The Green Inferno

this movie is masterpiece

...

The Green Inferno is another one of Eli Roth's torture * films, except this movie looks on cannibalism, which is meant to pay homage to one of the most controversial films of all time, Cannibal Holocaust. And the film decently establishes the lurid nature of this environment, but it takes too long to get to the creature feature, and when it does get there, the supposed shock value isn't compelling enough to become a satisfying torture *. And the story then twists to something that is supposed to mean something, but it ends up feeling odd and underwhelming. It could have been just a straightforward exploitation film. The movie has a pretty long opening exposition, concerning a young woman who was invited by a group of activists who wanted to save the Amazon rainforest by orchestrating a scandal to the loggers for online awareness. But this setup is so long, it has to be establish its own "world" even if it hardly has anything to do with the main plot, we're just walking around with these campy written characters that are often tough to care about since they are caricatures of a standard tree hugger or just another horror movie character cliché. To be fair, the movie's strange sense of humor does make these scenes entertaining, but in the end, these people are just not so engaging. We sometimes wanted some of them to get wacked off by a bunch cannibals already. And when they get to the real threat of the story, it does deliver, maybe only works once. The first body count, well from these main antagonists specifically, is honestly pretty bizarre, by how effectively grounded this slaughter is depicted. I'm no expert for realistic violence, the amount of blood surely is ultimate, but you can really feel the horror within the images and tone of this scene. And the horror didn't stop at the aftermath by just keep showing how they feast this body until they feed leftovers to the animals and such. But everything else just went ridiculous. Sure, there are still more guts and blood all over the body counts, but they fall short of credibility of horror in cannibalism compared to the first kill. It's basically silly gore for the sake of earning more "shock." The point is it's not that compelling. Complaining at the over-the-top moments can be missing the point of the director's flavor at his own work, but it kind of really does underwhelm the whole ingenuity of this horror. But even if we're just judging by the amount of blood in the entirety, it still doesn't feel that much. Again, one bizarre death scene doesn't hold up any satisfaction of bloodlust within the entire movie. Now the filmmaking, it's average enough for a B-horror film. Though, the camera showcases enough of the weirdness of this culture and the body parts they are decorating for their tribe or something. The acting is alright, with Lorenza Izzo competent enough as the protagonist who we could only legitimately inserted into. The rest are basically cookie cutters compared to this cookie cutter. The Green Inferno can be worthy of glorious gorefest for one scene. One scene, only. And that scene serves the shock the movie is expecting, but for sick mind like mine, the movie kind of needs more of that. It's sad to watch, but it does create more genuine danger towards the people they are supposed to run away from. Everything else just kind of bogs down the suspense, letting the silliness take over until the movie itself becomes a joke. And I'm not against to its sense of humor, since they do work, while some are just meant to gross out, specifically when it involves something else than gore. Well, there's no denying how violent it still is, but it's also kind of forgettable. The characters are even more so, but who cares about them in a horror film? But if this film is expecting to have the same value or controversy as the movie this is inspired from, or at least marginally, then it could have done harder.

Just awful that's all I can say about this movie. I had high hopes with Roths favorite movie being the Great Cannibal Holocast. He should not have been allowed the use the old working title. The plot was OK I guess but the acting was total garbage, with one good gore scene (first death). After that it's all down hill and very predictable to the point of stupidity! We all knew the necklace was going to save her. I saw a saving grace possible at the end when the military was gunning down the cannibals she should have been mistaken for one of them and killed!! Way better ending to a horrible disgrace of a movie with about as much intelligence as a rock. I can't waste any more time on this -1 of 10 movie. Thanks for your time EMK

As another reviewer stated, Eli Roth hits us with an uneven movie. Not uneven when it comes to gore. Not even uneven, when it comes to some of the characters (there are still twists to be found here, that are nice, especially if you consider the whole romance angle that is mostly played out in movies, not only horror movies). So the environment is something we should protect right? Even if we have "sacrifice" a bit for it (no puns intended). The story rolls on and might only take off (again, no pun intended), when there is an unplanned "event" happening. Our characters have to face that what they thought they were protecting. More than that would be spoiling the little story there is. Unfortunately the ending might spoil it for you too ... if it wasn't spoiled before ... Not great by any means, but decent enough for one watch

THE GREEN INFERNO (2014) ***1/2 Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Sky Ferreira, Magda Apanowicz, Nicolas Martinez, Daryl Sabara, Aaron Burns, Matias Lopez, Mary Dunworth, Cody Pittman, Richard Burgi. Horror maven Eli Roth's out-of-chest bloody valentine to grind house 'cannibal' films of '70s yore delivers all the gory goods (and more) in this 21st century upgrade: a group of eco-minded college students take to the Peruvian jungles in a viral protest but get far more than they bargained for when they wind up in the midst of a primitive tribe of blood-thirsty cannibals. Shot on location with some amazing footage thanks to cinematographer Antonio Quercia in vivid clarity and nauseating (juuuuust right) make-up special effects by Greg Nicotero/Howard Berger's fantastic crew makes up for some lame dialogue and fair acting (kudos to lead babe, Izzo who goes from naive hipster to survival-at- any-cost heroine) the film more than delivers the visceral churning goods and some sly satire at Generation I-Me! Roth found an actual tribe living in the deep thicket of no-man's land off the Amazon and adds a truly undeniable authenticity to the lurid storyline.

The Green Inferno (2013) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A group of college students decide to head to South America where they're going to protest some developers who are damaging the rain forest and threatening a tribe that has lived there for thousands of years. Their plan doesn't quite work when their plane crashes in the jungle and soon the survivors have the unlucky fate of being served up for dinner. Eli Roth's homage to the Italian cannibal movies of the 70s and early 80s is a rather mixed bag. After the movie was over I really didn't know what to think about it because there had been so much hype built around it. For the most part I don't think the film lived up to the hype but this is going to depend on your knowledge of the genre. If you have no idea what CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, EATEN ALIVE and CANNIBAL FEROX are then there's a great chance that you're going to be shocked and horrified at what you see here. If you're familiar with those films then you're going to see THE GREEN INFERNO as a watered down American film. Again, it's really hard to judge this movie but I'm overly familiar with the Italian cannibal movies so let me get that out of the way. I think this film is going to shock, outrage and gross out the majority of the people who watch it as there's no question that this contains some of the most graphic and goriest violence that has ever been in an American film that had to go in front of the MPAA. How this got a R-rating is rather shocking in itself and it really makes you laugh when you watch something like this and think at one point something like SCREAM had to be cut to avoid a NC-17 rating. Again, the gore effects are rather great with many practical effects that are quite effective. The gore and violence, again, will shock most people. With that said, if you're familiar with the brutal films in the genre then you're not going to blink an eye here. There's really nothing shocking, outrageous or too graphic if you're familiar with the films that I mentioned before. This movie certainly doesn't have the animal violence but it also doesn't have the graphic rape, mutilations or any of the infamous moments from those films. You'd think that this homage would wink at those movies and their graphic moments but the film doesn't even try. This just gives the movie an overall watered down feel that fans of the genre are going to notice and especially when you consider that there's not even any real nudity in the picture. If you can't show nudity then you know certain elements of violence aren't going to be shown. I think another disappointing thing is that the jungle settings really aren't used. Those Italian movies worked so well because you could enjoy them as adventure stories but that's not the case here. I will say that the build-up was a lot more entertaining than I expected it to be because the violence doesn't happen until the last portion of the movie. The performances are certainly better than you'd expect with Lorenza Izzo making for a good and likable lead. The story itself is okay with some sly humor thrown in at times but then again there are some really stupid moments. There's one girl in the cage who gets "sick" and this scene is just downright stupid. There's an incredibly awful jump scare towards the end, which will have you rolling your eyes. THE GREEN INFERNO is a decent movie but at the same time it doesn't quite live up to all the hype that people have created for it the past couple years.

Amazing vistas shot Kubrick-like (Think The Shining) are sharp in perfect HD 4k, dizzyingly beautiful forests lay the path ahead – wonderful as a bloody tribesman's foot crosses the view. Cut to a college in the USA. Now, this hi-def is great for seeing leaves on trees in the forest and fleshy, bloody gore, but not so great when used on actors with little to no makeup and without any kind of filter or lens – it seems an oversight until you wonder if it had been Roth's intention. Because here he uses horribly behaved ugly-skinned teens-rude, sullen and hysterical -even using the drugged-up Sky Ferreira as UC roommate Kaycee, obviously way high on screen, to spoiled Daddy's girl, our heroine Justine (Lorenza Izzo) . Slobbering on greasy pizza and stropping through lectures with cold sores, bad hair, peeling zits and huge inverse entitlement, the script is as poor as the characterization as a group of misguided students decides to take on the loggers in Peru, led by the completely narcissistic Alejandro (Ariel Levy), who Justine kind of takes a fancy to despite him being a huge idiot and having a girlfriend who is a complete bitch. Despite this, and egged on by a female circumcision video in class (yes, this movie really does go there) Justine decides to take up a place on the latest planned "direct action". It takes Green Lantern over thirty-five minutes to hit the Peruvian jungle, literally. You'll see. Poor lines with more ham than a pig sandwich add to the jawing discomfort. If this discomfort at the sight and sound of these awful college students is intentional, then Roth is a genius. If not then he's a hack. And I don't know which right now. I know it's a horror trope to hate most of the cast before they start dying – The Descent is a great example of a bunch of stupid people doing exceptionally dumb stuff to end up in peril. So now we can visualize the act heading, written on a matchbook, "Rich idiots get eaten by cannibals". And when the promised cannibal action hits, it's predictable theater, reminiscent but only a third generation faded Xerox of Cannibal Holocaust or Apocalypto. There's nothing groundbreaking in the choreography of scenes, nothing peerless. Every part of the piece seems to be a nod to something else, much like the Grindhouse/Death Proof/Planet Terror projects from Rodriguez/Tarantino that Roth was part of some years back. It's just a little too steeped in its predecessors to come off as anything peerless. When Roth does attempt some groundbreaking it is by going cruelly further than necessary; for example I'm not sure I ever wanted to see sharp objects going up girls parts ever, let alone for entertainment, let alone on the massive screen. There is little tension because we know Roth will go the full way most times. When he doesn't, it seems bland for some reason. There are more indirect ways he creates a narrative – storytelling from offscreen regarding one death is interesting, as the victim's tattoos become Ed Gein-esque play for the native kids. And there's some cooking detail that adds texture. But it needed more, earlier. This movie is not fun. It leaves an icky feeling all over you in many ways; the bad actors, the terrifyingly abandoned setting, the direction given as relentless pain and unhidden messages. It's too much. And if Roth, like Noe, for example, hoped to cause real discomfort he succeeds. The instruments he uses to do this are crude and too obviously on point. I am not sure if all this secondary cerebral effect Roth has created is by accident or design. Anyway round, you will still be thinking about this movie for days after you allow it into your brain. If you dare.

Since Eli Roth broke out on the scene with his indie CABIN FEVER, he's never stopped talking about how much influence Cannibal movies were to him growing up. Well, it didn't translate to his own film. This was laughably bad. Bad writing, acting & directing. The one good thing was the look of the Cannibal tribe. They looked like a remote tribe of cannibals. There are WAY too many issues to list. I'll keep it to 3. 1) A couple ounces of weed stuffed into the mouth of a human, who's then cooked would NOT turn an entire village into goofy messes. Unfortunately, this wasn't just a "dumb" horror film moment. It was a plot point. Roth & his co-writer NEEDED the village to be distracted for 2 of the kids to escape. AND THIS IS WHAT THEY CAME UP WITH? The MAIN problem Roth has is with the villagers. He clearly doesn't know what he wants them to be and he doesn't take a side. The Villagers are shown as victims and just in their actions in some scenes and then barbaric, erratic & just vicious for vicious sake in others. While I understand they are cannibals, Roth doesn't give the audience any clue he knows who they are. They seem to have principles & traditions, then seem to ignore them. They seem to be extremely well organized one moment, and then the 3 Stooges the next. They are expert sharpshooters hitting people 50 yards away through heavy foliage one scene, and the next won't/can't hit a character in the wide open. Why were some humans sedated at the plane crash & why were others bow & arrowed to the head? 2) The Almost female circumcision scene. This scene served no purpose, it was completely "attempted shock" for "attempted shock" purpose and not for anything that in any way made sense. I say "attempted" shock, but nothing happens. It was supposed to make you squirm, but this scene was stupid & shows that not only did Roth NOT know the natives he created, but, IMO, took a massive step BACK as a filmmaker. We are told early in the film's WAY TOO LONG exposition setup, that tribes around the world, including in S. America, view the horrible act of female circumcision as a right of passage from being a girl to being a woman. Horrible but that's what they think. When the humans are brought into the village, they're treated like food. The pigs are kicked out of the pen & the humans put in the pen. Now, either the villagers are truly cannibals or they simply eat the captured people they believe to be enemies. The kids weren't their enemies, but they were wearing the clothes of the construction guys, so they mistake them for their enemy. So, they are either simply eating the kids b/c they're food or that consuming the bodies of the enemies make them stronger. So why on Earth would they care about circumcising their food before they consume it? Why would they care if the lead girl goes from being a "girl" to "woman" before they eat her? Roth goes out of his way to explain that this is a time honored tradition for the natives. Why would they show their food/enemy the same respect they show their blood? Do they circumcise the pigs before they cook them too? No. It was all simply to make the audience wince. And it didn't. 3) Lastly - and most importantly - it wasn't scary. I have to wonder if Roth even ever watched ANY Cannibal movies. Roth may have peaked with HOSTEL. I personally think HOSTEL 2 was better, but I think I'm alone there. This was a huge letdown.

The Green Inferno is a charming little flick, perfect for cozying up and enjoying with the family. Its structured with profound emotion rippling through our hearts as we cheer on a wonderful cast on an adventure into unknown plains. This movie is full of touching moments between broad characters with so much chemistry we cant help but fall in love with them. Its such a joy to see them interact with one another. There is as much stamina in this picture as there is passion. It captures you into its heavily spirited sentiment and never lets go. As the story progresses it only burrows deeper into your soul and leaves you in a state of peaceful wonderment. Don't put off watching this monumental cinematic eye opener any longer.