HORSES

Don't have night-mares

- 

Andrea Lucco Borlera is not fond of his debut game's titular beasts. He never enjoyed riding them as a child visiting his grandfather's farm (an inspiration for the setting of Horses although, we're reassured, nothing appalling happened there), fearing the animals would become agitated and injure him. A few years later, during a stint as a pony handler, he recalls the social anxiety triggered by a role that demanded fraternising with the riders: “You had to talk with the people on the pony and it was a bit awkward. I didn't know what to say.” An embarrassed chuckle and a momentary aversion of the eyes provide a glimpse of that shy teenager.

Unpleasant memories, clearly, but hardly on a par with the shocks reserved for Borlera's protagonist in Santa Ragione's latest slice of unhinged Italiana. We play a doe-eyed youngster just arrived at a remote ranch for a two-week summer job. Our daily routine, as dictated by the overbearing owner while he gives a tour of our new environs, involves the usual farm chores: feed the dog; water the carrots and cabbages; take care of the horses. Or rather, the naked men with the horse masks and the pixel-blurred penises, to be precise.