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| A snarling native Amazonian indigenous man with questionable teeth look positively fearsome on this poster for Eli Roth's The Green Inferno |
A searching female graduate student from New York joins an idealistic group of activists, who venture to the Amazon jungle to save an indigenous tribe and some trees from the pending destruction of modern civilization. But the world isn't as they think.
The Green Inferno is written by Guillermo Amoedo (Que Pena Tu Vida (2010)) and great Massachusett co-writer/cp-producer/director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever (2002)).
Instead of the direct homage to the cannibal horror subgenre of the 1980s that one may have expected, Roth creates his own entry in the long-dead discipline, effectively unearthing it for a show: He builds a good, very entertaining story around a group of more or less insufferable idealists, (several of whom Roth humorously give Spanish accents.) A lot of typically Rothian, cynicial fun springs from the underlying misanthropy. And the film never pauses or gets dull, which is a feat.
No doubt there is something amoral about the very creation of films like The Green Inferno, (although it may have been more pronounced in the 80s, when real animal slayings were also integral to the cannibal movies,) but it seems fitting for an exploitation movie, which is supposed to be on the border region of what is moral (and not too concerned about stepping over that border.)
The protagonist Justine is played well by Lorenza Izzo (Feed the Beast (2016, TV-series)), SPOILER who in the end prefers to fall back on the tit of political correctness rather than inform the worldviews of the ever-'correct' New-York class with the actual, revolutionizing facts of her trip (about the savage tribesmen.) Richard Burgi (Hostel: Part II (2007)) garnishes in a small part.
Unfortunately the film's photography (by Antonio Quercia (No Filter/Sin Filtro (2016))) and aesthetics are not too exciting, just very contemporary, and another criticism: Ugly CGI-mega-ants instead of a male castration scene or another classic bestiality just isn't okay, Roth!
Related posts:
Eli Roth: The Last Exorcism Part 2 (2013) or, The Not So Last Chicken Exorcism (co-producer)
Aftershock (2012) - Extreme tastelessness in one of 2012's worst films (co-writer/co-producer/co-star)
Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (interview subject)
Inglourious Basterds (2009) - The Movies take revenge on Nazi scum (co-star)
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess
Hostel: Part II (2007) - Roth's return to Eastern Europe is a wicked horror blast
Cabin Fever (2002) - Eli Roth's awesome skin-rash-inspired breakthrough (co-writer/co-producer/director)
Roth gives a five-minute interview about the movie here
Cost: 5 mil. $
Box office: 12.6 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 2.52 times the cost)
[The Green Inferno premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 100 minutes. The film is especially inspired by Ruggero Deodato's masterpiece Cannibal Holocaust (1980), which has a film within the film titled The Green Inferno. Shooting took place from November - December 2012 in Peru, Santiago, Chile and in New York. The film opened #9 to a 3.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 7.1 mil. $ (56.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia with 3.8 mil. $ (30.2 %) and Italy with 686k $ (5.4 %). The film was met with praise from horror writer maestro Stephen King and condemnation from indigenous peoples activist group Survival International. A sequel was announced but has not materialized. Roth returned with Knock Knock (2015). Izzo returned in I Am Victor (2013, TV movie) and theatrically in The Stranger (2014). The Green Inferno is rotten at 38 % with a 4.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Green Inferno?
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