The Green Inferno

Inspired by Italian director Ruggero Deodato's grim 1980 film Cannibal Holocaust (1980)—in which found footage of a documentary film crew reveals horrific happenings in the Amazonian jungle—director Eli Roth's updated version begins on a New York college campus, where Alejandro (Ariel Levy) first stages a hunger strike for underpaid janitors before turning his interest to saving the Amazon rainforest from exploitation by developers' bulldozers. Despite the skepticism of her roommate (singer Sky Ferreira), naïve Justine (Lorenza Izzo, Roth's real-life wife) joins Alejandro and other clueless students on this mission—over the objections of her human rights U.N. lawyer father. When their small plane crashes, Alejandro, Justine, and the surviving do-gooders are captured and tortured by savages. Somewhat ironically, these indigenous South America natives are the same people whom the environmental activists are determined to save. Leaving nothing to the imagination, Roth vividly depicts dreadful eye-gouging and depraved genital mutilation, culminating in a gross, stomach-churning cannibal feast. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Eli Roth, producer Nicolás López, and costars Lorenza Izzo, Aaron Burns, Kirby Bliss Blanton, and Daryl Sabara, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a photo gallery and bonus digital and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for an ugly gorefest film.] (S. Granger)