Review: The Green Inferno

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Rain forest Shmainforest 

I had to get the South Park joke out of the way first. Justine (Lorenza Izzo) is a college Freshman who after getting worked up over a lesson on female gender mutilation in class gets invited by Jonah (Aaron Burns) to join an activist group lead by Alejandro (Ariel Levy) and his super bitch girlfriend, Kara. (Ignacia Allamand) Their mission is to go to South America, where a small tribe is about to be destroyed along with the rain forest around them. After they arrive and manage to live stream some bulldozing, their trip is cut short when their plane crashes and the tribe they are trying to protect has other plans for them.

Eli Roth's ode to Cannibal Holocaust (though thankfully without all the rape and actual animal killings) has been a long time coming. Originally scheduled for a 2013 release, it got stuck in distribution hell and was released this week with zero promotion. It's a shame, because Roth knows horror and a brutal film like this could find a decent audience had it actually been promoted a bit.

The film takes the slow burn approach. The wait for the students to get to the jungle is almost agonizingly long and it hammers in the foreshadowing, but once they arrive to their doomed destination, it wastes no time getting to the gore.

Acting-wise, the film starts off terribly as we're introduced to Justine's friend, Kaycee (Sky Ferreira) who I'm not even exaggerating - is one of the worst actresses I've ever seen. Immediately after seeing her I was afraid I'd be in for some wooden performances, but the core group of actors who are taken are much stronger and play "terrified" very well. 

The film is brutal and at times very hard to watch, but I've always enjoyed Roth's directing, and Greg Nicotero's make up is perfect for this type of film. The score is very menacing balances everything well. There's a part after the credits that almost ruins the ending a bit. I wish I would've made it out of the theater before it started because I liked how it ended better before seeing it. Either way, this is a good way to kick off "horror season." 

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "I wish I would've died in that crash." - Amy (Kirby Bliss Blanton)

Random thought: Read interviews with Eli Roth about making this film, or at least the IMDb trivia section. It's insane. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 28, 2015 at 9:21 PM

    I know Roth, and I know I will not be able to handle this. I am a chicken nugget. No way. But I will go read the IMDB stuff!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 28, 2015 at 9:36 PM

      I love horror movies, but I get in the habit of checking to see if movies have rape scenes because I can't handle that. I always shut my eyes or conveniently leave the room.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 28, 2015 at 9:27 PM

    I feel like it's probably an act of terrorrism to go into the jungle, find a tribe of people who don't eve know what a camera is, and show them Cannibal Holocaust as their first film.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 28, 2015 at 9:35 PM

      Apparently they thought it was a comedy. That's pretty damn ballsy to show them *that* film, I would not have made that call. lol

      Delete
  3. m.brownSeptember 28, 2015 at 10:12 PM

    F--k! I really want to see this. The last time I was at the theater...um, with my mom, we missed what we were going to see and I almost took her to this instead! That would have been soooo rad/f--king terrible.

    That said, great post! I love me some crazy-ass Roth!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 28, 2015 at 10:23 PM

      Oh God, I couldn't imagine watching this with my mother. I hope you get a chance to see it though, I'd love to read your review.

      Delete
  4. BirgitSeptember 28, 2015 at 11:01 PM

    Don't think I will see this film. Reminds me of a picture taken by someone in a helicopter of a tribe, never before seen, who throw spears at the chopper because they had no idea what that was. This picture was only a few short years ago, like maybe 4.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 29, 2015 at 7:53 AM

      I can imagine. Apparently the tribe they used were mostly farmers who had interacted with others before, but had just never seen a movie. Apparently since they couldn't except money for appearing in this film, the crew hired people to build them steel roofs and provide electricity.

      Delete
  5. KhalidSeptember 29, 2015 at 3:43 AM

    Everytime I see an Eli Roth film, I get a feeling there's a 15 year old trapped inside his body

    ReplyDelete
  6. StephSeptember 29, 2015 at 8:51 AM

    This doesn't sound like my cup of tea, but since it's the season to revel in horror films, I won't rule it out. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. LukeSeptember 29, 2015 at 5:52 PM

    Nice review. The biggest problem I have with Roth's movies continues with this one- misplaced humor. There is one scene that takes place in the cage (you know, that one scene) that derails the film for a bit. It's been a while since we've had a cannibal movie and the fact that he went down way into the Amazon and shot it has to make me give him props.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 30, 2015 at 6:40 AM

      Yeah, that scene was really out of place. I'm not the biggest fan of "toilet humor" to begin with, so that felt very unnecessary to me.

      Delete
  8. AnonymousOctober 1, 2015 at 8:11 AM

    Why haven't I even heard of this?!?!?!

    Oh, yeah, your first paragraph. I need to see this. Looks brutal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 1, 2015 at 8:50 AM

      Seriously? I've been bitching about this film being shelved on Twitter for two years! lol

      It's very brutal, but worth it. I hope you see it.

      Delete
  9. s.October 2, 2015 at 2:32 AM

    I like Roth a lot, he actually seems relatively sane for a person who does this type of films and hangs around with QT. I'm probably gonna see it home some time, I'm too chickenshit to see it in the cinema :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 2, 2015 at 6:41 AM

      Aww lol. You'd make it in the cinema. I like Roth too, the guy is just an all around film fan and I can't help but love that about him.

      Delete
  10. JoshOctober 5, 2015 at 1:41 AM

    I'll probably skip it, but I'm kind of intrigued...

    ReplyDelete

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