RAVENOUS (1999)
Man eats the flesh of another, he takes the other man's strength,
absorbs his spirit. Well. Naturally I just had to try. Consequently I
ate the scout first and you know he was absolutely right. I grew
stronger...
Captain John Boyd has been awarded a medal for being a war hero in the American-Mexican war in 1847. But he was given this medal with trepidation. To survive the battle, Boyd played dead and was pulled out of the battle buried under the dead bodies of his comrades. Once on the enemy side he was able to capture the leader. But he only got into that situation by being a coward.
They decide to station him at Fort Spencer up in the mountains of California, a post that is purely there to help people passing by and keep an eye on things. The Fort is filled with soldiers including Knox, a drunk, a young religious man named Toffler, a helper named Cleaves, one named Reich and then the colonel looking after everyone - Col. Hart.
As Boyd settles into his new life he is startled one night by the arrival of a stranger named Colqhoun who is badly hurt and frost bitten. He tells the story of his group that were traveling and took a shortcut through the mountains but ended up getting stuck. They hid in a cave to survive the winter storm but ran out of food quickly and began to eat each other. Colqhoun managed to escape but left behind a lady.
The group decide to go out to this cave to see if the lady survived but when they arrive Colqhoun attacks them and kills all of them except for Boyd who escapes. You see, when you eat the flesh of a man, it's believed you turn into a Wendigo, and that's what's happened to Colqhoun.
Boyd manages to get back to his Fort but is shocked when soon after Colqhoun arrives but under the guise of a Colonel Ives and he's now in charge of the Fort.
Alright...what did I love about this movie?
- Robert Carlyle was terrifying and delivered an outstanding performance as the villain.
- The scenery was beautiful.
- I fucking love the legends of Wendigos so this was right up my alley.
- The line "It's lonely being a cannibal, tough making friends" had me cackling. Please carve that into my tombstone.
- Those fur lined goggles....I would like a pair please.
- This doesn't quite count - but the music was very odd. Extremely upbeat in the weirdest places. But I loved it? Like it totally worked.
- Ummm...that final scene with the giant bear trap thing? WHY WAS IT SO BIG? What the fuck is that supposed to trap???
Overall?
I had no idea what this movie was. It was a total random recommendation and I didn't bother to look into it before I watched it. This was not what I was expecting and I did not know I needed this in my life until I saw it. Cannibals, wendigos, forts, wilderness, beards....yup.
Loosely based on the Donner party incident it tells a believable and terrifying story. I loved every moment of it and am so glad this is in my life now.
10/10
BACK ON TRACK! BOOM! Also survived the storm. Also finally started preparing for my vacation in 13 days. ALSO...one more movie to finish off 90's week and then it's into 2015 week!
Stay spooky!
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