Ravenous (1999)

   
Directed by: Antonia Bird

Written by:
Ted Griffin

Starring:

Guy Pearce .... Capt. John Boyd
Robert Carlyle .... Col. Ives / F.W. Colqhoun
David Arquette .... Pvt. Cleaves
Jeremy Davies .... Pvt. Toffler
Jeffrey Jones .... Col. Hart
John Spencer .... Gen. Slauson
Stephen Spinella .... Knox
Neal McDonough .... Pvt. Reich
Joseph Runningfox .... George
Bill Brochtrup .... Lindus

Release Dates: Theatrical: March 19, 1999

*Images courtesy at: www.filmstarts.de

 

Rating:

 

Captain John Boyd (Guy Pearce) gets a promotion after defeating a Mexican American War during the 1800's but is in third on command after Colonel Hart (Jeffrey Jones) realizes it was an act of cowardice that got him there, he is given a backhanded promotion to Fort Spencer, where he is third in command which is at an isolated area near some mountains.
They rescue a Scottish stranger named F.W. Colqhoun (Robert Carlyle) after nearly freezing to death from frostbite as he told the rest on how he survived which included cannibalism and tells everyone where he hid out which was in a nearby cave and so everyone goes there to find any more survivors. However F.W. is discovered later on as a canniballistic maniac and killing everyone that went with him and eating them too with Boyd escaping and injured while going back top his area and then he discovers that F.W. beat him there and is now a Colonel and he tries to warn others about him yet they don't believe him and is blamed when any deaths have happened.

 

A great disturbing moment during the beginning of this movie showing people around a dinner table pigging out on some meat that's not your usual kind with a good shot on Capt. John Boyd looking choked up staring at his and then going outside to vomit which really grosses you out by how this was done.
There's a good strong conversation between Capt. John Boyd and Col. Hart when he goes to the area near the mountains and being told what to do with his duty.
A great powerful moment with
Col. Ives waking up after being rescued and told what he had done during his moments on survival giving it a nice creepy feel to it with how he said all of this.
There's a good moment with
Ives speaking to Hart about tying him up for the safety to others on his hunger for human meat as it looked quite intense.
Another good moment with Ives coming up towards Pvt. Toffler with him getting nervous on all of this. There's good close up shots during this moment too.
A nice shot looking up with Pearce looking down a hole near a cave as well as him and others looking around and spotting skeletal objects. Meanwhile we spot great moments on Ives going crazy killing people with good shots on him shooting or stabbing someone.
A nice chase in the woods as well as Ives cornering John near a cliff and taunting him and then John himself gets freaked out by all of this. There's a nice shot on Ives jumping off a cliff as well as great suspenseful shots on John rollling down a hill.
There's a good shot on John limping back to the area staring at Pvt. Cleaves with him looking surprised and then calling for the other people.
A great moment on John tripping out after spotting Ives there as one of the new lieutenant's and getting choked up telling the other what he has done which looked very energetically done.
A nice hallucination scene with John knocking Cleaves down, then repeatedly stabbing him and eating his flesh.
There's a good camera circling around both Ives and John outside with him talking to him wickedly and then John himself losing control and getting violent.
Good shot looking up on Lindus punching out and kicking John as well as getting aggressive.
A good cold discussion with Hart speaking towards John about how to survive in the forest and eating others as well as him getting crazy and aggressive.
There's many good takes with a battle between John and Ives fighting outdoors using swords or other deadly devices and nice shots on all of this happening.
Bottom line is when I first watched this flick I wondered if I was going to be grossed out thinking I wasn't ready for it but it's not as bad as it seems. The film is unscary and a bit of a bore but there's are strong scene's at times just passing for this one to be average but barely passing.
There's some good struggling moments here and there along with a killer telling his past giving it a good horror feel to it plus we see some violent bloodshed with a talented cast. But yet it doesn't make up for the plot which sometimes metla away like the snow in this film.
I did like the snowy mountains and some of the stuntwork used during a moment to survive from a bloodthristy killer though so it was well shot.

The acting is not too bad as lead actor Guy Pierce (Capt. John Boyd) really brought terrific energy to his character with his insecure and paranoid attitude as well as getting freaked out too. He also showed nice tripping out actions when things are turned against him and knew how to do his blocking perfestly with his battling. He brought all of this making it look totally realistic.
Robert Carlyle
(Col. Ives / F.W. Colqhoun) was great playing the canniballistic character acting excited and crazy. He truly looked demented too almost resembling Charles Manson. He also knew how to act calm and speaking evilly too. He proved what he had to do to convince the audience that he was a dangerous person to be around.
Jeremy Davies
(Pvt. Toffler) was a bit too hokey with what he had to do and didn't come off too seriously sadly. He did however do well playing a wimpy part of the team in this film so I will give him credit for trying his best as you can tell he wasn't intentionally making his performance look bad.
Jeffrey Jones
(Col. Hart) was perfect in his part as a Colonel in the film and really knew his craft but of course he normally played these types of roles bringing a great seriousness to his people and acting aggressive and intense too. He's normally done well with any kind of gig he played.

Robert Carlyle exposes his butt while getting up without any clothes on

There's meat set on a table which doesn't look like it's from an animal.
Some bloodied corpses are piled up on one another.
We spot skeletal corpses and body pieces in a cave.
Many bloody stabbings and shootings.
A person is gutted in the woods.
A persons leg is mangled.
A corpse is being carved.
Horses are slaughtered in a barn.
A real bloodt slit throat.

There's numerous different types of music scores which were composed by separate composers named Damon Albarn and Michael Nyman. There's some bajo playing and different types of outdoor style country sounds for when the film starts up with the lead actor appraching the lodges in the wintertime near some mountains. There's also great dark music sounds for when a creepy story is told by an estranged man nearly left for dead. Plus there's some stick hitting sounds for the adventureous moments in the wooded area against a canniballistic killer. Not only that, we hear some great gloomy adventureous keyboard playing during a final battle.

Pvt. Toffler: He was licking me!

Ives: If you die first, I am definitely going to eat you, but the question is, if I die, what are you going to do? Bon appétit... Eat or die.

Ives: Eat to live. Don't live to eat.

[Looking through a spyglass as three people approach the fort]
Colhoun: Breakfast... lunch... and reinforcements.