Reviewer's Rating 2 out of 5
Ravenous (1999)
18

The looks of satisfaction on the faces of Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle as they tear into human flesh in "Ravenous" are clear. But there is little to quell the viewer's appetite for entertainment from this raw mess.

Guy Pearce is a cowardly soldier sent out to an isolated Californian military outpost, with only a ragbag of misfits to keep him company. It's the middle of winter and it is a bleak and harsh territory that they're stuck in. Indeed, visitors would in most cases be most welcome, except perhaps Robert Carlyle. He turns up frostbitten and nearly dead, with a story of a trek gone wrong. Having run out of food, he and his companions began to turn on one another for nourishment.

A search and rescue is mounted to find the remaining two un-munched members of the party, and this is where events become nasty. It turns out that old Bobby is a bit of a nutcase and he's now got the pleasure of turning the rescue party into a pick and mix of human delights. Most of them are easy prey, but not Guy who decides that he'd rather not become snack material. And while he escapes it is only into an even more perilous situation, where he has not only to protect himself but also contain his own developing bloodlust.

The struggle between Guy and Robert does offer a few interesting moments. But a truly awful 'hick-styled' music score by Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn quickly extinguishes any vague smoulders of excitement in this movie. It's the final insult in a seeping blood soaked experience that is capped by a grisly and thoroughly miserable denouement.

End Credits

Director: Antonia Bird

Writer: Ted Griffin

Stars: Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, Jeremy Davies, Jeffrey Jones, David Arquette, Neal McDonough

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Length: 96 minutes

Cinema: 1999

VHS: 4 February 2000

Country: USA

Cinema Search

Where can I see this film?

New Releases