Mesmerizing Yarn
Added 9/22/2009
This is a fascinating movie with numerous plot twists and surprises. When the tale of cannibalism is first revealed in the story, a background flute-melody is played. This stands out for me because it made it so darn creepy somehow...
It is hard to write much about this movie without ruining it for those who plan to watch it, but suffice it to say it is one heck of an interesting flick with a lot of shocking surprises and a very creepy undertone to it all. The characters that survive devolve into ghoulish loons, making a cauldron of human stew towards the end of the movie.
The interweaving themes of cannibalism and insanity illustrated an exaggerated yet valid point I was trying to make on my 'herbivore central' blog so I included it in my last entry there.
I can't stress enough what a weird yet cool movie this is. Recommend to all.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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A Dark, Hypnotic Movie
Added 3/11/2009
This movie really does defy classification. It is NOT a black comedy, it's not meant to be funny. And it is not a horror film in the sense of a slasher/gore film. Although there is quite a bit of blood, and yes the characters are cannibals, the violence was not gratuitous or even the main focus of the movie. The movie just has too much depth to be consigned to the horror genre.
Guy Pearce's character's weakness and is foiled beautifully off the manic power of Carlyle's character. And in the final scene there is a moment between the characters that has a kind of raw, magnetic, almost sexual, tension between the two characters. It's a window into human nature encapsulated by a frame of violence, the eye of the storm that for one moment lets you glimpse the oddly visceral connection between predator and prey, between one human and another. But which is the predator and which the prey? And don't we all have a little of both inside us?
I'm starting to ramble, but you can see that this is a movie that leaves deep impressions. It's captivating and you can't take your eyes off the screen. It is a brilliant study of human nature.
Buy this DVD! You won't be disappointed.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Awesome movie
Added 12/31/2008
This movie slipped by alot of people when released.
It's a great western with a sick twist.
Part of what makes it so great is the off beat sound track and crazy musical scores that undermine the story line adding to the whole insanity of it all.
This is one good flick.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Best Darn Cannibal Western Ever Made
Added 12/18/2008
A cannibal Western starring Guy Pierce and Robert Carlisle. If blood bothers you, stay away, but if you like smart, funny, mythic, scary, beautifully made movies, this is one. Every part of this movie works.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Which to use? "The smell of meat cooking...I thanked the Lord." or "It's lonely being a cannibal...tough making friends."
Added 11/16/2008
Some think trooper is best prepared boiled, with turnips, potatoes and cabbage. Others recommend that trooper be slow braised in red wine and onions, a kind of trooper bourguignon, which will produce a deep red sauce. Most, however, speak to trooper served simply, with a slight dusting of salt if available, and as fresh as can be.
--From Recipes for the Ravenous, from Ribald Rangers to Raw Recruits
With the exception of the last 10 minutes, Ravenous is a fine movie, full of revoltingly intelligent horror, with a disgustingly vivid storyline and nauseatingly moist close-ups. It's one of the best-photographed movies I've seen in a long time, and not just because of the entrails and caked blood. The movie looks cold to the bone, even inside the snow-laden huts and buildings that make up isolated Fort Spencer. The director, Antonia Bird, gives us strong story telling. The horror and the prospects of what we'll see are matched with restrained plotting and persuasive acting. The situation is outlandish and we can't help but smile at how cleverly Bird serves it up on a plate for us. At the same time, what happens to the characters isn't funny at all. It's Grand Guignol in the snow.
The movie is set in the late 1840's, high in the California Sierra Nevada mountains. Fort Spencer is a small outpost, with only eight men. Three are important to us. The rest are important for other reasons. There's Captain Boyd (Guy Pearce), who was a coward in the Mexican-American War. He wound up in a pile of corpses, their blood tricking into his mouth, but eventually did a heroic deed. He was awarded a medal and then promptly sent to the isolated Fort Spencer. There's Colonel Hart (Jeffrey Jones), the commanding officer of the detachment's seven men. And there is the ragged man (Robert Carlyle) who, one frigid night, nearly out of his mind and nearly dead of the cold, staggers to the fort. He says he is F. W. Colqhoun. He has quite a tale to tell. Part of it is true. The other part? Think of an old Indian legend that when one dines on another person, one gathers in that other person's strength. A bite of liver, a chew of thigh will set up a man for days with good humor and virility...heals wounds and cures sickness, too.
Whether California will be populated by settlers and gold prospectors or by military cannibals depends on a coward who is trying to fight his inclinations. That brings us to the showdown battle between two men who, having dined recently, have great strength. It's a battle that is loaded with big-fight, gruesome clichés. The movie is so sly and original that it's a shame it is stuck with a climax that is so predictably groan-slash-slice-stab-squirt. The final scene, involving a general and a pot of stew, seemed to me to be just a cheap final laugh. It made pointless Colonel Hart's integrity and Captain Boyd's bravery. It undercut the reason for the two men's final actions.
Robert Carlyle chews the snowy scenery but he's a fine actor. Guy Pearce has the tough job of being a frightened coward, yet brave and honorable when it comes down to it. Jeffrey Jones' as Colonel Hart gives the most intriguing performance, in my view. Hart looks like a disintegrating, heavy-set buffoon when we first meet him. He turns out to be a competent, thoughtful, well-educated officer who knows his men, knows himself and knows his job. And he knows the horror he's become. Jones gives a dramatic, ironic, likeable performance.
Ravenous is a first-class movie with a second-class ending.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Mesmerizing Yarn
Added 9/22/2009
This is a fascinating movie with numerous plot twists and surprises. When the tale of cannibalism is first revealed in the story, a background flute-melody is played. This stands out for me because it made it so darn creepy somehow...
It is hard to write much about this movie without ruining it for those who plan to watch it, but suffice it to say it is one heck of an interesting flick with a lot of shocking surprises and a very creepy undertone to it all. The characters that survive devolve into ghoulish loons, making a cauldron of human stew towards the end of the movie.
The interweaving themes of cannibalism and insanity illustrated an exaggerated yet valid point I was trying to make on my 'herbivore central' blog so I included it in my last entry there.
I can't stress enough what a weird yet cool movie this is. Recommend to all.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
A Dark, Hypnotic Movie
Added 3/11/2009
This movie really does defy classification. It is NOT a black comedy, it's not meant to be funny. And it is not a horror film in the sense of a slasher/gore film. Although there is quite a bit of blood, and yes the characters are cannibals, the violence was not gratuitous or even the main focus of the movie. The movie just has too much depth to be consigned to the horror genre.
Guy Pearce's character's weakness and is foiled beautifully off the manic power of Carlyle's character. And in the final scene there is a moment between the characters that has a kind of raw, magnetic, almost sexual, tension between the two characters. It's a window into human nature encapsulated by a frame of violence, the eye of the storm that for one moment lets you glimpse the oddly visceral connection between predator and prey, between one human and another. But which is the predator and which the prey? And don't we all have a little of both inside us?
I'm starting to ramble, but you can see that this is a movie that leaves deep impressions. It's captivating and you can't take your eyes off the screen. It is a brilliant study of human nature.
Buy this DVD! You won't be disappointed.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
Awesome movie
Added 12/31/2008
This movie slipped by alot of people when released.
It's a great western with a sick twist.
Part of what makes it so great is the off beat sound track and crazy musical scores that undermine the story line adding to the whole insanity of it all.
This is one good flick.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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