Since Eli Roth broke out on the scene with his indie CABIN FEVER, he's never stopped talking about how much influence Cannibal movies were to him growing up.
Well, it didn't translate to his own film.
This was laughably bad. Bad writing, acting & directing. The one good thing was the look of the Cannibal tribe. They looked like a remote tribe of cannibals.
There are WAY too many issues to list. I'll keep it to 3.
1) A couple ounces of weed stuffed into the mouth of a human, who's then cooked would NOT turn an entire village into goofy messes. Unfortunately, this wasn't just a "dumb" horror film moment. It was a plot point. Roth & his co-writer NEEDED the village to be distracted for 2 of the kids to escape. AND THIS IS WHAT THEY CAME UP WITH?
The MAIN problem Roth has is with the villagers. He clearly doesn't know what he wants them to be and he doesn't take a side. The Villagers are shown as victims and just in their actions in some scenes and then barbaric, erratic & just vicious for vicious sake in others.
While I understand they are cannibals, Roth doesn't give the audience any clue he knows who they are. They seem to have principles & traditions, then seem to ignore them. They seem to be extremely well organized one moment, and then the 3 Stooges the next. They are expert sharpshooters hitting people 50 yards away through heavy foliage one scene, and the next won't/can't hit a character in the wide open.
Why were some humans sedated at the plane crash & why were others bow & arrowed to the head?
2) The Almost female circumcision scene. This scene served no purpose, it was completely "attempted shock" for "attempted shock" purpose and not for anything that in any way made sense. I say "attempted" shock, but nothing happens. It was supposed to make you squirm, but this scene was stupid & shows that not only did Roth NOT know the natives he created, but, IMO, took a massive step BACK as a filmmaker.
We are told early in the film's WAY TOO LONG exposition setup, that tribes around the world, including in S. America, view the horrible act of female circumcision as a right of passage from being a girl to being a woman. Horrible but that's what they think.
When the humans are brought into the village, they're treated like food. The pigs are kicked out of the pen & the humans put in the pen.
Now, either the villagers are truly cannibals or they simply eat the captured people they believe to be enemies. The kids weren't their enemies, but they were wearing the clothes of the construction guys, so they mistake them for their enemy.
So, they are either simply eating the kids b/c they're food or that consuming the bodies of the enemies make them stronger.
So why on Earth would they care about circumcising their food before they consume it? Why would they care if the lead girl goes from being a "girl" to "woman" before they eat her?
Roth goes out of his way to explain that this is a time honored tradition for the natives. Why would they show their food/enemy the same respect they show their blood? Do they circumcise the pigs before they cook them too?
No. It was all simply to make the audience wince. And it didn't.
3) Lastly - and most importantly - it wasn't scary. I have to wonder if Roth even ever watched ANY Cannibal movies.
Roth may have peaked with HOSTEL. I personally think HOSTEL 2 was better, but I think I'm alone there. This was a huge letdown.
Well, it didn't translate to his own film.
This was laughably bad. Bad writing, acting & directing. The one good thing was the look of the Cannibal tribe. They looked like a remote tribe of cannibals.
There are WAY too many issues to list. I'll keep it to 3.
1) A couple ounces of weed stuffed into the mouth of a human, who's then cooked would NOT turn an entire village into goofy messes. Unfortunately, this wasn't just a "dumb" horror film moment. It was a plot point. Roth & his co-writer NEEDED the village to be distracted for 2 of the kids to escape. AND THIS IS WHAT THEY CAME UP WITH?
The MAIN problem Roth has is with the villagers. He clearly doesn't know what he wants them to be and he doesn't take a side. The Villagers are shown as victims and just in their actions in some scenes and then barbaric, erratic & just vicious for vicious sake in others.
While I understand they are cannibals, Roth doesn't give the audience any clue he knows who they are. They seem to have principles & traditions, then seem to ignore them. They seem to be extremely well organized one moment, and then the 3 Stooges the next. They are expert sharpshooters hitting people 50 yards away through heavy foliage one scene, and the next won't/can't hit a character in the wide open.
Why were some humans sedated at the plane crash & why were others bow & arrowed to the head?
2) The Almost female circumcision scene. This scene served no purpose, it was completely "attempted shock" for "attempted shock" purpose and not for anything that in any way made sense. I say "attempted" shock, but nothing happens. It was supposed to make you squirm, but this scene was stupid & shows that not only did Roth NOT know the natives he created, but, IMO, took a massive step BACK as a filmmaker.
We are told early in the film's WAY TOO LONG exposition setup, that tribes around the world, including in S. America, view the horrible act of female circumcision as a right of passage from being a girl to being a woman. Horrible but that's what they think.
When the humans are brought into the village, they're treated like food. The pigs are kicked out of the pen & the humans put in the pen.
Now, either the villagers are truly cannibals or they simply eat the captured people they believe to be enemies. The kids weren't their enemies, but they were wearing the clothes of the construction guys, so they mistake them for their enemy.
So, they are either simply eating the kids b/c they're food or that consuming the bodies of the enemies make them stronger.
So why on Earth would they care about circumcising their food before they consume it? Why would they care if the lead girl goes from being a "girl" to "woman" before they eat her?
Roth goes out of his way to explain that this is a time honored tradition for the natives. Why would they show their food/enemy the same respect they show their blood? Do they circumcise the pigs before they cook them too?
No. It was all simply to make the audience wince. And it didn't.
3) Lastly - and most importantly - it wasn't scary. I have to wonder if Roth even ever watched ANY Cannibal movies.
Roth may have peaked with HOSTEL. I personally think HOSTEL 2 was better, but I think I'm alone there. This was a huge letdown.