Ravenous

Antonia Bird's "Ravenous" is one of the finest low-budget horror movies of recent years.It's a brilliant mix of cannibalism,gruesome gore,sly black humour and quasi-philosophy.The script by Ted Griffin is absolutely stupendous.It's an irresistible blend of Native American legend(you absorb the strength or spirit of who you eat),the Donner tragedy,and the story of Sawney Bean.Bean with his wife and his numerous offspring,dwelt in a cave in Galloway,Scotland,during the sixteenth century.The family cave was close to the sea and they lived by highway robbery:ambushing,killing and then eating passers-by.Any parts of the body which they were not able to eat once were pickled in brine or hung in their cave.Over a period of twenty-five years it was proved that Bean and his family were estimated to have killed and eaten more than a thousand people.The acting is wonderful-Guy Pearce shines in a difficult role as a Lieutant John Boyd."Ravenous" was shot in the Czech Republic and Slovakia,and the landscape and climate is put to fantastic use.The score by Damon Albarn(of British band Blur)and Michael Nyman is very spooky and atmospheric.The film is loaded with brutal violence and gore,so if you're squeamish give it a miss.However if you're a horror fan with a taste for something dark and sinister,then you're in for a rare treat.Highly recommended.

A genuinely unique little gem that seems quite un-Hollywoody.

A macabrely humorous horror-thriller with an odd mix of English/American/Australian character actors (all talented) who clearly relish their performances in this twisted little tale which is told on an epic canvas.

The film's score is a bizarre but perfect fit - adding another unusual character to the mix. A stroke of bold genius by Michael Nyman (the brilliant composer of "The Piano"). The score has been nominated for several awards.

Hard to imagine 20th Century Fox's reaction when they saw the final film and needed to market it... But there's plenty to enjoy here. 8 out of 10!

I love cinema. I mean, I truly LOVE cinema but sometimes you have the face the fact that it can be a pretty hypocrite business from time to time. Especially since the last ten years, everybody complains that there aren't any good horror movies being made. Only uninspired Scream clones and rip-off's. But that is a lie !! There are good and original thriller being made but they just don't get many attention because they are "politically incorrect". Ravenous is a perfect example of this. Made in 1999 and it stars a few familiar faces but it went straight to video in my country and I never saw it advertised. That's a real shame because movies like this prove that there are still young directors active who're creative and talented. It's up to the fans to discover movies like this and ignore the overload of mainstream slashers.

Ravenous has a very solid plot. simple but effective and supported by terrific acting performances. It shows a few of the darkest aspects of the human mind and, personally, I'm really intrigued by that. Subjects like Cannibalism and ancient Indian mythes are fascinating and when they're placed in a historical setting ( Mexican-American was of 1850 ) it even becomes better. This results in Ravenous being a very atmospheric and tense movie experience that you won't forget easily. The tension is built up slowly ( a bit too slow at first ) and the atmosphere of the cold and lonely Sierra Nevada is being portrayed very well. Guy Pierce is a great choice to play Captain John Boyd. His character is a cowardly figure with a complete lack of authority. He has to go through a battle himself and he's very messed up. The shows is obviously stolen by Robert Carlyle who is used to working with director Antonia Bird. His character is demonic and - duh - ravenous. A terrific performance and Carlyle manages to play his character with a lot of black humor and satanic charisma. David Arquette's role is pretty useless but it was great to see Jeffrey Jones again. Jones is a very decent actor and - even though he's frequently cast by Tim Burton - he's often overlooked and ignored. Ravenous is beautifully shot and some of the effects and make-up is pretty gruesome and explicit. But it isn't just mindless gore and violence so no complaints there. In fact, no complaints at all....Ravenous is a breath-taking movie from beginning till end and a must for anyone who believes that the genre of horror is dead.

My favourite genre of movies, are westerns. Westerns come in all shapes and sizes, traditional American westerns depicting a lawless land in which the good guys eventually over come the bad guys. The stylised European "Spaghetti westerns" depicting a loveless land of cold killers and harsh landscape, and then there's the realist revisionist westerns which debunks all the previous heroic notions and portrays the west as it was, hard and brutal. Well this film falls outside of all those sub genre's of westerns in that it's a dark comedy horror western starring Robert Carlyle, whose idea of a meal isn't meat and two veg, but the carcass of the soldiers of a deserted fort. You know it's all tongue in cheek but you can't help but watch it, the music is great too, Damon Albarn and Michael Nyman produce a wonderful frightening and timeless score, featuring musicianship of the era. It's great and a film you can get your teeth into.

I don't know whether the previous comments on this film show how badly the film was marketed (I never saw any advertising for it) or whether they're a terrible condemnation of just how tunnel-visioned people can be. This is only a horror film in the sense that Macbeth is or The Godfather. It's about the horror of monstrosity, particularly the monstrosity inside ourselves. It's not about cannibalism, nor is it a black comedy. It has those things in it, but they are not it's raison d'etre. It's about the horror of war, conquest, taking things which don't belong to you with the sole justification that that's how you get ahead in life. You have what the other man has literally by consuming it. The hero of this film is branded a coward when really all he's done is preserved himself from the madness going on around him, a fight in which he has no part, just like this one. And yet, I see reviewers here referring to his 'cowardice' as a given. They haven't even got to first base about questioning whether he might not actually be a coward in the first place. It looks like everybody's checked their brains in at the door with this one. I'm glad I never directed this movie, it would be soul-destroying to be this misunderstood. It's a great movie. Savage, brutal,poetic. You watch the whole thing with your mouth hanging open in sheer disbelief. It's a feast for the eyes and ears and has one of the most fey, eerie qualities I've ever seen in a film. It's a masterpiece and I would urge anyone out there who can leave their preconceptions and genre expectations at home to see it. Give yourself a treat - be amazed.