[Spoilers for The Green Inferno]
After being in development Hell, The Green Inferno finally came out this year. This is a typical Eli Roth film, considering it is a Torture Horror film. It is very similar to his most popular work, Hostel. While this may seem like just another torture porn film, there was actually a lot of interesting things that lead up to this film’s release.
The Green Inferno was filmed in 2012 and was scheduled to be released in early 2014. Due to financial troubles, the film’s release was delayed until this year. Since the film centered around an indigenous tribe, Eli Roth wanted to film with an authentic tribe. They found a tribe, but they were so secluded that the production team and the government had to explain to them what a movie even was. Roth was using the film Cannibal Holocaust as the main inspiration for his film, and that’s the film that they screened for the tribe.
With no cultural understanding of film, the tribe thought the movie was funny. They were fully cooperative and thought they were filming a comedy. Roth explains that the tribe was really into the whole process and that everyone wanted to be covered in blood and eat the fake flesh. It is very interesting to imagine what it would be like to work with someone who has no concept of being watched on screen. They do not have stage fright and aren’t worried about style. When watching the film, that seems to translate very well since the tribe members are the best actors the film has to offer.
Eli Roth made this film with purpose. This is not just some horror film trying to cash in on Halloween. Roth made it clear that this film was partly inspired by the events of Occupy Wall Street. Roth states that he hates the activist trend. He believes that with the help of fake internet points, teenagers are joining causes just to get attention. The film address the dangers and consequences of blindly joining movements. Without research, one could be helping support a cause for the wrong reason.
In the film, the students go to save a tribe, but they don’t know that they were helping a less than moral cause. Roth tortures the fake activists in his film and tortures those real life trend activists through graphic cinematography. The film intended to get a reaction out of the audience. That reaction might be looking away or getting up to leave.
“And that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’m Bruce Nolan, Eyewitness News.” – Bruce Almighty
— Miguel Gonzalez, Film Blogger
