The Animal Kingdom - Evolution or Epidemic?

Director Thomas Cailley strikes gold with "Le Règne animal" (The Animal Kingdom), a deeply inventive sci-fi drama. Set in a world dealing with a mysterious mutation that turns people into hybrid animals, a father (Romain Duris) and his teenage son search for their afflicted wife and mother after a transport crash leaves terrifying creatures roaming the French countryside.

Rather than taking the cheap horror route, Cailley uses body-horror and breathtaking practical effects to discuss empathy, family, and our relationship with the natural world. It creates a completely immersive reality where society's fear of 'the other' is violently exposed. The creature designs are astonishingly beautiful and grounded.

This is big-budget French sci-fi with a beating heart—both an intimate coming-of-age story and an epic eco-fable.