Ravenous (1999)

When was the last time you saw a new movie set during the 1840s? The era is the first oddball thing about Ravenous, though by no means the last. This provocatively weird movie is essentially a vampire film crossed with the Donner party, that unfortunate band of hungry pioneers who got stuck in the wilderness with only themselves to eat. The setting here is Fort Spencer, a dismal collection of shacks huddled in the snows of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Mid-winter, a nearly dead Scotsman (Robert Carlyle, from The Full Monty) staggers into camp with a story of desperate cannibalism. The skeleton crew (so to speak) manning the fort sets out to investigate, when... ah, but the twists and turns of this dark yarn should remain shocking. Be assured, however, that the cannibalism has just begun; this movie has cannibalism like Titanic had an iceberg. Director Antonia Bird (Mad Love, Priest) blends some humor into this scenario, especially in the final reels, but otherwise this is a fairly serious gore picture; a confused Twentieth Century Fox tried to market it as a black comedy, and the movie flopped anyway. It deserves a better fate--at the very least, it's not quite like anything else out there. The music, a brilliant collaboration between Michael Nyman (The Piano) and Blur's Damon Albarn, is an offbeat blend of period twang and modern drone. Carlyle and Guy Pearce (of L.A. Confidential) are fascinating in the lead roles--their sunken faces would look at home in Civil War photographs--and the eccentric supporting cast, including Jeremy Davies and David Arquette, adds flavor to the dish. --Robert Horton Amazon.com

Which to use? "The smell of meat cooking...I thanked the Lord." or "It's lonely being a cannibal...tough making friends."

Some think trooper is best prepared boiled, with turnips, potatoes and cabbage. Others recommend that trooper be slow braised in red wine and onions, a kind of trooper bourguignon, which will produce a deep red sauce. Most, however, speak to trooper served simply, with a slight dusting of salt if available, and as fresh as can be.
--From Recipes for the Ravenous, from Ribald Rangers to Raw Recruits

With the exception of the last 10 minutes, Ravenous is a fine movie, full of revoltingly intelligent horror, with a disgustingly vivid storyline and nauseatingly moist close-ups. It's one of the best-photographed movies I've seen in a long time, and not just because of the entrails and caked blood. The movie looks cold to the bone, even inside the snow-laden huts and buildings that make up isolated Fort Spencer. The director, Antonia Bird, gives us strong story telling. The horror and the prospects of what we'll see are matched with restrained plotting and persuasive acting. The situation is outlandish and we can't help but smile at how cleverly Bird serves it up on a plate for us. At the same time, what happens to the characters isn't funny at all. It's Grand Guignol in the snow.

The movie is set in the late 1840's, high in the California Sierra Nevada mountains. Fort Spencer is a small outpost, with only eight men. Three are important to us. The rest are important for other reasons. There's Captain Boyd (Guy Pearce), who was a coward in the Mexican-American War. He wound up in a pile of corpses, their blood tricking into his mouth, but eventually did a heroic deed. He was awarded a medal and then promptly sent to the isolated Fort Spencer. There's Colonel Hart (Jeffrey Jones), the commanding officer of the detachment's seven men. And there is the ragged man (Robert Carlyle) who, one frigid night, nearly out of his mind and nearly dead of the cold, staggers to the fort. He says he is F. W. Colqhoun. He has quite a tale to tell. Part of it is true. The other part? Think of an old Indian legend that when one dines on another person, one gathers in that other person's strength. A bite of liver, a chew of thigh will set up a man for days with good humor and virility...heals wounds and cures sickness, too.

Whether California will be populated by settlers and gold prospectors or by military cannibals depends on a coward who is trying to fight his inclinations. That brings us to the showdown battle between two men who, having dined recently, have great strength. It's a battle that is loaded with big-fight, gruesome clichés. The movie is so sly and original that it's a shame it is stuck with a climax that is so predictably groan-slash-slice-stab-squirt. The final scene, involving a general and a pot of stew, seemed to me to be just a cheap final laugh. It made pointless Colonel Hart's integrity and Captain Boyd's bravery. It undercut the reason for the two men's final actions.

Robert Carlyle chews the snowy scenery but he's a fine actor. Guy Pearce has the tough job of being a frightened coward, yet brave and honorable when it comes down to it. Jeffrey Jones' as Colonel Hart gives the most intriguing performance, in my view. Hart looks like a disintegrating, heavy-set buffoon when we first meet him. He turns out to be a competent, thoughtful, well-educated officer who knows his men, knows himself and knows his job. And he knows the horror he's become. Jones gives a dramatic, ironic, likeable performance.

Ravenous is a first-class movie with a second-class ending. November 16, 2008

Great Movie

I don't know how this one slipped by me in 1999. This was a fantastic film. You can't put your finger on why, until you watch it a few times.And you have to watch it a few times. May 15, 2008

You are who you eat

One of Robert Carlyle's best performances. Wildly entertaining movie involving cannibalism and survival. I nearly became a vegetarian after watching this movie. March 30, 2008

You are who you EAT!!!!

Here is a film that is the perfect example of a cult classic. A film that was never great at the box office but still has a huge amount of fans. Lets look at the ingredients of this masterpiece. First of all, it's set during the Spanish-American War of the 1840's, a setting that is almost never, ever used at all. Second, the cast is a strange mix of great actors and not so great actors. Guy Pierce as a man trying to get away from forced cannibalism and being on the edge of sanity all the time. Robert Carlyle is fantastic as a Cannibal that would make Hannibal proud. He makes the horrible idea of eating humans not only entertaining but also intelectual!! Finally the action is strange, funny and intense. Why this movie sucked at the box office is a mystery. March 7, 2008

Ravenous review

This is a great flick! Kinda like a cult movie....if you know about it, you either got grossed out or love it!!!! Recommend to fans of 'Saw' February 23, 2008

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