As most of you know by now, Eli Roth's newest film, THE GREEN INFERNO, finally got picked up for distribution and has a new theatrical release date of September 25th. Hopefully it will be a wide release so we will all have a chance to see it. I haven't been this excited for a horror film in a long time!
A new trailer was recently released, check it out and then let me know what you think of it. Do you plan on seeing THE GREEN INFERNO in the theater?
CLICK HERE to watch the trailer
Hi Hudson, I don't know if you've had a chance to see this one but I finally caught it last week and was really expecting a neo-classic from an obvious fan of the cannibal mini-genre. So disappointed to rate it only as so-so!
ReplyDeleteFor a movie championed as a homage to Mr. Deodato it falls pretty flat - and the last 20 minutes really drag... Drag? The last reel is when you dump the proverbial kitchen sink in an exploitation flick! No cannibal traps in the jungle? No piranhas? I was waiting for references aplenty - characters named "Mike" or the teacher being "Dr. Monroe" or something like that - sheesh, even "Hostel 2" had more genre in-jokes! I think this movie fell under the problematic "didn't know it's audience" web. Too gory and unapproachable for mainstream audiences who'd assume Umberto Lenzi is a brand of cologne and too mainstream for the tiny pigeonhole of Italian cannibal genre fans who want a definitive "Cannibal Holocaust II" with pig guts dripping down the screen in 4D definition. And the CGI was so bad I really just wish they cut that idiotic scene out entirely - it would have made just as much sense.
This film gave me exactly the deja vú I felt after I saw the Rodriguez/Tarantino "Grindhouse" - a double feature I was SO excited to see... but it too was too lost in obscurity to find an audience! No one who actually saw a grinder on 46th St. really gave a shit about either of the painfully computer-degraded flicks (maybe you could argue for "Death Proof" which I admittedly liked a whole lot more) and the mainstream "Kill Bill"/"Sin City" audience was confused with the dubbing, funny sound and film scratches, etc. I think that is why old codgers like me hold the late 70/early 80s Italian horror/grindhouse revolution so dearly in our hearts because it simply will never happen again in celluloid. A bunch of crazy Italians running around New York with no permits shooting unknowing crowds and getting that 35mm film actually processed somewhere - they needed lights, booms, gaffers, and translators. Nothing digital. Nothing green-screened. Sure we get new ultra-violent straight-to-DVD/Netflix horror every week but these are all shot digitally with bought-on-Amazon HD cameras and no computer effect will mimic the light-to-film grit that the old projectors conveyed.
OK I am off my curmudgeon soapbox. In short, "Green Inferno" was pretty lame, aside from having a pretty attractive female star (Eli's wife, 'natch) is ultimately forgettable. Sadly, a way better cannibal flick is one I used to apologize for liking to my weird clan of friends... yet I can recommend today as being way more guttural and played-straight - (2007?) "Welcome To The Jungle". I revisited it after watching Roth's latest and thoroughly enjoyed it once again... found footage, no one lives, pole through the mouth... why am I watching this?