The Green Inferno (2013) Director: Eli Roth (18)

The Green Inferno promises a cannibal splatterfest and it certainly delivers, if watching a man have his tongue cut out, eyes gouged out and limbs cut off is your kind of thang. The problem with the film is it could have been absolutely terrifying but it fails in the scares. There’s no emotional connection between us and the poor college students who face the atrocities in the rainforest. It’s also kind of, well, stupid.
We know Eli Roth always delivers on gore – Hostel and Cabin Fever prove that. But he also has a tendency to try and bring tasteless chuckles into his films which distract from making the movies scary. The Green Inferno sees a dead girl being stuffed with super weed by the surviving college students, so when the cannibals eat her they get stoned. It’s their escape plan. What they don’t bank on is the cannibals getting the munchies.
Lead character Justine is played well by Lorenza Izzo (married to Eli Roth), and she’s the only one we really feel for. Her eyes express her terror, horror and finally hope. If you know this genre, you’ll understand she’s Laurie, she’s Sally, and she’s going to fight.
Despite the lack of scares, The Green Inferno is a good watch and keeps your interest throughout. It’ll be too strong for some, but will also leave a lot of us thinking ‘what was all the fuss about?’ And as Roth’s homage to 70s Italian cannibal films and 80s cannibal gore, he pulls it off. It’s just not as good or powerful as it could have been.
3/5 heads will roll

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