The Green Inferno (2013)
Director Eli Roth has a love him or hate him affair with fans and critics alike. Personally i rate the
Hostel films quite highly and thought his debut,
Cabin Fever was a breath of fresh air to the horror genre. I haven't seen
Knock Knock as of writing so
The Green Inferno would be my first viewing of a new film by him in just over 8 years.
So was it worth the wait? Well, yes
The Green Inferno is a cannibal film, a throwback to the 70's exploitation days of Ruggero Deodato, Umberto Lenzi and Sergio Martino. Days adored by fans of gut munching horror and reviled by censors. In many respects these films offered nothing more than a few folks from western civilisation out of their comfort zone and very much out of their depth, trecking through miles of South American rain forest before being captured, tortured and finally eaten by the natives...and
The Green Inferno stays true to these roots.
This is where
The Green Inferno and indeed director Roth is at his strongest. Bringing this often tedious part of the genre kicking and screaming into the present day. So it's a case of rain forest student activists armed only with hand held devices out to save the world, or in this case a tribe living in a patch of rain forest, from the evil western developers. The opening forty minutes concentrates on how the trip takes off and what happens to the activists. There's a lot of witty dialogue involved as director and writer Roth does seem to throw several of his own observations into the chat in a very Tarantino-esq fashion. Now this may annoy some viewers but i enjoyed it and agreed with much of what was said.
Naturally once in the rain forest things take a turn for the ugly, all is not as it seems with the activists agenda, especially group leader Alejandro, played by a slimy Ariel Levy and his relationship with group new girl, Justine. (A good performance by new girl, Lorenza Izzo). I won't spoil anything but i did think this added a lot to the film's overall impact.
History of the genre and a little more film making know how and indeed perhaps budget, although the film didn't have a huge amount spent on it - a mere $6m overall which is nothing when you consider what you are watching - a film with delightful cinematography, gorgeous South American locations and above all a superbly realized native tribe. It's here that the film really excells. The tribe look like a tribe. All painted red, all the men with similar bowl cut hair styles, not a bored passer by roped in, nor wrist watch to be seen nor even cars going past in the background (Looking at you now
Cannibal Terror 
) - They really do seem like a genuine rain forest tribe living near a river.
What also delighted me was the cannibals actions. No longer do they grab a victim haul them to the floor and start munching on their entrails. Pulling out liver after liver and kidney after another liver, oh no these cannibals believe in food preparation. Off come the arms, legs and head. Slicing off the tongue and gouging out and eating the eyeballs is about as exploitative as it gets. The torso is then seasoned and stuffed with herbs and spices and cooked properly in an oven before being sliced and served among the village. This segment of the film was a pleasure to take in as it really put the old tear em' and eat em' cannibal flicks to shame. (They were too tied up in making socio-political statements to take in Masterchef it seems
). One of the films major flaws is seemingly apparent in one of these food prepping sequences - How much marijuana does it take to knock out a whole village? Very dubious in it's outcome i have to admit but if you are prepared to accept it then it is the films only real flaw in my opinion.
Compared to the 70's films, Roth is quite restrained in the gore department. Perhaps playing on audience expectations following the grossness on screen in the Hostel films i was expecting
The Green Inferno to be one really sick little puppy, but i was wrong, it isn't, not one bit. At the time of viewing i was expecting more entrails and general grossness but now the following afternoon as i'm typing this it really doesn't detract from the films overall plot or impact and to the average viewer it would be pretty hard to stomach. Roth shows his love of the genre towards the back of the film when a group of travellers are found
Cannibal Holocaust style, impaled onto spikes, there's also a none too subtle reference to Martino's
Prisoner of the Cannibal God but actress Lorenza Izza is no Ursula Andress, even so i found them nice touches, as indeed i did the final words of the end credits - Per Ruggero - a lovely thank you to
Cannibal Holocaust director Ruggero Deodato. There's also a long list of cannibal films and their directors in the credits which may amuse some viewers.
Coming some 30 plus years after the cannibal film explosion,
The Green Inferno, along with 2008's
Vinyan, makes a nice footnote to a once seemingly dead genre.
Recommended.
