drama, requer alguma paciência, mas os gritos de agonia são de um filme que vale por si próprio.7,8/10

The whole zombie genre has become tired and uninspired as of late, with viewer apathy amongst even those of us with life-long dedication to it. The Netflix-funded, French-language, Canadian located, Ravenous (aka Les Affamés) doesn't do anything majorly different, but offers enough quirks and twists to keep things interesting.For one, it doesn't offer anything in the way of a storyline or plot. It is purely a survival film, with characters sole purpose to make it through another day, without being chomped on by the fast moving undead. This extends to there being no exposition, no back-story or indeed any real goal for the band of survivors featured (beyond, well, survival). Another quite unique touch, is the lack of dialogue - the film hammers home the zombies' method of locating food sources (i.e. anyone alive) is by detecting noise, so some scenes can transpire with literally no speaking between characters, or hushed whispers at best. Long stretches of the film, minutes at a time, go by without anyone saying anything, conversing by look or gesture alone. It is cleverly done.Another aspect I appreciated was how the film mixed up it's set-pieces. Early on, it does slightly overdo the reliance on jump-scares, but then it flips it by using the device to lead to a hilarious, if gory, moment later on in proceedings. And gory the film certainly is, with heads popping like melons, and throats being chomped on, but then the movie throws another curveball by showing unusual restraint, by panning away and not showing moments other flicks might linger on - indeed, you never see any of the main characters actually die on screen (this is not a spoiler). This understatement extends to all of the protagonists. You learn next to nothing about them, their past only really being alluded to, but to the film's credit, and probably the actors concerned, each character is unique, and offers enough for the viewer to be empathic to their plight. For a movie where you don't even really learn the names of the main players, this is some achievement. Well worth a watch, even if a little apathetic to the genre as I was going in. I liked it far more than I expected to.

My life is now divided into two parts. Pre-Get Out and post-Get Out. I don't know how I'm gonna recover after one of the deepest experiences I've had watching a film for some time, but I'm gonna have to. Seriously though, let's move on to this review. Zombie films really are a dime a dozen. And I'm speaking about before the release of The Walking Dead, the television series, in 2010, which made people who normally wouldn't give the time a day to a show related, but not really, around a zombie apocalypse. After the release of this massively successful show, that's been on the downturn in terms of viewership for a couple of years now, obviously people wanted to cash in on the popularity of the sub-genre. I liken it to when Twilight came out and, for a very short while, the whole craze was vampires. Somehow, and I don't know why, the zombie trend has survived for longer than the vampire craze did. I think it's the fact that, realistically speaking, zombie films are far easier to market, in a way, than vampire films. Vampire films are, usually, more character-driven than horror driven, though that's not always the case naturally. For example, the vampires in 30 Days of Night felt more like zombies that could only come out at night. Whereas zombies can be sold on the horror and action, but it can also end up being a character-driven story as well, like in this movie or Here Alone. And that's really the closest thing I can compare this movie to, Here Alone. But, if I'm being honest, it's a comparison that ends up being unfavorable to this movie. Cause, in spite of everything the movie does right, the zombies feel like real, legitimate threats and not just cannon fodder like they are in the Walking Dead. How they accomplish this, I don't really even know, I just like the way how their presence, even if they're standing still and far off in the distance, is something that the characters need to watch out for. Their sound design is also tremendous. Their screams/screeches have an almost human quality to them, but it's still very much monstrous. The zombies might actually be the best part of this movie and that's not something that I find myself saying when it comes to movies like this. Again, they're just handled very effectively. It's everything else that I found to be a bit...lacking. The movie is centered around the survival of these characters and their search for a safer place to stay at than the one they're currently in, which is a house in a village isolated from the rest of the city. These characters all converge in the same place, so the earlier moments of the film, for example, might just be Bonin (yes), Tania and Zoe (the little girl) on their own, journeying in Bonin's truck, before they come to the house. There's also this old man and this boy who are off doing their own thing before they join the group. I will say this about the film and that it's got a very minimalist approach. There's not a real film score, per se. I mean there's some music, of course, but it adds an atmospheric approach to the proceedings. It never takes over a scene is what I'm trying to get at, it just complements it. Having said all of that, in spite of its very arty approach, there's nothing about this film that you haven't seen elsewhere and, quite frankly, done much better. The problem I have with this film is that, in my opinion, you don't really invest much in the characters. You don't get to know about who they were prior to the apocalypse or how they've changed since then. The only thing you can pick up on is that they're distrustful of people at first, particularly those with bites that may have come from those 'creatures'. But this is something that we've seen before and it's not really explored that in depth. I hate doing this, but it's the closest comparison point that I got, but what I really liked about Here Alone is that it explores the dynamic of how people were in the past versus how they change when faced with these circumstances. It's still very much about survival for these people, but it's also adjusting to the changes of the world that you now live in. Here Alone benefited from the fact that it focus on three strong characters and their relationship with each other was the driving force, not the horror and not the zombies. This movie doesn't have any of that, it doesn't explore how people adjust to this brand new and, honestly, really hostile world. The people have already adjusted. What we got as a result was, really, quite bland. Good, but bland. The film's tone is also a little off-putting, it's just got such a self-serious, languid tone. It moves at a snail's pace. Which is a little odd considering that there's tense scenes scattered throughout. What I mean is that, in between those scenes, it doesn't feel like anything is really happening. We're just killing time until the next big 'set piece' moment, if you can call it that. There's a few comedic moments, including one running joke that ends quite surprisingly to say the least, but the film just takes itself way too damn seriously. At least in my opinion, not saying it's right, not saying it's wrong, it's just how I see it. Having said that, it's not that you don't care for some of the characters here, it's just that they're completely one-dimensional. To me, again, the most interesting part of this type of setting is exploring how people were in the past versus how they have to be now. I think Celine, the badass with the machete, is the only character that gets to talk about her past and how she was the perfect woman, the way she was trained to be, her own words. But this is a small scene near the end of the film, it doesn't go that long. And perhaps not telling much of each person's past was by design, to make it so you don't focus about who they were, but in the situation that they were trying to escape. But, in trying to be subversive, you substituted the more interesting way to tell this story for the blandest, most boring way to do so. And when I say boring I mean that it's been done many times before, not that the actual content of the film is boring. Because, even having said all that I have said, I still found this to be a good horror movie. Again, the zombies feel like real threats, the acting is very strong. And the interplay between the characters, while not exploring new concepts or themes, is good enough. The cinematography is also really quite good. But I also find that it should have been a considerably better movie with a better script with actual story progression and stronger characters. So it's a good movie, but it's a good movie with many flaws and I'm not gonna not point them out. Don't really have much else to say about this. It's a good pickup for Netflix and a good movie in general with some great gore, but it just doesn't really do anything new or do much with its characters and its world to warrant a glowing recommendation. If Here Alone is still on Netflix, I'd recommend that over this one, but this is still a good watch if you've got some time to kill.

'Don't go into the woods alone' has become a standing joke in these sort of things. Add to that 'Don't have a shit miles from safety', 'Carry a weapon at all times', 'Close the bloody car windows' and 'Stop wandering off by yourself armed only with a penknife' and you have an idea of what watching this film is like. It's very atmospheric and proper scary in parts. These zombies don't shuffle. There are some nice artistic touches too, like the piles of stuff everywhere and the stunning scenery. The acting is of a high standard. Nothing new here, although this genre is a tad exhausted. But I like zombie films. Other than the total disregard for their own safety, the only other thing, and it's a big one is the inclusion of that utterly redundant and inexplicably stupid peripheral character who keeps jumping out at them. What on Earth were they thinking with that?

From my perspective, a fairly accurate view of what life in Trump's world feels like. Everything is persistently hopeless and nothing makes sense.Marc-André Grondin was perfection.

Interesting zombie movies. Slow and deliberate, good at building tension.

Well done, suspenseful, with a new take on what zombies get up to in their spare time, which I found thought provoking.

Where Ravenous reaches its greatness is in its formal set up and its capacity not only to create a unique atmosphere, but also in overstimulating shock for the audience managing to let the visual calligraphy work infallibly. [Full Review in Spanish]

[Robin] Aubert has made an elegant horror film... [Full Review in Spanish]

Medical jokes are a very powerful weapon...[Full Review in Spanish]