A good friend with a love of horror films literally could not find one person to attend a screening of The Green Inferno with him, so I knuckled under and joined him. He owes me big time.
For those not in the know, The Green Inferno, Eli Roth's latest steaming pile of fecal matter, centers on a group of well-meaning college student, led by Ariel Levy, who venture into the Amazonian jungle to protest the destruction of the rain forest and its indigenous tribes by ruthless corporations. On the way back, their plane crashes into the jungle and they find themselves at the mercy of a terrifying tribe of cannibals. Oh, you can just cut the irony with a knife.
To say that I am not a fan of Eli Roth would be an understatement. One of the great tragedies of modern cinema is that filmmakers of true talent cannot seem to get funding for worthwhile projects, but somehow a hack like Roth manages to get a national release for dreck like this "film". This is Roth's homage to that long overlooked subgenre – the cannibal film – and grindhouse epics like Cannibal Holocaust. Given that 98% of filmgoers have no knowledge of these films or much knowledge of this subgenre and that no one has exactly been clamoring for its resurgence at the cinema, I am hard-pressed to figure out how Roth got any interest drummed up here, other than the most deprived of gore fanatics.
Forget things like story or sympathetic characters, Roth has no time for such foolishness. His energies are all reserved for how graphic and stomach-turning he can make his gore. This story pretty much unfolds like all his others. A group of young people exit their comfort zone in a foreign environment and pay the penalty. He seems to have some personal axe to grind against "armchair activists", but is completely clueless that the very act of these people traveling into the unknown to protest deforestation makes them anything BUT armchair activists. If the targets of the tribe's animosity were the corporate representatives behind the destruction, one could posit that this was some kind of vengeance tale against corporate greed, but such a theme seems beyond Roth and company. He seems to actively dislike anyone who takes a stand on an issue and wants them punished. His feelings are pretty much vocalized by the roommate of the leading lady, who chastises her for activism and preaches introversion and selfishness. Or at least it seems so – but it could also be the distractingly horrible performance by Sky Ferreira, who speaks as if joining us from another dimension where speaking is barely a hobby. Additionally, he seems to find all foreign people objects of suspicion or terror.
Not surprisingly, Roth cannot make us care about what happens to anyone in this cast. An actor's director he is not. The only face I recognized was Daryl Sabara (formerly of Spy Kids) as the stoner in the group. His big moment is flashing some full frontal nudity, while nearly having his privates attacked by a tarantula. He should fire his agent post-haste. Lorenza Izzo has the central role and given that she is the director's fiancée/wife, it is not surprisingly that her acting is lacking. The only other role of note is Levy as the leader of the group, but given that he plays the part from the start as a major sleaze, it is hard to fathom the heroine's attraction to him and it renders the "twist" of his motivations completely unsurprising.
For the duration of the running time, people are torn apart, have their eyes gouged out and eaten, are vivisected, etc., apparently all to Roth's glee. When you think it cannot get much worse, Roth actually introduces the potential of female genital mutilation for good measure, apparently proving there is just no gutter too low. He punctuates everything with unwelcome bursts of puerile humor, such as when a vegan realizes she is eating her friend or someone has explosive diarrhea. Oh the hilarity! Meanwhile, the film sports some of the ugliest cinematography in recent memory.
This is a film that is truly ugly inside and out. Roth seems to actually detest the people who populate his films, especially if they have good intentions. In fact, he may well detest people in general since he unleashes films like this godforsaken mess on them. It is incompetently directed and written – Roth has no notion of build-up or sustained suspense. He fails to grasp that there is a huge difference between scaring a viewer and repulsing them. Rumor has it he has been hired to helm the big budget version of the bestseller Meg, which is head-scratching since Roth fails to prove he can handle a big budget, actors, or even the very basics of storytelling. One can only assume that film will just feature two hours of Roth's camera focusing on chum and innards floating in the water because that is all he has demonstrated he is capable of.
For those not in the know, The Green Inferno, Eli Roth's latest steaming pile of fecal matter, centers on a group of well-meaning college student, led by Ariel Levy, who venture into the Amazonian jungle to protest the destruction of the rain forest and its indigenous tribes by ruthless corporations. On the way back, their plane crashes into the jungle and they find themselves at the mercy of a terrifying tribe of cannibals. Oh, you can just cut the irony with a knife.
To say that I am not a fan of Eli Roth would be an understatement. One of the great tragedies of modern cinema is that filmmakers of true talent cannot seem to get funding for worthwhile projects, but somehow a hack like Roth manages to get a national release for dreck like this "film". This is Roth's homage to that long overlooked subgenre – the cannibal film – and grindhouse epics like Cannibal Holocaust. Given that 98% of filmgoers have no knowledge of these films or much knowledge of this subgenre and that no one has exactly been clamoring for its resurgence at the cinema, I am hard-pressed to figure out how Roth got any interest drummed up here, other than the most deprived of gore fanatics.
Forget things like story or sympathetic characters, Roth has no time for such foolishness. His energies are all reserved for how graphic and stomach-turning he can make his gore. This story pretty much unfolds like all his others. A group of young people exit their comfort zone in a foreign environment and pay the penalty. He seems to have some personal axe to grind against "armchair activists", but is completely clueless that the very act of these people traveling into the unknown to protest deforestation makes them anything BUT armchair activists. If the targets of the tribe's animosity were the corporate representatives behind the destruction, one could posit that this was some kind of vengeance tale against corporate greed, but such a theme seems beyond Roth and company. He seems to actively dislike anyone who takes a stand on an issue and wants them punished. His feelings are pretty much vocalized by the roommate of the leading lady, who chastises her for activism and preaches introversion and selfishness. Or at least it seems so – but it could also be the distractingly horrible performance by Sky Ferreira, who speaks as if joining us from another dimension where speaking is barely a hobby. Additionally, he seems to find all foreign people objects of suspicion or terror.
Not surprisingly, Roth cannot make us care about what happens to anyone in this cast. An actor's director he is not. The only face I recognized was Daryl Sabara (formerly of Spy Kids) as the stoner in the group. His big moment is flashing some full frontal nudity, while nearly having his privates attacked by a tarantula. He should fire his agent post-haste. Lorenza Izzo has the central role and given that she is the director's fiancée/wife, it is not surprisingly that her acting is lacking. The only other role of note is Levy as the leader of the group, but given that he plays the part from the start as a major sleaze, it is hard to fathom the heroine's attraction to him and it renders the "twist" of his motivations completely unsurprising.
For the duration of the running time, people are torn apart, have their eyes gouged out and eaten, are vivisected, etc., apparently all to Roth's glee. When you think it cannot get much worse, Roth actually introduces the potential of female genital mutilation for good measure, apparently proving there is just no gutter too low. He punctuates everything with unwelcome bursts of puerile humor, such as when a vegan realizes she is eating her friend or someone has explosive diarrhea. Oh the hilarity! Meanwhile, the film sports some of the ugliest cinematography in recent memory.
This is a film that is truly ugly inside and out. Roth seems to actually detest the people who populate his films, especially if they have good intentions. In fact, he may well detest people in general since he unleashes films like this godforsaken mess on them. It is incompetently directed and written – Roth has no notion of build-up or sustained suspense. He fails to grasp that there is a huge difference between scaring a viewer and repulsing them. Rumor has it he has been hired to helm the big budget version of the bestseller Meg, which is head-scratching since Roth fails to prove he can handle a big budget, actors, or even the very basics of storytelling. One can only assume that film will just feature two hours of Roth's camera focusing on chum and innards floating in the water because that is all he has demonstrated he is capable of.