The Green Inferno
The Green Inferno, Eli Roth’s gleefully grim cannibal tribe exploitation movie, is fun... up to a point
While The Green Inferno is unlikely to convince Eli Roth’s many detractors that he is now a mature and technically adroit filmmaker, it is a marked improvement on his output since promising debut Cabin Fever. It’s also really quite fun. Up to a point. Taking the classic 70s cannibal tribe trope and adding a 21st century spin (self-consciously selfless, inwardly vapid university activists attempting to do good in the jungle), Roth delivers more of his patented grue and giggles schtick with minimal frills.
Lorenza Izzo and Ariel Levy lead the team of disposable nubile cyphers (including former Spy Kid Daryl Sabara) on a mission to Peru to stop rainforest demolition, and it’s not long before things start to go wrong. The set-pieces are inventive and there’s a few neat surprises, but Roth loses his way and control of the tones when going for full-blown stoner comedy. It’s a consistent problem for him, and frequently hinges on a grim predilection for humiliating women in his work. If he can get rid of that rubbish (mercifuly brief here), he might find those detractors dwindling.
The Green Inferno has its UK premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2014 and released 12 Feb 2016 by Entertainment One