69 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
69 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
no humans were harmed , tested or tasted in the making of this film .
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all recipes are fictions .
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twentieth century fox does not condone cannibalism .
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a psychological thriller that will scare you to the depth of your soul !
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director/writer antonia bird shows us that the most terrifying horror is not provided by giant beasts , but instead by monsters lurking in ourselves . .
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" . . they were a party of settlers in covered wagon times and they had to resent to cannibalism in order to stay alive . . "
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this true story , briefly mentioned in " the shining " , has no turned into a 143 minutes long motion picture .
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in 1847 , the united states was a land of pioneers , of gold-starved americans making their way west .
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it was a period of manifest destiny , the inevitability of the country extending its boundaries , stretching out its arms and consuming all the land it could .
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capt . john boyd ( guy pearce ) has become both a " hero " and a victim during this period of relentless consumption . . .
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in ways he could never have imagined .
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boyd's journey to hell begins when he is awarded for an act of cowardice during a horrific mexican-american war battle earns him banishment to a desolate military outpost , a waystation for western travelers in the barren and icy sierra nevada mountains in california .
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upon his arrival he is greeted by a small , motley group of soldiers , including his commanding officer , hart ( jeffrey jones ) , a previously intelligent and sophisticated man who has lost his aristocratic origin in the heat of battle and has pretty much given up on life ; toffler ( jeremy davies ) , the fort's personal emissary to the lord ; knox ( stephen spinella ) , the veterinarian that plays doctor , who never met a bottle of whiskey he didn't like ; reich ( neal mcdonough ) , the no-nonsense soldier of the group ; and the seriously " over-medicated " cleaves ( david arquette ) , a cook whose meals are inspired more by peyote than culinary ambitions .
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into this cold , bleak and bizarre world staggers a stranger , colqhoun ( robert carlyle ) , a half-starved scot who had been traveling with a group of settlers until they became snowbound .
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seeking refuge in a cave , they soon ran out of food - and were forced to consume one another .
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colqhoun barely escaped becoming an hors d'oeuvre himself .
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our heroes then decide to journey through the mountains to find the survivors , and colqhoun tags along to help out .
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soon it becomes clear that colqhoun's tale has ramifications beyond cannibalism and the will to survive .
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it involves an old indian myth called weendigo , which states that a man who eats the flesh of another steals that person's strength , spirit and very essence .
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his hunger becomes an insatiable craving : the more he eats , the more he wants , and the stronger he becomes .
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there can never be enough , and death is the only escape . .
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it's all fairly sickening and you have to have a healthy stomach to see the whole movie through .
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as professionally made as the movie is , you have to wonder who they thought would come piling into the theater to see this .
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teen-age horror fans won't care because none of the soldiers look remotely like neve campell .
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older folks might show up when they hear that the movie is actually a satire about the pioneer spirit , but they'll be disappointed once all the raw meat starts getting waved in their faces .
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but jokes aside , this is a film that is well worth watching .
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it has wonderful and mature characters , that few horror film s can boast of and a strangely effective story that continues to electrify you till the end .
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the two main characters are also the most interesting .
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boyd is a simple , honest man tiered of war , killing and fear .
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his sacred wish is to live a normal , quite life away from gunpowder and blood .
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colqhoun is different .
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he proves that a man , on the brink of death , would do anything to stay alive , including sacrificing his own soul .
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he believes so much in this indian myth that he starts to change physically .
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it is the power of the human mind and conviction that make miracles happen .
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the atmosphere in " ravenous " is macabre and bizarre , scary and surreal .
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completely isolated from the rest of the world , stands fort spencer .
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here time stands still , and nothing changes .
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the inhabitants are soldiers driven by war and pillage .
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they are all somehow losers of society that have been banished -- men that are used to killing and have not done anything else in their entire life .
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men that are nothing , and has nothing to loose .
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the result is some sort of cabin fever .
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cannibalism is more like a sick game for them .
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since they find no pleasure in living , they find some excitement in killing and dying .
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it's like " who's going to die first ? "
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the unchangeable icy landscape , where birds do not sing and even wind doesn't move the leaves on the trees , resembles kubrick's " the shining " .
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it's hard to not get mad here !
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one of the scary aspects of the film is a strange connection that the viewer establishes with the characters , and starts to understand them , although they have turned into half crazed killers .
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music is another factor that strengthens the atmosphere .
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a strange musical score , composed by michael nyman ( the piano ) and damon albarn , that often seems out of place , and in complete contrast to the image , somehow reflects the characters' twisted reactions on the world and their situation .
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the director herself stated that it was " ok to laugh " during the picture .
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and i must admit that it is often very funny , in a strange way ( such as the wonderful quote : " . . it's
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lonely being a cannibal .
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you don't get that many friends . . . "
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or when colqhoun is quoting ben franklin , saying " eat to live .
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don't live to eat . " ) . but
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mostly it is frightening and shocking as it goes deeper into the minds of these strange men and we witness their psychological change .
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every actor does a great job .
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especially robert carlyle as the sinister and intelligent cannibal , and guy pearce as the moral and honest soldier , nagged by his undeserved honor .
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this strange couple resemble lestat and lois in neil jordan's 'interview with the vampire' .
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actually there are many amusing parallels and connections to vampire movies , since the topics are so alike .
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" ravenous " starts wonderfully and continues to shock and scare until it gets to the finale , where it looses focus and gets too primitive and rather boring .
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however these little failures don't diminish the impression .
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this is a bizarre dark comedy about the human mind and its change in different situations .
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it is a scary fable about the monster that lurks in everyone's soul , a dark side which we're all trying to hide -- but it's there -- always .
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it is one of the most frightening and successful horror films since " the shining " .
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" . . i said no food .
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i didn't say there was nothing to eat . . . "
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- colqhoun , ravenous
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