Horses Review: Critics Stunned! Is This the Best Show of the Year?

Amidst the pre-release buzz, and let's face it, a fair bit of controversy, surrounding "Horses," one aspect seems to have been slightly sidelined: its surprising humor. Yes, you read that right. Beneath the unsettling premise and dark themes, the game often veers into comedic territory, sometimes teetering precariously on the edge of what's appropriate – or even sane. It's a weird tightrope walk, and Borlera seems to relish every step.

Horses Review: Critics Stunned! Is This the Best S...

Writer and director Andrea Lucco Borlera's debut first-person narrative horror, crafted in collaboration with Santa Ragione, the developers behind the visually striking "Saturnalia," is certainly... something. It’s a captivating, singular vision, and that’s putting it mildly. Trying to pin it down to a neat genre description is a fool's errand.

The best I can do? Imagine a thematic reimagining of "Animal Farm" – you know, all the political allegory and talking animals – but filtered through the disturbing lens of Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Salo," all while being presented with the visual fidelity (or lack thereof) of a meme-worthy Garry's Mod video. "Horses" gleefully oscillates between these extremes, somehow carving out its own unsettling niche in the process. It’s a bold, perhaps even reckless, move, but it's also strangely compelling.

"Horses" has moments almost guaranteed to shock – although, to be fair, it doesn’t quite reach the level of transgressive, decency-shattering work some might have expected, given the pre-release discourse. On the flip side, there are also moments so outrageously, intentionally absurd that laughter seems like the only reasonable response. The game deliberately blurs the line, creating a disorienting and deeply unsettling atmosphere that kept me on edge the entire time. It's a masterclass in discomfort, if that's your thing.

Borlera, with a background in film, clearly understands cinematic language. The restrictive 1.33:1 aspect ratio, the stark monochrome palette, and the use of dialogue intertitles immediately conjure up the silent movie era – think old newsreel propaganda, perhaps. But then she throws in smash cuts, live-action interstitials, split-screen effects, and picture-in-picture. The result is a restless, experimental collage of unconventional stylistic choices: hyperrealistic textures clash with awkwardly animated, almost amateurish character models; unnervingly extreme close-ups; and a near-total absence of diegetic sound, replaced by the constant whir of what sounds like an old film projector. It’s an oppressive, destabilizing ambience, seemingly designed to keep the player off balance.

Daybreak brings breakfast – three cheerfully decorated biscuits that, in retrospect, cheekily foreshadow the events to come – before the working day begins. Initially, the chores are relatively mundane: moving from tool shed to vegetable patch to horse pen, watering crops, feeding animals, gathering manure, and generally doing whatever the farmer demands. Occasional visitors appear, spouting philosophical musings about the world of "Horses" before mysteriously vanishing. The day ends with an evening meal, a brief, often unsettling conversation, and a restless night plagued by disturbing visions. It feels almost…normal.

But, as rebellious forces start to influence the farm's philosophical microcosm, the predictable routine gives way to chaos, and the farmer's demands become increasingly…well, extreme. Vegetable picking and wood chopping are replaced by burials and beatings. Each day grows weirder and bleaker across the three-hour runtime. "Horses'" content warning is extensive – addressing topics from suicide to sexual assault – but perhaps it’s also… something you need to experience to truly understand. It's a tough sell, no doubt, but for those willing to stomach the unsettling content, "Horses" offers a uniquely disturbing and strangely humorous experience. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.