Ravenous **** (1999, Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, David Arquette, Jeremy Davies, Jeffrey Jones, John Spencer) – Classic Film Review 329

Director Antonia Bird’s uniquely disturbing 1999 movie with its crypto-vampire story is a brilliant, astonishing one-off. A black comedy horror thriller in a Western setting, it matches Robert Carlyle’s nasty human-meat-eater against Guy Pearce’s nice reformed cannibal-with-a-conscience in a bizarre and surprisingly electrifying duel to the death.

In the tale, a backhanded promotion gained in battle in the Mexican-American War by cowardly Captain John Boyd (Pearce) lands him up at isolated, desolate Fort Spencer. There a rescued Scottish stranger named Colquhoun (Carlyle) appears, quickly recovers from frostbite and tells a disturbing story of cannibalism and how his party leader, Colonel Ives, ate members of the party to survive.

On a $12million budget, the film is incredibly well crafted, beautifully filmed by master British cinematographer Anthony B Richmond on Czech and Mexican locations (standing in convincingly for Nevada). And, though Ted Griffin’s incredibly powerful screenplay needs little driving along, the film is propelled in the most urgent and eerie fashion by Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn’s pounding score.

Carlyle is incredibly chilling and powerful as the soldier who turns up near dead at an army outpost to tell a yarn about his troop’s survival by eating each other. Then the unit, led by Colonel Hart (Jeffrey Jones), sets out to rescue the two other survivors, only to find that they’ve been led up the garden path and into the kitchen by Carlyle’s deadly trap.

The others at the fort are two Native Americans, George (Joseph Running Fox) and his sister Martha (Sheila Tousey), the chaplain Private Toffler (Jeremy Davies), the soldiers Private Reich (Neal McDonough) and Private Cleaves (David Arquette), a drugged-up cook and the drunken Knox (Stephen Spinella).

Ravenous is a true original, with a nice black sense of humour that only surfaces late in the picture (Carlyle: ‘It’s lonely being a cannibal; it’s tough making friends.’)

As in a nightmare, the normal rules of logic don’t apply. Bird’s bold movie is great stuff, but you need a fairly strong stomach and a taste for horror to enjoy it. It really pushes the envelope.

Griffin went on to write Best Laid Plans, Ocean’s Eleven, Matchstick Men, Rumor Has It and Tower Heist.

Antonia Bird died of cancer in October 2013, aged 54. She also made Priest and Face with Carlyle.

http://derekwinnert.com/face-classic-film-review-328/

http://derekwinnert.com/priest-classic-film-review-330/

(C) Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Film Review 329 derekwinnert.com