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Movie of the Week #33 - Ravenous
Next horror film is the cannibal horror movie Ravenous from 1999 directed by Antonia Bird starring Guy Pearce in the leading role.
Since this is the month of horror movies, did you find it scary, unsettling, creepy, eerie, spooky or horrifying?
The rest of the schedule for June is:
- 17th: X (2022)
- 24th: The Exorcist (1973)
I have always loved this movie from the first time I saw it. I think this movie and American Psycho are two movies that get lumped in with "horror" but are really dark comedies. The tip off for me with Ravenous is the soundtrack, which plays almost carnival music over top of the entire thing - in addition to David Arquette doing his thing. Quite a bit of the editing and shooting style always felt more at home in a comedy than horror movie to me as well.
I've never read the Wikipedia entry for it, but just did. I had no idea there was such trouble with the production from the start.
I will say part of what always attracted me to this movie is the uneven tone of it all. I find that endearing and part of what makes it unique. I think the late 90s had a lot of movies that were trying to take the viewer in and then rug pull them at the end. Ravenous seemed to be going down that road, but actually ended with a pretty straightforward "good guy wins" ending. The only bit that was kind of quintessentially 90s was the other general tasting the stew.
The odd comedic tone is definitely weird among all the blood and gore. This movie holds nothing back in that department, all with very well made practical effects.
I appreciate this movie exists with how unique its combination of Benny Hill style music with blood and gore that sometimes gets close to the level of more extreme cannibal films. But I did lack the unsettling aspect I expect to feel from a horror film.
This was.. fine.
I like the idea a lot. A horror film set during this time period. A studio making what is essentially a b-movie. But the acclaim I saw in the letterboxd reviews pumped up my expectations too much.
I think it's kind of slow, it takes 40 minutes for the meat (ha) of the film to get going. But it never rose to the level of schlock that I wanted it to, it wasn't as violent as I wanted it to be. It felt like there was a lot being held back. This feels like the type of film that I should have liked a lot more, as I am a fan of exploitation films. I think maybe part of the reason the letterboxd scores are so high is because people go in expecting less and get a pretty decent movie, whereas I had the opposite happen to me.
I will admit though, the score is legitimately one of the craziest film scores I've ever heard, it's like different scores for different films cobbled up together.