The world doesn’t have enough cannibal movies nowadays. And I’m not talking about movies that use cannibalism as a clever plot twist. Plenty of slasher movies wink at you and say “Cannibals? Well, haha lol jk……maayyyyybe?” I’m talking about movies where the entire plot is “Well shit, they’re cannibals.”
The world also doesn’t have enough Eli Roth movies. Roth, whose last major directorial effort was the underappreciated Hostel Part II, has been busy drinking champagne and floating in a pool made entirely of Quentin Tarantino’s dreams. Sure, he co-wrote and acted in the decent earthquake thriller Aftershock, produced the great The Last Exorcism, and also co-wrote and produced the entertaining, but flawed The Man With The Iron Fists, but I’ve been waiting for a full on Eli Roth effort. That’s partly because I think he’s talented, and partly because I genuinely like the guy. In every Eli Roth interview, he seems to be on the verge of exploding into a 40-minute rant about how great a certain exploitation movie is, and I can appreciate that kind of enthusiasm in a world where enthusiasm has been replaced by a series of “mehs” and irony.
It’s only right that, sensing this lack in two major properties in the Earth’s natural balance, God brought Roth and cannibal movies together for The Green Inferno.
This trailer doesn’t reveal much, but it’s creepy. It’s the kind of horror trailer that needs to be done more often, one that is quiet and intense. I don’t need heavy, bombastic music to play behind the girl’s screams. Her cries are more than enough. I also like the fact that it brings up, in the end, that the film was shot on location and the native tribe had never been featured on film before. That might not matter much to some, but I think it’s cool. It doesn’t necessarily add legitimacy to the cannibalism you see, but it’s better than, “Here’s a movie filmed in Peru, about another culture, brought to you exclusively by wealthy white people.”
Ruggero Deodato would be proud.
The Green Inferno is set to be released on September 5, 2014.
