Green Inferno Review

"You know what this is? You know what they're doing to us?" Eli Roth brings us another twisted tale in his new movie The Green Inferno. The buzz about this movie has been going on for about two years now because there was quite a lot of problems finding a distributor for this film and now I have finally seen it. I wish I was more impressed.

The plot is simple. A group of college activists go into the Amazonian rain forest to save a local tribe from deforestation but unfortunately their plane crashes and they are captured by the very tribe they saved. But guess what? They are a tribe of cannibals! Who knows what will happen!?

Now if you couldn't read the sarcasm through my plot summary, this plot is so overused. The cannibal genre has been going on since Cannibal Holocaust came out in 1980. I know that this is Roth's homage to that film but I just wasn't intrigued and impressed with it. It was so cliche and you knew what was going to happen from the beginning.

The acting throughout the film is mediocre. Lorenzo Izzo who plays the lead role does an alright job at pretending to be a scared girl in a terrible situation. The other lead actor Ariel Levy does about as good a job as he could. But his role is for the audience to basically hate him from his first sentence that he utters, which isn't very hard to do. All of Roth's characters have no real depth and are just there to be eaten.

The film is shot on digital so it has very vibrant colors which I actually did enjoy because the jungle looks beautiful in this film. Also the special effects and gore in the film is pretty extreme. But the problem with this film is that it didn't really bring anything new to the table. It was just another gore fest brought by Eli Roth. There was nothing original and I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be funny or scary or what the direction of the film was.

The Green Inferno is just another film in a long list of films that bring blood, guts and gore to the big screen. The problem with this film is that it had nothing inside. It was just a hollow shell. If what you are looking for is a gore fest then this is a good film for you. Otherwise I wouldn't waste your time on it.

Grade: D-

Genre: Horror

Cast: Lorenzo Izzo, Ariel Levy

Rated: R for aberrant violence and torture, grisly disturbing images, brief graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use.

Director: Eli Roth

Goodnight, Mommy Review

"Your'e not our mother." Severin Fiala's and Veronika Franz's new collaboration film Goodbye, Mommy or "Ich seh, Ich seh" is a nice breath of fresh air compared to some of the horror or suspense movies that have been released lately. Although this film does bring some cliche elements to the table, it still provides an enjoyable movie experience that will keep you guessing until the credits start.

The film is about a pair of twins ( Lukas and Elias Schwarz)who move into a new house with their mother (Susanne Wuest) after she has had facial surgery. The children though begin to suspect that the woman under the bandages is not who she says that she is.

The difficult part about this film is that this summary sounds very short and simplistic. But somehow this film maintains a stable amount of suspense to keep you intrigued until the finale of the movie. I personally loved the plot. The way that the movie progressed truly had me guessing "Was this really their mother?"

The acting in this film is superb. The two children, Lukas and Elias Schwarz (who are twins actually), did an amazing job. They definitely stole the show  Especially considering the fact that this is their acting debut. Wuest does a terrific job as well. Throughout the film you can almost identify with her as well as hate her at the same time. She is able to create a complex character even though I still believe she could have been fleshed out a lot more. The lack of music in this film is also very apparent. Much of the film is silent and this adds to the feel of isolation throughout the movie.

As for the cinematography each shot is beautiful. The look of the film is amazing and every scene is just a treat for the eyes. The movie is only 99 minutes which is short compared to most movies today but it moved along at a fairly good pace and didn't feel too short or too long. The whole film just feels very eerie which is the perfect tone for this film. The use of not showing what happens also is a very powerful technique that is illustrated in this film.

All in all, I really enjoyed this film. It was amazing to watch. The violence wasn't too over empowering to take away from the eerie feel of the movie. The shots were all masterful. The acting was on point. Despite the minor cliches throughout, I thought it was a good film.

Grade: B+

Genre: Suspense/ Horror

Cast:Susanne Wuest, Lukas Schwarz, Elias Schwarz

Rated: R for disturbing violent content and some nudity

Director: Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz