The Green Inferno

Halloween is getting closer, and you know that means. We get to dress up like our favourite characters, who filled us all with love and happiness for many generations. Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Leatherface, Pinhead, Freddy Krueger, all those wonderful personalities who made the good old days shine so bright. As time flies by, you understand why you suddenly appreciate the old school slashers, butcher films from the 70´s , 80´s and 90´s. They had so many wonderful ideas, to bring to the big screen. Let´s loose up some limbs, how about some more flesh wounds ? Let´s not forget the classic chainsaw, if something would embrace world peace, it would be to see Leatherface running out in the fields of Texas, fixing the next family meal. Horror films is a very important deal, especially during Halloween weekend. Especially in America, where this is massive. Here in Sweden we do celebrate Halloween also, but we don´t celebrate like we should have done. No demon exorcism rituals, no chopping off heads of withces, you know, those good old traditions that people seem to forget. But thankfully we do have directors who try and bring some of that feeling back. How many of you have seen The Last Exorcism ? A really good horror film, that finally gave the exorcism genre a push up, to a better quality level, than the usual release. I suggest you skip the sequel, simply because the first film showed what an exorcism film should look and sound like. A great film to play on dvd or blu ray this Halloween, or you could go with the classic cult film Halloween, by director John Carpenter from 1976. One of the greatest horror classics at this time of year. I do have another recommendation, if you like B horror films. Have anyone of you seen the low budget horror film Cabin Fever ? A slasher directed by Eli Roth, the man most people know as the director of Hostel, that became successful worldwide. Eli Roth have been involved in many different film projects, mostly as an producer. His passion for B horror movies is very wide, and i listened to him talking about his passion for Cannon Films from the 80´s in an interview. This proves that he does have a good taste of quality. His latest film called The Green Inferno, was supposed to be released a long time ago, but because of problems with finding a distributor, it took longer than expected. Now it is finally out, and i had the chance to see it quite early. Is Eli Roth back in a positive way, bringing back the cannibal genre to the screen, or should he have stayed making another slasher instead ?

Justine ( Lorenzo Izzo ) is a university student, struggling to get through her studies. Her friend and roommate Kaycee ( Sky Ferreira ) makes sure that they both have a good time together. When Justine becomes curious about an social activist group, led by an older student named Alejandro ( Ariel Levy ) and his girlfriend Kara ( Ignacia Allamand ). One of the members of this social activist group, Jonah ( Aaron Burns ), suggest that Justine should join in the group. At first she is not sure, since she does not feel welcome. But Jonah keep trying to convince her, as she finally agree to join. The activist group is planning a trip down to Amazon forest in Peru, to protest against corporations, cutting down trees. As they arrive to their selected location, they begin their protest. It does not go as they planned, and they are taken away from the location by the corporation security. They are forced to travel back home. As their trip back begins, the plane suffer from technical problems, and they eventually crash into the Amazon forest. With only a few survivors, that managed to survive the crash, they begin to find their way into the jungle. Suddenly they are attacked by a tribe, who poison them all with darts. As Justine wakes up, she find herself being taken away in a cannot, as they are heading towards a village. This tribe is hungry for human flesh, and they plan to eat every single one the visitors, unless someone can manage to escape ?

It is not often you see a real cannibal film released in these days. Back in the 70´s and 80´s we had some really classics released, anyone remember Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal Ferox ? These were very small budget films, but managed to keep the shock level, by using small important details. We have the cannibal flesh eating tribes, that of course feast on the prisoners, found in the jungle. And we also had the grindhouse feeling wrapped into these films, mixed with classic horror ingredients. The Green Inferno is actually one of the few cannibal films that i have seen released in many years. So for that i will give director Eli Roth some respect, trying to bring back this genre back on the screen. But i would like to bring something up, before we go into the great parts of this film. The acting in the first 40 minutes are really bad. Honestly, the so called peace activist are not good at trying to look like a peace group. They feel more like a gang of friends, who just took these roles, just to get a pay check. When we finally get to the jungle, an the cannibals begin to feed on their flesh, we finally get some acting, especially from the tribe, they actually deliver more than any of the bigger cast. The gore is nice indeed, once the body parts begin to be removed, you can feel that director Eli Roth wanted to try and bring back the feeling of classic cannibal films. As most of you know, Eli Roth is mostly known for Hostel. This film became a classic in many ways, because it included a lot of gore, and brutality. The Green Inferno does deliver some nice gore scenes, but since the first 40 minutes feel uninspired, this film could have been a lot better, if those 40 minutes would have been constructed different. Main actress Lorenza Izzos performance begins pretty lame, but she improve herself, and show that she can act, especially when she and her peace activists are captured as prisoners. Does anyone remember the child actor Daryl Sabara ? If you have seen the Spy Kids films, remember the young boy who was fighting against evil ? Here he is now an adult, trying to do a more serious film role. He is ok, but not much more. The strength of The Green Inferno is definitely the tribe. There are some disturbing scenes here for the weak hearted, but if you like this kind of thing, you might enjoy the brutality. I am disappointed, that this film did not deliver more. The first 40 minutes should have been a lot better. In the end, i still appreciate The Green Inferno for bringing back classic cannibal horror. The gore scenes makes it all worth the wait, but we should have had much more. Still, if you look at the whole picture, this is a disturbing look at a cannibal tribe. And that is the reason why you find yourself enjoying the rest of the film. If you appreciate the earlier films from Eli Roth, don´t expect to see as much gore as Hostel. But give this film a try, even if you might be disappointed. 

Rating: DDD