The Green Inferno (2013/2016)

"Be careful, the jungle is a dangerous place."

Is it wrong that watching cannibals eat cooked human flesh made me quite hungry?

After campaigning to save the rain forest, a group of student activists find themselves captives of a cannibalistic tribe in the amazon.

Ever since I saw the trailer and read the synopsis for this film I was game. I eagerly watched for the release date to secure myself a ticket to see this enjoyably horrific video nasty throwback. I waited a couple of weeks... Then a couple of months... And before I knew it I had been waiting years for it to surface with a UK release date. 

I avoided all reviews and as many clips as I could to keep it as fresh as 'Cannibal Holocaust' must have been to the first audience that saw that back in 1980. It technically had a 2013 release date but in the UK we are only getting the DVD & Blu Ray release now... in 2016.

Rumours of banning and censorship were bounced around endlessly but, as it turns out, the truth was much less exciting with issues regarding distribution. Not quite the legendary status that 'Cannibal Holocaust', it's original predecessor and inspiration for the film, holds to this day.

The film starts out badly as you'd expect any horror of this level to start. Dreadful exposition, annoying characters and bland development. That being said, in these types of horrors, that's not what you're here for. You aren't looking for subtleties or nuances in performance. At the end of the day, you just want to see these students get fucked up by an angry cannibal tribe in the deep amazon jungle. That's it. So bring me their heads. 

Unfortunately when it does come down to the nitty gritty of it, and as much as it pains me to say, it's not actually that great. 

The idea itself is more terrifying than the delivery of the film. 

The sheer horror of having a cannibalistic tribe take you captive with the very real desire to cook and eat you would make anyone squirm. Unfortunately, it ends up being a very "meh" experience. It's not quite scary enough to be a cold blooded horror and it's not quite extreme enough to ranked among the goriest of horror flicks. This dumps the film in a strange grey area of horror where it lives in limbo and simply washes over you without leaving much of an impact. Not where a horror film wants to sit. 

The gore in the film is decent, its over the top and unflinching which is what these types of movies should be but it's pretty tame compared to some films of the same genre. 

If it had solidly stuck to one side of the fence rather than splitting its efforts then it might have been more effective. With a horror film like this, you need a huge set of balls and to just go all out. Like really go for it. If you're going for gore and shock factor then you better go the whole hog and make us spew in our seats. If you don't go down that route then it better be terrifying. That's a perfect world and I do believe that it is possible to have both in one horror but 'The Green Inferno' doesn't pull it off.

It seems to me like director Eli Roth had a little too much creative control over the film. It's always the same problem with directors who are given the reigns to do what they want and it always becomes a little self indulgent.

The balance of the narrative is way off the mark. It takes a long time to get where it needs to get and say what it needs to say. If it's a slow burn horror then that's great but when you're spending valuable cannibal time with some frustratingly irritating characters then the clock starts ticking. The tension just isn't strong enough to justify the drawn out story at the beginning. 

What I did enjoy about the film was the way it approached the tribe itself. There is a certain level of respect for them, albeit in the context of them being cannibalistic murderers, but it's dealing with the idea that we are just as, often more, savage than the tribe that is committing these atrocities. We are destroying the rainforest for profit and murdering tribes who have lived in these parts for hundreds if not thousands of years.

It takes a solemn look at female genital mutilation and, tragically, how it's still carried out today. It brings to light a different culture to our own that, on the surface, seems a million years behind our own society but when you look deeper you realise we are not that different. The brutalities are the same, just on different levels. After some research it's hard to believe that female genital mutilation actually still happens in some parts of the UK. 

'The Green Inferno' touches on some interesting ideas but, ultimately, doesn't deliver 100% on all the aspects that make these types of horrors a thing of myth and legend. It has gore but nothing ground breaking, it has tension but not enough to make you squirm and it's nasty but not as nasty as it could have (and should have) been. 

Worth the wait?
Not really. Your time would probably be better spent watching the original 'Cannibal Holocaust' if you're in need of some good ole fashioned human BBQ.