In Case You Missed It Monday… ‘Ravenous’

What better day than Monday to have an article about movies you might have missed. Every Monday we are going to bring you a new movie that you might have missed and tell you why you should see it. Enjoy..

“It’s lonely being a cannibal. Tough making friends.” – Colonel Hart (Jeffrey Jones)

‘Ravenous’ is a film that was unjustly disregarded when it was released into theaters in March of 1999. Â  It is a horror film. Â  It is a slight comedy. Â  It is a film about cannibalism in the mid 1800s, but it is a whole, heaping lot of fun. Â  At its heart, it is also a very well-crafted film that deals with themes such as survival and loneliness.

Guy Pearce (ironically a vegetarian in real life) gives an incredible performance as a soldier during the Mexican-American war. Â  After taking over a command post via an act of cowardice, he is sent to Fort Spencer, a remote outpost in the Sierra Nevadas. Â  There, he finds himself in the midst of an eccentric group of soldiers. Â  Everything is going as well as can be expected until a stranger, played by Robert Carlyle, shows up. Â  The stranger is half-famished, and he tells the soldiers of a small group of settlers who lost their way in the mountains, the malevolent captain who was leading their party, and of the drastic way the group survived out in the wilderness. Â  From there, things get really violent.

‘Ravenous’ boasts an amazing cast that include, alongside Pearce and Carlyle, Jeremy Davies, Jeffrey Jones, John Spencer (in the underrated actor’s final performance), Neal McDonough, and David Arquette. Â  Everyone turns in an astounding performance, even Arquette, who, for a change, doesn’t portray his typical, annoying self. Â  Carlyle is tops here, though, giving a performance that spans across a wide range of emotions and character traits. Â  He is everything in ‘Ravenous’ from heroic to comedic to downright scary and intense.

Directed by Antonia Bird, ‘Ravenous’ rides that edge between horror and comedy extremely well. Â  It is moreso a drama with horror and comedic elements strewn throughout, but the balance is near perfection from start to finish. Â  Bird captures the level of isolation the characters within the film are enduring with a pristine accuracy, making believers of all of us that things would go exactly as they play out in the film.

Adding to the intense story and immaculate direction is an insanely quirky score from Blur and Gorillaz founder Damon Albarn and minimalist composer Michael Nyman. Â  The music in ‘Ravenous’ captures everything the film is about. Â  It is eccentrically rustic at times, eerily nervous others, and, yet, still finds time to be epic in other places. Â  There are moments with this film’s score that really call to mind Morricone’s score for ‘The Untouchables’ in every great way possible.

‘Ravenous’ is a film that every fan of horror should be checking out. Â  Unfairly neglected when it first came out, it is a film that deserves to be on any list of “best horror films of the past ten years.” Â  However, movie lovers who aren’t all that into horror will respect and admire the film’s intense drama and subtle yet black comedy, as well.

Check out the trailer for ‘Ravenous’ right here:

Here’s a great sample of the film’s music:

…and here’s one of the film’s creepier moments: