Rating: D
Eli Roth is a controversial director in many regards. Films such as Hostel and Cabin Fever have made movie going audiences expectant of his extreme taste for gore and grotesque imagery. The Green Inferno took a long time to finally reach theaters. Distribution difficulties delayed the release by almost a year. After seeing this film, I can firmly say Eli Roth is one twisted man.
Let me use an analogy to describe my thoughts on Roth's The Green Inferno. I would say this film is like a car accident. It's something truly horrible and disturbing, yet most wouldn't look away. I felt extremely uncomfortable throughout the duration of this film. Two of my friends actually left midway through because it crossed too many lines. Roth opened up the once thought sealed jar of cannibalism and unleashed in this flick. The cannibalistic moments are simply disturbing. They will make you gag and make you squirm. One positive of this film was once the horror starts, it doesn't stop. It's continuous and I barely had time to catch my breath.
I wouldn't say this film was in anyway scary. The Green Inferno isn't a typical jump-scare film that audiences are now accustomed to. There's actually only one (and entirely stupid) jump scare in the entire movie. The Green Inferno was a situational horror film. In other words, the situation itself was so horrifying and disturbing that Roth didn't need to include jump scares and loud music booms and other clichés. At no point was I truly scared while viewing this movie. Yet, the lack of comfort I felt was alarming. This movie jabs you over and over again. It's over the top grotesque imagery stuck with me and I think Roth accomplished something in that.
Besides it's grotesque nature and great use of situational horror, The Green Inferno was a mess. The writing and acting was just bad. At points the film tried to include satirical elements that just completely missed and failed to deliver. The acting was what you would expect out of a random horror film. It was a bunch of no-name actors who just milked it in. Daryl Sabara was the only recognizable actor due to his Spy Kids' work. The writing was just random. Social commentary seemed to be a driving force of this film. Roth seemed like he wanted to get some messages across about the jungle and the environment and the act of protesting. Yet, after you finally dwell on seeing people get eaten alive, you basically forget those elements.
The Green Inferno isn't a terrible horror film. It does what I'm sure Roth intended it to do. The bad just outweighs the good.
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