True Green Inferno

...if you know me even partially well, you are possibly aware that I have long since been burnt out on anything hovering around the horror genre. Comic books are about as close as I get to horror these days and even then, it is more miss than hit unless its Scott Snyder's American Vampire. There was a period of great length where I was consuming horror films by the barrel full. The more gore, the more I wanted to have it in my personal collection. Italian gore, Japanese splatter & revenge, 70's exploitation...it did not matter. I would gleefully sit through a one-man marathon of Suspiria, Audition, Ichi The Killer and round it out with George A. Romero's underrated Day Of The Dead. 

Then came a moment where I had simultaneously reached my own personal apex and concurrently became bored, having reached a point of having felt like I've seen it all and more than enough. Since that moment, I have tried to watch horror films. I sat through Hostel II hating every second of how it was putting me to sleep. I waited for almost two years for Prowler to show up on Netflix Instant only to find myself staring into space from boredom. I was excited as anyone for the premier of The Walking Dead but after the truncated first season, I lost interest in the soap opera antics with occasional zombie meh-hem spliced in between. There was a particular film that caused me to reach this point of lost interest. That film is called Cannibal Holocaust.

Cannibal Holocaust was a film I avoided for years. I had seen photos and trailers and I can freely admit that just those tidbits were enough to intimidate. I combed through user reviews to try and find a gauge on what I might be in for when I finally dove in. I knew of the real life animal slaughter that took place on camera. I had read about the legend of Ruggero Deodato having faced prison time for accusations of making a snuff film, only to have the actor he had ordered to go into hiding resurface just in time.

While zombies eating human flesh has been done to death, parodied a million times more and has found a firm resting place in Americana as lunch box trinkets and stuffed animal friends, cannibalism has always made my skin crawl. Perhaps it has something to do with the Dahmer murders having took place during my high school years and so close to home. Sometimes we forget that in this surveillance age that we are all forced to live in today, there are still pockets of humans that have no idea that technology even exists.

Anyhow, I finally did watch Cannibal Holocaust about six years ago and it was a strange film. It left me feeling uneasy and in need of a shower. It was unnerving and yet, original and groundbreaking in its way. It was both the trashiest of exploitation and a film that makes you think. It was offensive in more ways than merely the obvious. I can say that there is nothing out there quite like it and it is not for everyone. It is not a film that you watch to enjoy. It begs the question of why did I even bother to watch it to begin with.

Until recently, I had basically forgotten Cannibal Holocaust. Aside from it not being a movie one watches for enjoyment, it has been years since I viewed it. Last Friday while checking my phone, I came across the first teaser for Eli Roth's latest film The Green Inferno. For some reason, at least in certain markets, Cannibal Holocaust was distributed as The Green Inferno, a misleading title that apparently was used to lure unsuspecting moviegoers. I had read awhile back that Eli Roth was chomping at the bit to remake Cannibal Holocaust and it seemed he had gotten his wish.

From what I had read today, Eli Roth claims that his version of The Green Inferno is wholly original, despite the plot being essentially the same in most respects. College students from New York get trapped in the jungles of South America and are never heard from again. Someone is banking on this being such a success that a sequel has already been announced.

I am unsure what to think about this whole event. Part of me wants to be offended that such a monumental and strangely important movie is being tarnished with a reboot. Another part of me wants to just acknowledge that Eli Roth has never made a film that I have liked and keep moving...nothing to see here. Then there is a part of me that is so curious to see what his vision is all about. The sub-genre that he is delving into here is so small and so limited, but there is a dedicated audience out there that eats these hyper violent and gory films right up. It will be interesting to see what happens come September when Eli Roth's The Green Inferno hits the theater. Will it flop? Will it see interest in the old Italian splatter films of the 70's and 80's rise to the surface? Or will cannibals become plush dolls and fight overgrown tomato plants on the iPad?

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