Film

Eating Raoul

Name: Eating Raoul
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Released: 1982
Cast: Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, Robert Beltran, Susan Saiger, Richard Paul

Comedy

A 1982 cult comedy about a prudish married couple who accidentally discover that murdering swingers is profitable. It's deadpan, weird, and committed to its absurd premise with the seriousness of a home ec. lesson. For fans of transgressive humor who appreciate that the best dark comedies never wink.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy deadpan, sour-sweet satire where ordinary respectability is skewered with a straight face, in the spirit of early John Waters or Bartel's own cheerfully mean sense of humour.

Skip it if you want sharp pacing or a film that gets more polished as it goes; its cheap, scrappy look and loose, episodic rhythm can feel wearing over its short running time.

What it asks of you: Eighty-seven minutes of low-budget, deliberately flat comedy that asks you to stay with its dry, sometimes repetitive gags and enjoy the joke of its own bluntness.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Heathers1989

Teenage murder as suburban comedy: sharp, poisonous, and genuinely funny about how awful people can be. It has the same anarchic energy and willingness to make you uncomfortable while laughing.

But The 80s teen-movie formula feels dated now, and some of the satire lands softer than it thinks it does.

After Hours1985

Griffin Dunne trapped in a nightmare version of downtown Manhattan, where every interaction spirals worse. Same spirit of escalating chaos and the everyday becoming grotesque and hilarious.

But It's genuinely exhausting to watch—relentless in a way that some find more punishing than fun.

Repo Man1984

Punk-adjacent sci-fi comedy about repo men and aliens, with a loose narrative that trusts your intelligence. Weird, funny, and completely its own thing from a visionary filmmaker.

But The plot is deliberately fractured and won't satisfy you if you need clarity and momentum.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Eating Raoul

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Pink Flamingos1972

Both films are built on a premise of respectable people crossing a line into the taboo, but where Eating Raoul stays deadpan and controlled, Pink Flamingos explodes into chaos—showing what Waters' influence made possible.

John Waters' masterpiece of transgression: a couple competing for the title of 'Filthiest Person Alive.' It's funny, committed, and genuinely dangerous—a spiritual predecessor that showed you could build an entire film on outrageous bad taste.

But It has shots you cannot unsee. Waters includes actual graphic content that is not simulated, including a scene involving animal waste. It's transgressive to a degree that makes most modern shock comedy look timid.

Liquid Sky1982

A film about a tiny alien above Manhattan that feeds on the endorphins of human pleasure. It's visually stunning, darkly comic, and genuinely strange in ways that still feel fresh.

But The acting is deliberately stiff, the sound design is harsh, and the whole thing moves at its own pace—not for patient viewers only, but for a particular kind of patience.

Desperately Seeking Susan1985

Madonna's film debut as a downtown bohemian, caught up in a case of mistaken identity. It's a screwball comedy with real style, and it captures 80s New York with infectious energy.

But The plot is pretty thin, and it relies on the charm of its leads—if they don't work for you, neither does the film.

Videodrome1983

Cronenberg's body horror meets obsession with media and desire. Grotesque, funny in its grotesqueness, and genuinely disturbing in ways that make you think about what you're watching.

But It's viscerally unpleasant. If practical effects of bodies transforming in disturbing ways upset you, this is not your film.

Street Trash1987

A horror-comedy about homeless men finding a magical wine that melts them. It's trashy, absurd, and fully aware of its own outrageousness—a cult classic for good reason.

But It's genuinely disgusting. The practical effects are deliberately grotty and the humor is often mean-spirited.

Something Wild1986

Jeff Daniels and Melanie Griffith on a spontaneous road trip that darkens unexpectedly. It's a tonal balancing act—romance and comedy colliding with genuine danger and unpredictability.

But The second half violently shifts genre in a way that works if you're with it, but can feel jarring if you're not.