| Ravenous | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Antonia Bird |
| Produced by | Adam Fields David Heyman Tim Van Rellim |
| Written by | Ted Griffin |
| Starring | Guy Pearce Robert Carlyle Jeremy Davies Jeffrey Jones David Arquette Neal McDonough |
| Music by | Michael Nyman Damon Albarn |
| Cinematography | Anthony B. Richmond |
| Studio | Heyday Films |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | March 19, 1999 |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | Czech Republic United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12 million |
| Box office | $2,062,405 |
Ravenous is a 1999 horror film directed by Antonia Bird and starring Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle and Jeffrey Jones. The film revolves around cannibalism in 1840s California and some elements bear similarities to the story of the Donner Party and that of Alferd Packer. Screenwriter Ted Griffin lists Packer's story, as recounted in a couple of paragraphs of Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man, as one of his inspirations for Carlyle's character. The film's darkly humorous and ironic take on its gruesome subject matter have led some to label it a black comedy. The film's unique score by Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn generated a significant amount of attention. The film's production did not get off to a good start. Original director Milco Mancevski left the production two weeks after shooting started. He was replaced by Bird at the suggestion of Carlyle, who had worked with Bird on the film Priest.
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In an opening prologue during the Mexican-American War (1846 – 1848), Second Lieutenant Boyd fights in the United States Army (Boyd is obviously a former officer in the Army of the Republic of Texas, that merged with the US Army in 1846 - he still wears the Texas Army rank insignia of 2nd Lt.: one five pointed star on each shoulder strap). But in battle he fails to act while his unit is massacred. Playing dead, he is transported along with the other dead, with his commanding officer's blood dripping into his mouth, back to the Mexican headquarters. In a moment of sudden bravery, he captures the Mexican command. For his heroism Boyd is promoted to Captain, but his commanding officer realizes he is a coward and transfers him to the remote Fort Spencer in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
After Boyd joins the seven other inhabitants of Fort Spencer, a stranger named Colqhoun arrives and describes his wagon train becoming lost in the Sierra Nevadas and being reduced to cannibalism to avoid starvation. The party's guide, a Colonel Ives, had promised the party a shorter route to the Pacific Ocean but instead led them on a more circuitous route, and was then the one to lead their turn to cannibalism. The soldiers stationed at the fort see it as their duty to investigate and search for survivors, and so assemble a rescue party. Before they leave they are warned by their Native American scout, George, of the Wendigo myth; a story that a man consuming the flesh of his enemies takes their strength but becomes a demon cursed by a hunger for human flesh.
When they reach the cave where the party had taken refuge they realize that Colqhoun is Ives and has lured them into a trap. He had killed his five companions and sets about killing the soldiers from Fort Spencer one by one, including the commanding officer, Colonel Hart.
Boyd manages to escape the massacre by jumping off a cliff, breaking his leg in the process. He hides in a pit along with the body of a fellow soldier and eventually he eats some of the man's flesh to stay alive. When he finally limps back into the fort he is delirious and severely traumatized; none of the remaining soldiers (who did not meet Colqhoun) believe his wild tale, and a second expedition finds no bodies or any trace of the man. A temporary commander is assigned to the fort and to Boyd's horror it turns out to be Colqhoun, now cleaned up and calling himself Colonel Ives. The others still refuse to believe that Ives is the killer, especially after he bears no sign of the wounds inflicted on him during the massacre.
Ives tells Boyd that he used to suffer from tuberculosis, but when a Native scout told him the Wendigo myth he "just had to try," murdering him, eating his flesh and in the process curing his maladies. Having murdered the expedition he led he now plans to use the fort as a base to do the same to other passing travelers; he compares the location of the fort, with the guaranteed supply of isolated migrants that it entails, to the notion of Manifest Destiny that draws them there.
Boyd is suspected of murder after another soldier mysteriously dies and is chained up; he watches helplessly while the last officer is murdered by an unexpected ally of Ives: Colonel Hart, back from the dead after the massacre.
Ives saved Hart by feeding him his own comrades, and now Hart is addicted, like Colqhoun, to human meat. Ives wounds Boyd and forces him to make a choice: eat or die. Eventually Boyd gives in and eats a stew made out of the last officer killed, and his wound heals. But rather than join the two men in their conspiracy to convert General Slauson (who assigned Boyd to Fort Spencer in the first place), he convinces Hart to free him so he can kill Ives. Hart does so, but asks Boyd to kill him first as he no longer wants to live as a cannibal. A battle between Boyd and Ives takes place at the climax, with both men wounding each other badly, yet they won't die easily due to their new recuperative powers. Finally, Boyd forces Ives onto a large bear trap and springs it, pinning them both together. Ives taunts Boyd by telling him he'll eat him as soon as he dies, but Ives expires first. Boyd refuses to save himself by eating Ives' body and dies on top of his adversary.
Martha, George's sister, stumbles upon the bodies of both Ives and Boyd, closes the door, and walks away. General Slauson arrives. While his aide looks around, the general tastes the stew that was left on the fire, suggesting that he might unwittingly be carrying forward the Wendigo curse.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Guy Pearce | Captain John Boyd |
| Robert Carlyle | Colonel Ives / F.W. Colqhoun |
| David Arquette | Private Cleaves |
| Jeremy Davies | Private Toffler |
| Jeffrey Jones | Colonel Hart |
| John Spencer | General Slauson |
| Stephen Spinella | Major Knox |
| Neal McDonough | Private Reich |
| Joseph Runningfox | George |
| Sheila Tousey | Martha |
| Bill Brochtrup | Lindus |
| Fernado Becerril | Mexican Commander |
| Gabriel Berthier | Mexican Commander |
| Pedro Altamirano | Mexican Commander |
| Damián Delgado | Mexican Grenadier |
| Tim Van Rellim | Mr. MacCready |
| Miezi Sungu | Jones |
| David Heyman | Mr. Janus |
Ravenous opened on March 19, 1999 in the United States in 1,040 theaters, accumulating $1,040,727 over its opening weekend. It finished eighteenth for the weekend. The film went on to gross $2,062,405 domestically, far less than its reported $12 million budget.[1]
Ravenous received mixed reviews from professional critics, somewhat tending toward the negative. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received 41% overall approval out of 34 reviews, and a 40% from the "Cream of the Crop".[2] Roger Ebert, gave Ravenous a better review, rating it 3 stars out of 4 and stating that it was "the kind of movie where you savor the texture of the filmmaking, even when the story strays into shapeless gore."[3]
The film was shot on location in the Tatra Mountains, Slovakia and Durango, Mexico.
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