Review of The Green Inferno (2013) by Ahnehnois — 26 Sep 2015

This plays nicely as a documentary about the state of American higher education and political activism. Plenty of movies have killed off unwitting college students, but this one hits at the heart of what people are feeling and thinking right now, and its characters feel very much like the sort of people you'd see at a rally.

As a horror movie, eh, not great. You kind of know what you're in for. The gore is gory, sure. But strangely enough, it isn't as bad as it could have been. It's the sort of movie where virtually every line is a setup for some later event, and at some point it starts to feel like you're completing a checklist. At its best, its seething social commentary, juxtaposing the cannibals with what most people would call normal animal agriculture. At its worst, it's just cheesy.

The tribal aspect is somewhat fascinating. The two identifiable leaders obviously don't belong, but the rest of them are real tribespeople. On the surface, it's a nasty depiction of them that calls back to past horrors of the real world. And yet, one hardly walks out of this movie thinking that the uncontacted peoples of the Amazon are the bad guys of the world.

All told, it's an interesting and subversive concept, not really fully executed.