Director: Antonia Bird
Starring: Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, Jeffrey Jones, David Arquette, Jeremy Davies
Brian’s Rating: 8/10
Ravenous 1999
Ravenous (1999) is one of those movies that you either love or hate. It doesn’t slow down, it goes right from one action scene to another, and has dark humor in all the right places. The oddball music adds a lot to the humor, as there are really only four or five funny lines in the film. Still, it is marketed as a black comedy, and the funny lines really are very good. In-between jokes, we are treated to a smorgasbord of cannibalism and superhuman combat.
The film starts out with Boyd, played by Guy Pearce, getting a medal for heroism in battle. The problem is, he’s a coward, and only managed to capture the Mexican command post by accident. He was playing dead, and they pulled his “body” behind enemy lines. As a sort of “promotion “they sent him to the most isolated, nastiest camp in the army, Camp Spencer.
Just as he’s settling in at the new camp, a stranger appears. After recovering, the stranger, whose name is Calhoun (Robert Carlisle) tells his story. He and a group of six other people were traveling in a caravan through the mountains when they became stranded, hiding in a cave. One thing led to another, and cannibalism ensued. He claims that there are two people left at the cave that need help. The commander of the camp, of course, insist upon rescuing the other two. It is on the route to the camp that things start going south.
We are told early in the story that there is such a thing as a Wendigo, a creature who, after eating human flesh, absorbs the spirit and strength of that man. It sounds ridiculous, but we quickly learn that it’s not. Not only that, but anyone can acquire this power, simply by eating a human corpse.
One thing leads to another, and before long, the two main characters wind up in an immortal Wendigo battle between each other. Who will win, and who will be eaten?