Green Inferno. A gory good time.

A word of warning: This movie is not for everyone. It's especially not for the faint of heart or the easily disturbed. Social Justice Warrior slacktivists beware! You will be mocked throughout this film and you will be indicted for the lazy-ass "occupy" "Kony" "spread the meme" bullshit that currently permeates this pathetic excuse for a society we currently live in. So if you are an easily offended little punk fuck-nugget who can't help but feel offended for the slightest perception of an insult, you may want to the avoid this film like the plague.

Eli Roth is back after a ten year hiatus from the Director's chair and returns with a cannibal jungle film that doesn't pull any punches on the gore. Green Inferno takes it's influence from Cannibal Holocaust, Cannibal Ferox, and other Italian shock films- so while there's nothing new here in the initial premise, the honest truth is that it's like nothing we are currently seeing in the horror genre these days. Every blood curdling moment is caught in daylight and played at for squeamish delight. 

The central plot of the film is that a bunch of college students make their way to Peru in order to organize a protest and protect the indigenous tribe threatened by greedy industrialists. The problem is that these kids are essentially idealistically driven fools driven by ill-conceived notions of saving the world. Justine (Lorenzo Izzo) joins the group after having been traumatized in a lecture about female genital mutilation and it just so happens that her father works for the U.N. and his answers fail to satisfy her desire to "do something". To make a long story short, their plane crashes in the middle of the Rain Forest and the teens encounter the very tribe they've come to help.

The film is going to draw a lot of criticism with the way Roth has chosen to portray the Natives- the tribe are cannibal head hunters who have no contact with the outside world. They're uncivilized, alien, and savage- a stereotype that's often been set in contrast with the Great White Hunter. Roth, however, sets another contrast here- The Great White Fool. The Tribe is brutal and unaware of the world around them, while the protesters are shown to be selfish, naive, and too "aware" and judgmental of the world they don't understand. And in that way, this horror film works as gory satire.

Regarding the violence:  KNB and Greg Nicotero have a gory great time with the blood, the mutilation, and the horror- but that's really only part of it. The truth is that the actors are very good and the first major death scene is downright haunting as the character's screams and crying increase, intensify, vary in pitch, and drag through a rough scene that ends another character commenting on the smell of the roasting flesh. This is a cruel film. But if you can take it, then I highly recommend it for the horror fans out there. But with one note- blood changes color as it dries and some characters are streaked with blood from the plane crash several hours later, and it looks as fresh as the moment of their crash. A little oversight, perhaps... or a creative choice. But worth noting.

4 out of 5.