THE GREEN INFERNO
When I first heard about The Green Inferno, I had absolutely no desire to watch it. I had heard that it was a sort of homage/loose remake to Cannibal Holocaust. I have avoided that film due to the sickening actual murders of animals that are part of that film. While I was sure there would be none of this in The Green Inferno, I didn’t want to watch fake animal murders either. However, I was intrigued by trailers I was seeing and once I heard there was no animal murder (real or fake) I decided to watch it.
The Green Inferno was written and directed by Eli Roth and shot in Peru, Chili, and NYC in 2013. The story follows a group of college students on their journey to the Amazon. The students have heard that there is a company set to come in and hack down the rain forest. The kids form a group and travel there in an effort to thwart the destruction. After it appears they have successfully reached their goal, they get back on a plane to go home.
Unfortunately, the plane crashes and the same people they set out to help find them and think they are the enemy. The kids must now fight for their lives as these villagers are cannibals and head hunters.
I must say The Green Inferno was far less brutal than I’d imagined. It is no doubt a horror film to some degree but it is also a sort of action thriller. I never found myself frightened just shocked now and then. What I found most interesting about this film and what I feel is its charm is its authenticity. This is a film about and set in a foreign location. The charm part is that it is actually filmed where it’s set. There is a cast, but the villagers are all played by Peruvian farmers. These farmers are the people who have lived if not all of their lives , most of their lives in the village in which this movie was shot.
These people who had never seen a television or a movie agreed to allow Eli & his cast and crew to shoot the film in their home. Even more amazing is the fact that while Eli wanted to pay them in actual money, these people lived in a village so remote they’d probably never get out to spend their earnings. So he asked them how he could pay them. They asked for tin roofs for all one hundred of their huts to protect them during rainy season. Tin roofs is what they got!
I also fell in love with the little Peruvian girl whose character forms a special bond with one of the college students. That said this isn’t the best, bloodiest or most brutal horror film I’ve ever seen. It is definitely not Eli Roth’s scariest but if you are fan of his you will want to see it. The Green Inferno has its charms. It is available to stream on Amazon.
