The Green Inferno (2013) Review

Eli Roth has been busy in the world of film, but not in the field of directing. He has produced the brilliant The Last Exorcism back in 2010, but hasn’t really been involved. But now, we see the return of Eli Roth back in the director’s chair with his cannibal horror The Green Inferno. The story follows a bunch of New York students who plan to save a tribe in the Amazon rainforest from bulldozers, but then their plane crashes and then their worst fears become true and are taken hostage by this tribe. Their day gets even worse when they find out that they are all blood thirsty cannibal maniacs!

Before I even watched the film, I knew this project means something to Eli Roth, the sound of the word ‘Cannibal’ echoes in your ears and reminds you of the infamous ‘Cannibal Holocaust’, the well-known Italian horror from the 80’s which was banned for many years. And after watching The Green Inferno, you can tell this is Eli Roth’s homage to the film. Eli Roth pulls it off though; starting off in a traditional horror film when you are introduced to the main characters and you see quite a few gags, but ultimately, you know what is coming.

The Green Inferno isn’t necessarily scary, it’s more disturbed, which we have all become accustom with Eli Roth’s work. The film is shot superbly well, using the beautiful rainforest in Chile & Peru to his advantage and surprisingly pulls off a beautifully made horror film, which is very ironic! It does take a little while to get to the point of the film, which is obviously the cannibal tribe, but in the bite size chunks that you get, it’s well worth the wait, and they really don’t hold back! Eyeballs gauged body parts chopped off and blood drinking; this is certainly one of the most disturbing films that I have seen in a long time, but I really enjoyed it!

The cannibal tribe are absolutely terrifying, especially that they aren’t all actors; they definitely made me shit my pants! But, the one thing that did annoy me, which seems to annoy me all the time, is that the lead characters are very annoying. I felt like screaming ‘Kill them already’ in the screening this morning. It’s very hard to find faults with the film, it’s a film that I’ve been waiting for a while for, and I wasn’t let down.

Unfortunately, I can’t see it getting a major release, which seems to be the case for all good horror films nowadays, but it’s something everyone should check out. Especially if you are fans of Cannibal Holocaust; Eli Roth returns to form with The Green Inferno, 3.5 out of 5 stars.