Animale (2024) review – A load of old bull?

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today, we are checking out the French body-horror Animale from 2024. Well, I say 2024 but it is only now getting its worldwide distribution so, yeah.

French Body Horror… Again?

Wait, didn’t I already do this earlier in the week with Else? Is this really the second French Body-horror I am reviewing in a row? I mean, it’s not a lot but it is still weird that it happened twice. Anyways, while Else was a romance and commitment allegory set against the backdrop of an epidemic, Animale is something altogether more disturbing.

“This is a were-bull horror movie… There is absolutely no way to do this without it being somewhat laughable.”

The story follows a young woman, Nejma (Oulaya Amamra) who is determined to become a bullfighter.. And by bullfighter we mean someone who grabs prizes off the bull’s horns as it charges at them, not the type that involves small dicked matadors killing an animal in front of a crowd of mouth breathing morons. After being injured by a bull in a misguided drunken adventure, she begins noticing strange changes in her body.

You probably guessed it by now but thought it was a bit too ridiculous to actually believe. This is a were-bull horror movie. Animale doesn’t fully lean into the body-horror aspect so much as it hints at it. Before presenting the viewer with the merest suggestion that our protagonist might be getting up to some bullish misadventure when the moon is full.

It’s another trauma horror movie

It feels as though I have been reviewing nothing but allegorical horror packed with metaphors for the past year or two. There’s already been about five trauma-horror movie releases in just the past two weeks. It’s getting really old. Animale is another such movie. The horror here is an analogue for the trauma our protagonist has gone through.

Naturally, existing as a woman in such a male dominated world comes with its own pitfalls. Nejma is frequently doubted and has to work much harder than most to be seen as “one of the boys”. Needless to say, something happens that transforms the movie from a “fish out of water” drama to something a little more severe.

“It feels as though I have been reviewing nothing but allegorical horror packed with metaphors for the past year or two… It’s getting really old.”

Nejma’s extremely slow progression from woman in a man’s world to bull-woman is designed to relate the mistreatment of women in a patriarchal society to that of the mistreatment of animals in this type of business. The bulls are used and abused until they become a nuisance, much like many women are in today’s world. It’s an important message but the way it is executed is beyond clumsy.

It’s a rather ridiculous premise

The whole idea of a killer were-bull is beyond farcical. In fact, it’s almost to the point of being something you would expect to see from Sci-fy channel or Asylum movies. There is absolutely no way to do this without it being somewhat laughable. Sure, bulls are dangerous but there is no way to make this concept anything other than completely ridiculous.

“Animale takes itself ruthlessly seriously. There is no hint of irony, here. The entire movie plays out like a dead serious drama with no inkling of how silly the whole thing is.”

What makes it worse is that Animale takes itself ruthlessly seriously. There is no hint of irony, here. The entire movie plays out like a dead serious drama with no inkling of how silly the whole thing is. It’s almost a shame because there is a lot to praise. Direction is fairly solid, acting performances are strong, the movie looks good; this feels like a well made film.

The story is quite effective, in parts, as well. It is easy to sympathise with Nejma’s plight. After all, she just wants to succeed at the thing she is passionate about and to do that she has to overcome rampant misogyny and a group of people who don’t see her as their equal. It would be a sad and moving tale if t wasn’t punctuated by the sound of bulls mooing and point of view killer were-bull stuff.

A very slow burn that requires patience

Animale is extremely slow. So much so that you can’t help but feel like it doesn’t know where it wants to go, in parts. Certain scenes drag on forever and do very little to establish any meaningful story. What’s worse is that it is extremely predictable. These allegorical horror movies all seem to share obvious plot progression and that can make the film a bit of a drag.

I felt a bit sorry for the bulls in the film. I am guessing this movie is filmed on a working ranch and with people who actually deal with bulls on a daily basis. Scenes of bulls being pinned down by 10 different people aren’t exactly pleasant and really don’t feel all that necessary, either.

It’s difficult not to be impressed by some of the visual aspects of Nejma’s work, though. Everything is filmed with a degree of authenticity that makes it feel extremely real. The various bullfighters leaping up walls at the last second and the obvious physical demands of the shoot are genuinely impressive.

It’s these parts of the film where Animale shines. If it was more of this and, perhaps, just a simple psychological horror, it would be easier to recommend. As it stands, it is so predictable and so ridiculous that the body-horror analogue becomes an albatross rather than a bull. Pulling the film further and further away from being the potentially interesting story that it could have been.

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