Cannibal horror film 'Raw' is causing people to pass out at Toronto International Film Fest

A scene from the film Raw which is making people pass out in cinemas. Photo / Petit Film

Paramedics had to be called to a midnight screening at the Toronto International Film Festival after multiple audience members passed out.

They were watching the graphic cannibal film, Raw which became a must-see flick for horror fans after taking out the critics' prize at Cannes earlier this year.

Variety praised the gore in the film saying: "Often so realistic that they are hard to look at, scenes that viewers of a sensitive nature may find disturbing see lacerated extremities, bite marks and gaping wounds perfectly walk the line between the visceral fun of practical effects and overt attention-grabbing."

And Screen Anarchy wrote: "Horror film fans might think themselves (as I have) desensitised to violence and gore. But the effects team have done such as remarkable job, with torn flesh, bites, and blood, that I frequently found myself shielding my eyes; if only I could have shielded my ears as well, as the sounds effects team deserves equal credit."

So when horror fans tuned in at the Toronto festival, it was all too much for some.

A scene from Raw. Photo / Petit Films

"An ambulance had to be called as the film became too much for a couple patrons," Ryan Werner - who is handling the film's marketing at the festival and was at the screening - told the Hollywood Reporter.

He said he had only seen this kind of reaction to a film once before, with Lars von Trier's Antichrist.

Raw is a French-language film which follows a vegetarian college student who accidentally has meat and develops such a craving she eventually becomes a cannibal.

The film, directed by emerging French filmmaker Julia Ducournau, been one of the most hyped films to come out of Cannes this year and is set to appear at numerous other festivals in the coming months before it sees any kind of cinematic release.