THE GREEN INFERNO – Here is my opinion of Eli Roth's 'The Green Inferno'. It's not very good, it doesn't hold a candle to (many of) the original cannibal cycle, and it strikes me as the kind of film which, had it been directed by a comparative unknown, would've ended up ultimately as a £1 random purchase used to bulk out a lonely post-work CEX binge. For me, that is. To go back to the whole cannibal homage thing, 'per Deodato'. Well, I'm no expert of course, but 'The Green Inferno' seems like quite a measly tribute if you ask me. This is coming from someone who doesn't have a particular investment in glorifying the likes of 'Cannibal Holocaust' or '...Ferox' etc, films which I believe are still effective within a certain bandwidth, but which are overrated, not to mention over-revered. Eli Roth might be a partaker in that kind of rabid fan worship for all I know, but, beyond the basic set up and a bunch of references which probably escape me, 'The Green Inferno' doesn't feel like an exercise in either nostalgia, renewal or revisionism. It feels like a low budget, direct to dvd mid-range horror film which only distinguishes itself through a couple of excessive moments, a shot on digital plodder which uses cannibal territory to do away with another consignment of irritating young Americans. I didn't pick up on any kind of directorial signature from Roth, beyond, perhaps, the insistence on there being an annoying amount of chat before the horror kicks in: other filmmakers might frame this kind of build up in terms of character development or atmospheric scene setting, but all we get is an unnecessarily lengthy run down on the motivations of the focal players. It does feel similar to his other films in that a bunch of post-collegiate whiners find themselves out on a limb in hostile territory, but that's like saying it resembles lots and lots of other flicks. It irritated me that Roth chose political activists for his herd of ready meals – I don't know what he was trying to say, beyond attempting to garner cheap mass audience affirmation as to who can be made to look annoying, therefore fit for radical consumption. I suppose, on the other side of the fence, there are reasons for watching 'The Green Inferno'. It's not a bad film (but it is mediocre), it throws in a bit of splatter, there's no actual animal violence and the latter half is reasonably compelling in a by the numbers way. I don't really like any of Roth's films apart from the sadistic 'Hostel 2', and 'The Green Inferno' didn't alter my opinion of his journeyman talent.
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