Animale

Animale is the new state-of-the-art for high-end horror. It will have genre fans and art house aficionados weeping black tears of joy worldwide.

The filmmaking is at its most successful when it moves away from dialogue-driven sequences and into the more visual, visceral aspects of Nejma’s chosen line of work.

Pieces of exposition and backstory are dropped sparingly throughout Animale. While this is a strength, the movie could've done with a little more exploration of Nejma's past and relationship with her mother.

Although the narrative ultimately goes off the rails, Amamra’s magnetically pugnacious lead gives Animale a consistent pull, while director Benestan’s work with cinematographer Ruben Impens – who also shot Titane – is bustling and kinetic, and intimate when it needs to be.

With a striking setting, menacing music scoring gloomy shots of bulls running through swampland in the fog and an up-close look at this unusual variation of bullfighting (it’s barely explained), “Animale” puts us in the mood for a fright even if it’s slow to deliver one.