The Green Inferno - Cannibal Holocaust – the remake

Two questions: have you seen ‘Cannibal Holocaust?’ and ‘Have you heard of Eli Roth?’ Well, ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ is a disturbingly realistic film which many people forget almost single-handedly started the ‘found footage’ genre and Eli Roth is a modern horror writer/director.  Put the two together and you get one hell of a grim bloodbath!

So, as with ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ a group of youngsters end up deep within one of those jungles as yet unexplored by our iphone-wielding generation.  In ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ they were making a documentary (hence the ‘found footage’ aspect), whereas here they’re protesting for some socially just cause and end up crashing their plane.  Once in this uncharted wilderness they encounter a bunch of locals who take quite a shine to them, i.e. they think these youngsters would look great with some fava beans and a nice chianti.  Therefore, our hapless heroes quickly find themselves at the wrong end of a knife and fork and have to figure out a way of escaping before they’re served up for brunch.

Now, Eli Roth has had a bit of a ‘spotted’ career when it comes to his films.  And, when I say ‘spotted’ I basically mean he made one awesome movie which everyone loved (‘Cabin Fever’) and since then almost every one of his films has been met with a certain level of distain.  As a bit of a horror buff, I do tend to watch every movie which has his name on, as I’m certain that one day he’ll recapture his former mojo and prove he wasn’t just a one-hit wonder. 

It’s hardly an inspiring plot, but then if you’re reading this far then you’re not probably not really into deep and meaningful character development or high-concept plot arcs.  You want to know about the blood and guts.  Trust me – you shouldn’t be disappointed there.  It’s fair to say that it’s not that much of a spoiler to say that not all the characters live long and happy lives after leaving the jungle and, when they go, they go in style (and by ‘style’ I mean in the most unspeakably gruesome way possible).  You have the good characters, the bad characters and the scared characters, but – ultimately – all the characters share one trait – you probably won’t really remember any of their names.  If you’ve seen more than a couple of horror movies then you’ll have a pretty good idea which ones are going to live the longest.  Most are just here to end up on the wrong end of a fork!

So, is ‘The Green Inferno’ the film that does this?  No, not really. ‘Cabin Fever’ was witty, different and – of course – bloodthirsty.  It’s a horror classic that still stands up to this day. ‘The Green Inferno’ is simple, nicely disgusting, but nothing that hasn’t really been done before.  I actually kind of enjoyed it (what does that say about me?!) as it’s one of those films where if you’re into the subject material then it’s going to entertain you for an hour and a half.  It’s hardly going to be remembered in the future (like ‘Cannibal Holocaust’) or set any new records for gore, but it’s horror –plain and simple – and if you’re as sick of the found footage genre, or those Japanese ghost-type films which seem to be infesting the genre these days, it makes a pleasant (if bloodthirsty) change from what else is out there.  Maybe Roth was justa one-hit wonder, but he can still entertain a bit as well.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights