Ravenous is a 1999 horror/drama film directed by
Antonia BirdAntonia Bird is an English director.-History:Antonia Bird began her career at the Royal Court Theatre before moving to television in the mid 1980s, directing episodes of EastEnders , Casualty , and drama serials like Thin Air and The Men's Room...
and starring
Guy PearceGuy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian Screen Actors Guild Award-nominated actor and musician, perhaps best known for his critically acclaimed portrayal of anterograde amnesia victim Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, his performance as Lieutenant Ed Exley in the film L.A...
,
Robert CarlyleRobert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor.-Early life:Carlyle was born in Maryhill, Glasgow, the son of Elizabeth, a bus company employee, and Joseph Carlyle, a painter and decorator. He was raised by his father after his mother left when Carlyle was four years old...
and
Jeffrey JonesJeffrey Duncan Jones is an American actor. He has appeared in many films and television shows, but may be best known for his roles as Emperor Joseph II in Miloš Forman’s Amadeus, and as the infamous dean of students, Edward R...
. The film revolves around
cannibalismCannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other humans.The word can be extended into zoology to mean any species consuming members of its own kind, and used outside of biological fields in a metaphorical sense: "Cannibalization" refers to the reuse of parts or ideas, such as...
in 1840s
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
and some elements bear similarities to the story of the
Donner PartyThe Donner Party was a group of California-bound American emigrants caught up in the "westering fever" of the 1840s. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846–1847, some of them resorted to cannibalism.-Party formation:...
and that of
Alferd PackerAlfred G. "Alferd" Packer was an American prospector who was accused of cannibalism. First tried for murder, Packer was eventually sentenced to 40 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter.-Packer's life:...
. Screenwriter
Ted GriffinTed Griffin is an American screenwriter whose credits include Ravenous, Best Laid Plans, Matchstick Men, and Ocean's Eleven.Born in Pasadena, California, Griffin graduated from Colgate University in 1993...
lists Packer's story, as recounted in a couple of paragraphs of
Dashiell HammettSamuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , the newspaper comic strip Secret Agent X-9 and the Continental Op...
's
The Thin ManThe Thin Man is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett. Although he never wrote a sequel, the book became the basis for a successful film series which also began in 1934 with The Thin Man and starred William Powell and Myrna Loy...
, 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 comedyBlack comedy is a sub-genre of comedy and satire in which topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo are treated in a satirical or humorous manner while retaining their seriousness...
.
Ravenous is a 1999 horror/drama film directed by
Antonia BirdAntonia Bird is an English director.-History:Antonia Bird began her career at the Royal Court Theatre before moving to television in the mid 1980s, directing episodes of EastEnders , Casualty , and drama serials like Thin Air and The Men's Room...
and starring
Guy PearceGuy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian Screen Actors Guild Award-nominated actor and musician, perhaps best known for his critically acclaimed portrayal of anterograde amnesia victim Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, his performance as Lieutenant Ed Exley in the film L.A...
,
Robert CarlyleRobert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor.-Early life:Carlyle was born in Maryhill, Glasgow, the son of Elizabeth, a bus company employee, and Joseph Carlyle, a painter and decorator. He was raised by his father after his mother left when Carlyle was four years old...
and
Jeffrey JonesJeffrey Duncan Jones is an American actor. He has appeared in many films and television shows, but may be best known for his roles as Emperor Joseph II in Miloš Forman’s Amadeus, and as the infamous dean of students, Edward R...
. The film revolves around
cannibalismCannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other humans.The word can be extended into zoology to mean any species consuming members of its own kind, and used outside of biological fields in a metaphorical sense: "Cannibalization" refers to the reuse of parts or ideas, such as...
in 1840s
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
and some elements bear similarities to the story of the
Donner PartyThe Donner Party was a group of California-bound American emigrants caught up in the "westering fever" of the 1840s. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846–1847, some of them resorted to cannibalism.-Party formation:...
and that of
Alferd PackerAlfred G. "Alferd" Packer was an American prospector who was accused of cannibalism. First tried for murder, Packer was eventually sentenced to 40 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter.-Packer's life:...
. Screenwriter
Ted GriffinTed Griffin is an American screenwriter whose credits include Ravenous, Best Laid Plans, Matchstick Men, and Ocean's Eleven.Born in Pasadena, California, Griffin graduated from Colgate University in 1993...
lists Packer's story, as recounted in a couple of paragraphs of
Dashiell HammettSamuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , the newspaper comic strip Secret Agent X-9 and the Continental Op...
's
The Thin ManThe Thin Man is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett. Although he never wrote a sequel, the book became the basis for a successful film series which also began in 1934 with The Thin Man and starred William Powell and Myrna Loy...
, 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 comedyBlack comedy is a sub-genre of comedy and satire in which topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo are treated in a satirical or humorous manner while retaining their seriousness...
. The film's unique score by
Michael NymanMichael Laurence Edward Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, perhaps best known for the many movie scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's...
and
Damon AlbarnDamon Albarn , is a Grammy Award-winning English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has been involved in many high profile projects and collaborations throughout his career...
generated a significant amount of attention.
Plot
In an opening prologue during the Mexican-American War (1846 – 1848), a
United States ArmyThe United States Army is the branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services...
officer, Lieutenant Boyd, freezes in battle while his unit is massacred. Playing dead, he manages to infiltrate the Mexican
headquartersHeadquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The corporate headquarters is the entity at the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
and, after a moment of bravery, captures them. He is promoted to Captain for his heroism, but his
Commanding OfficerThe commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
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 trainA wagon train is a group of wagons traveling together. In the American West, individuals traveling across the plains in covered wagons banded together for mutual assistance. Although most trains elected a captain and created by-laws, in reality the captain had little authority...
becoming lost in the Sierra Nevadas and being reduced to cannibalism to avoid starvation. The party's guide, a
ColonelColonel is a military rank of a commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every country in the world. It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
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, so assemble a rescue party. Before they leave they are warned by their
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
scoutReconnaissance is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information. Militarily, its shorthand Canadian and British form is recce , its American usage form is recon...
, George, of the
WendigoThe Wendigo is a mythical creature appearing in the mythology of the Algonquian people. It is a malevolent cannibalistic spirit into which humans could transform, or which could possess humans...
mythMythology is the study of myths and or of a body of myths. For example, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece. The term "myth" is often used colloquially to refer to a false story;...
; 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 realise 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. 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 tells Boyd that he used to suffer from
TuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
, 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, with the notion of
Manifest DestinyManifest Destiny is a term that was used in the 19th century to designate the belief that the United States was destined, even divinely ordained, to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean...
that draws them there.
He saved Hart by feeding him his own comrades (an act that seems to heal all wounds), and now the man is addicted like he is to human meat. Ives wounds Boyd and forces him to make a choice: eat or die. Eventually Boyd gives in and eats a prepared stew made out of the last officer killed, and his wound heals. But rather than join the two men in their conspiracy to convert another superior officer, 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 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, no longer a coward.
Unfortunately, an arriving officer searching the fort site stumbles on the remains of the human stew Hart and Ives had cooked and, finding the smell appealing, has a taste.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|
Guy PearceGuy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian Screen Actors Guild Award-nominated actor and musician, perhaps best known for his critically acclaimed portrayal of anterograde amnesia victim Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, his performance as Lieutenant Ed Exley in the film L.A...
|
Captain John Boyd |
| Robert Carlyle Robert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor.-Early life:Carlyle was born in Maryhill, Glasgow, the son of Elizabeth, a bus company employee, and Joseph Carlyle, a painter and decorator. He was raised by his father after his mother left when Carlyle was four years old...
|
Colonel Ives / F.W. Colqhoun |
David ArquetteDavid James Arquette is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, and former professional wrestler. He became known during the late 1990s, after having starred in several Hollywood films, including the films of the Scream trilogy...
|
Private Cleaves |
Jeremy DaviesJeremy Davies is an American film and television actor. He is mostly recognized through his acting in Saving Private Ryan, The Million Dollar Hotel and Lost.-Early life:...
|
Private Toffler |
| Jeffrey Jones Jeffrey Duncan Jones is an American actor. He has appeared in many films and television shows, but may be best known for his roles as Emperor Joseph II in Miloš Forman’s Amadeus, and as the infamous dean of students, Edward R...
|
Colonel Hart |
| John Spencer John Spencer was an American television actor best known for his role as Leo McGarry, the White House Chief of Staff on the NBC political drama The West Wing.-Early life:...
|
General Slauson |
Stephen SpinellaStephen Nicholas Spinella is an American stage, television, and actor. He is openly gay.Spinella was born in Naples, Italy to a father who was an American naval airplane mechanic...
|
Major Knox |
Neal McDonough-Life and career:McDonough was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, the son of Catherine and Frank McDonough, motel owners who emigrated from Ireland, with his mother coming from County Tipperary and his father from County Galway...
|
Private Reich |
| Joseph Runningfox Joseph Runningfox is a Pueblo actor who resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.He was featured in Ravenous as George and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild....
|
George |
| Sheila Tousey |
Martha |
| Bill Brochtrup Bill Brochtrup is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is known for playing "PAA John Irvin", the gay administrative aide, on NYPD Blue....
|
Lindus |
| Fernado Becerril |
Mexican Commander |
| Gabriel Berthier |
Mexican Commander |
| Pedro Altamirano |
Mexican Commander |
| Tim Van Rellim |
Mr. MacCready |
| Miezi Sungu |
Jones |
| David Heyman David Heyman is a British film producer born in London, England in 1961. He is best known for obtaining the film rights to the Harry Potter films in 1999, and since then producing the saga of films.- Biography :...
|
Mr. Janus |
Filming locations
- Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities" , "city of a hundred spires", or Stověžatá Praha in Czech and "the golden city" or Zlaté město in Czech.Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia, Prague has been the...
, Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...
- Tatra mountains
The Tatra Mountains, Tatras or Tatra , constitute a mountain range which forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They occupy an area of 750 km², the major part of which lies in Slovakia. The highest mountain is Gerlach at 2,655 m, located in Slovakia just north of Poprad...
, SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
- Durango, Durango
Durango, formally Victoria de Durango, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Durango. It stands at an altitude of .The city was founded in 1563. In the Spanish colonial era it was the capital of the Nueva Vizcaya province of New Spain, which included the present day states of...
, MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
- Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Box office performance
Ravenous opened on March 19, 1999 in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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. The British sound-editing crew, working at the Fox studios in Los Angeles, were amongst the first to see the poster for the film, and were so disappointed by it that many of them felt that the film was doomed from that point on.
Critical response
Ravenous received mixed reviews from professional critics, somewhat tending toward the negative. On
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films. The name derives from the historical cliché of throwing tomatoes and other produce at stage performers if a performance was particularly bad.- History :...
, the film received 41% overall approval out of 34 reviews, and a 40% from the "Cream of the Crop".
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter.He is known for his film review column and for two television programs Sneak Previews and Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel...
, 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".