One of the most underrated horror films of the 90's. A fantastic script is the base for this extremely funny, and extremely gory black comedy/horror period piece. Great performances from the cast (Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle are amazing), and beautiful direction from Antonia Bird. A highly unique film that was ignored upon it's release because of how bizarre it is and it's impossible to catagorize nature. Is it a Western? Is it a Comedy? Is it Horror? Whatever it is, it's wonderful.

A

"The one movie of 1999 that looks and feels like nothing you've seen before."
-- Chuck Rudolph, MATINEE MAGAZINE

"...one of those rare, genuinely subversive (of Hollywood values) films, like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls or Eating Raoul"
-- Philip Martin, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

"Without a doubt the best -- and possibly only -- period cannibal horror comedy ever made!"
-- David N. Butterworth, REC.ARTS.MOVIES.REVIEWS

"A terrifically well-made gory horror movie with splashes of humor."
-- Jeffrey M. Anderson, COMBUSTIBLE CELLULOID

Very good movie. Very good ending.

Kind of quirky, like that score a lot, though it is very weird.

****/****

Guy Pearce has been in a lot of movies I have given 4 stars to! 3 movies, actually.

B+


Good movie, but weird. If anything, I would not categorize it as comedy. If it is one, then I must have not gotten its humor. It is a good horror flick with an interesting take on canibalism and an excellent Robert Carlyle.

An excellent and original little movie. I'd probably classify it as a comedy.

"He was tough...but then a good soldier ought to be."

Eh, it's weird, but it's more of a thriller than a comedy.

This movie was outright odd. I didn't mind it, but I don't really even know how to talk about it (believe it or not).

Is that good or bad?

I've never even HEARD of this movie.

When you rent City of God and Amorres Perros, makeshift, I'll rent this.

I was doing some scrummaging around the net, and you would not believe the amount of writing there is out there about this film. There's an entire website dedicated to the nuances and subtexts in the film right here. And I thought I was the only one that appreciated this film so deeply! Here's some experts from the above website...

"Manifest Destiny...."

"The growth of 'westward expansion', i.e. any type of progress, tends to create monsters, people who live and feed off each other to their mutual destruction. Ives is the perfect example of a 'Californian'--a man in pursuit of physical perfection who will stop at no horrific act in order to achieve that perfection."

"Jesus Christ..."

"Religious imagery is everywhere in this movie. Colqhoun, at the beginning half of the movie, even looks like a Christ figure with his beard and long unkempt hair. Colqhoun/Ives carries a rosary wrapped around his wrist. Ironically the only phrase used throughout the movie as an expression of horror or surprise is "Jesus Christ!". The imagery of the Eucharist (..eat my flesh, drink my blood) runs similarly into imagery of 'religious cannibalism'. George presents an Indian hide to Boyd and Hart that depicts the Wendigo myth on one side, on the other is a wan sketch of Christ on the cross. George offers the comparision that 'white man eats the body of Christ every Sunday" to explain to Colonel Hart and Boyd the legitimacy of the ongoing "wendigo" myth. The idea that partaking in the 'body of Christ', or cannibalism, will lead to eternal life also parallels the concept of the magical healing powers that cannibalism in the movie seems to have. Most importantly, anticipating his final conflict with Boyd, Ives purposely paints a cross of blood on his forehead. Looking more like Lucifer than Christ at this point, Ives seems to have come full circle. What does all this religious imagery mean? I'll leave that up to you dear cannibals...."

"Eat me..."

"Subliminal erotic tension is very evident in Ravenous. Ironically, it is a tension that is developed between two men in the film--Ives and Boyd. Robert Carlyle and Guy Pearce are able to ignite a kinetic nervousness between their personalities that develops into great magnetic chemistry on screen. Boyd acts as the vulnerable, chaste, beautiful object of prey, while Colqhoun counteracts him as the aggressive, lustful hunter. Ives describes himself to Boyd as being virile--a word that connotes masculinity, potency and sexual prowess. The fireside chat between Boyd and Ives is quiet, forbidden, and strangely erotic. "The strength of someone else coursing through your veins...." The manner in which Ives describes his 'addiction' is similar to both vampirism and sex. Ives is a rogue that emanates unrestrained sexuality, and Boyd is the opposite--undefiled, virgin, and pure.

The most implicitly sexual moment is a brief scene where Ives swipes Boyd's bloody mouth with his fingers. Ives then kneels down across from Boyd, crooks a come-hither finger at him and sniffs the blood in a moment of bizarre and obvious sexual thrill. Boyd watches with a mixture of disgust and fascination. The culmination of this tension is the electrifying final brawl between Boyd and Ives. There seems to be an unquestionable passion and exhilaration between the two combatants as they creatively and savagely try to do each other in. Boyd traps both himself and Ives in the jaws of a huge bear-trap. The movie's intro "Eat me", which is humorously invoked in the opening credits, now makes sense in this subtext. Ives admits to Boyd that if Boyd were to die first, he would definitely eat him--both literally and perhaps figuratively in a sexual context. When Boyd is asked the same question, he winces painfully and keeps silent. Hunter and prey die together in a strangely beautiful yet bloody embrace."

Here's an entire review of the film based on the homosexual undercurrent that runs through it:

"Ravenous opens with the words of Nietzsche: "He that fights with monsters should look to himself that he does not become a monster." The next quote is anonymous: "Eat me." Initially, this brief line seems designed only for cheap laughs (which it gets), but as the picture continues, it takes on a greater significance. Instead of another stupid insult, "Eat me" becomes a sexual plea. The juxtaposition of these quotes is only the beginning of what is one of the strangest mainstream/art house/period piece/monster movies to come out in quite some time. More Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers than Frank Marshall's Alive, Ravenous mixes dramatic tones, genres, messages and moralities into a curious pastiche. This fascinating and entertaining portrait of cannibalism is not simply about the choice between eating and not eating; it's about deviating or not deviating. A twist on the familiar film territory of the vampire legend, Ravenous is seen through the traumatized eyes of John Boyd (Guy Pearce), a cowardly military captain who's banished to a desolate mountain outpost in California during the Mexican-American War. There Boyd joins an eclectic group of wartime weirdos that includes a geeky emissary to the Lord, a drunken doctor, an alpha-male soldier and a drug-addled cook. Soon after Boyd's arrival, a wild-eyed, half-dead Scotsman named Colqhoun (Robert Carlyle) stumbles down from mountains. Colqhoun relays a horrific account of being snowbound with a group of settlers (the infamous Donner Party) who, in order to survive, resorted to eating each other. From this experience, the expedition's leader, Colonel Ives, acquired a blood lust so strong he began preying on the group's surviving members. On hearing Colqhoun's story, commanding officer Hart (wonderfully played by a droll Jeffrey Jones) organizes a search party to find the evil Ives. But the troop discovers that the object of its search is none other than Colqhoun, and with glorious gore, terror and humor, the Scotsman attacks the group. Boyd eventually makes it back to the post, but he is horror-struck--he has been forced to eat human flesh to survive. Colqhoun also returns, this time in the guise of Colonel Ives, and immediately continues his wanton ways while attempting to bring Boyd into his flesh-eating fold. Like so many vampire films before it, Ravenous examines (via the Native-American myth of Weendigo) the lust of consumption. Like the bloodsucker, the more the cannibal feasts, the stronger and more insatiable he becomes. And, as is the case with previous vampire pictures, Ravenous has an intriguing homosexual subtext. The sexuality of these characters would no doubt have been brought to the forefrontwere it not for the mainstream target audience. There is a striking sexual chemistry between the somber Boyd and the rakish Colqhoun that has to be intentional on the part of the director. There are just too many clues. And though the ideas of Manifest Destiny, religion and wartime morality run discursively throughout the picture, Ravenous offers a more intriguing metaphor in pitting the smart, funny and sexy cannibal against the hypocrisy of the straight establishment. Though he would be viewed as an animal in "polite" society, Colqhoun is actually the most refined of the outpost's troop. When disguised as Ives, he is a flawless dandy, with perfectly coiffed hair, a curled mustache and stylish clothes. In another scene, when Colqhoun spies two military officials and a Native-American female guide nearing the post, he says to himself, "Breakfast, lunch and reinforcement," with "reinforcement" referring to the woman. Only men can be his food. The final bang (gangbang?) in Ravenous comes in the fantastic closing sequence of lusty bloodletting between Colqhoun and Boyd. The scene is so incredibly homoerotic that the female guide, who feels out of place, simply ups and leaves. The men's extensive fighting is shot like a rake's pursuit of a supposedly chaste maiden. With gorgeous intensity and heaving bosoms, Colqhoun and Boyd tussle and tussle. It's a bizarre and bloody turn-on. Using monsters as a metaphor for homosexuality always runs the risk of offending someone, and Ravenous will certainly put off those who think the picture depicts outsiders as deviants who must die. But due to the excellent performance by Carlyle, Colqhoun can be seen as a heroic outlaw, who, in a world of hypocrites, could very well--and this gives nothing away--die for his desires."

And then of course there's the fact that the director is a vegetarian, and that brings the visual representation of beef as a blood sopped slab into a new context.

Love this film!

Reccomended by Squee and a good choice. Great little hidden Horror Gem, darkly funny as well.

A brilliant mix of comedy and horror. I laughed more than I do at some comedies, while also being incredibly disturbed by the subject matter. Robert Carlyle is terrifically evil while managing to create a unique character, and Guy Pearce is his equal as the flawed hero. The colourful group of characters portrayed by the wide-ranging cast adds to the comedy and the horror, as does the strange, innovative, excellent score. It's a bit short, and moves into the story a bit too quickly, but it's a great horror period piece with a nasty streak of dark humour.