Ravenous

Looks like Blair Witch 2!

The next flick in my run of Carlyle reviews is the 1999 movie Ravenous. This is a film that stars Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle as two men around the time of the Mexican-American war. Guy Pearce plays a soldier who takes control  of an enemy outpost and when he returns he is promoted, but since he only was able to take the post by playing dead and abandoning his duty he is given a crap job at Fort  Spencer where there are six other people including a pot head and a drunk are also posted. They find a man (Carlyle) wandering around, near death and after he is revived he tells a story about his traveling party who were stranded and resorted to cannibalism to survive.

When I saw the trailer for this film I was not sure if it would be a humorous horror movie or an all out comedy. So I was eager to get started and check it out!

So let's dive in!
The movie opens with this:

Okay, a suitable quote, but what comes up next made me laugh so hard!:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! So I was geared up for a comedy, or at least something that knew that this situation could be hilarious if done right!
The film's first scene is Lieutenant John Boyd's (Guy Pearce) promotion to captain. He has flashbacks of the battle throughout, especially when the meal of almost rare meat is served in front of him. He freaks, remembering the dead bodies of his squad. So he is sent off to Fort Spencer in California.
I feel I can note here that the soundtrack backs my expectations of a comedy with a back country sound of strings, plucked and bowed that plays now and again.
So Boyde gets to the fort to be greeted by Col. Hart (Jeffry Jones). Hart welcomes Boyd and informs him of the other inhabitants of the fort:
Private Toffler (Jeremy Davies)- the local holy man in the loosest of terms.
Major Knox (Stephen Spinella)- that drunk guy I told you about and 'doctor'
Private Cleaves (David Arquette)- Over medicated and cook.
Private Reich (Neal McDonough)- crazy ass soldier
George (Joseph Runningfox)- a native american
Martha (Sheila Tousey)- his sister

The only pic I could get of the Fort Spencer troop!

We see what happened to Boyd in the battle. He froze and fell to the ground during the fight and when he was found he played dead. He was put into a pile with the rest of the dead (the bottom of the pile) and after drinking the blood of his officers he is able to pull himself out of the pile and sneak to the leader of the post, taking control. The army wants to punish him for his cowardice, but since he took an enemy outpost it would look bad, so they promote him and send him to this fort of misfits!

Soon after Boyd's arrival Mary and Private Cleaves (who must be warned not to get Peyote) go off to get supplies from a town. That night Boyd sees a man outside a window and when they go investigate they find F.W Coulqhoun  (Robert Carlyle) near death. They take him in, get him warm and soon he wakes with a story to tell.
He had been wandering the woods for three months. I love the line 'I said there was no food, I never said there was nothing to eat.' Carlyle gives to explain how he survived.
He and five others were traveling to California when their guide Colonel Ives led them through a 'shortcut' he knew about. They tried to get through, but they took to long and it had begun to snow. They found a cave for shelter and were soon stranded. They ran out of food and ate the oxen, horses and even their belts! Soon one of them died while Colqhoun went out for wood and when he came back the others were cooking the dead for dinner. He describes how their hunger was deeper after that meal. Col. Ives apparently was effected more than the others and soon they were being killed off. So Coulqhoun ran away, leaving Ives and the woman in the group.

Hart decides that it is their duty to find the cave to rescue those left. Before they leave George tells of a native american myth about a wendigo, a man who eats men and consumes their strength and spirit. Then he is insatiable, wanting to eat more flesh and the more he does the stronger he becomes. Another good line is when Hart asks George if people still do this he responds by reminding them that white men eat the flesh of Christ every Sunday!
So they leave the fort and Knox to find the cave.
Boyd asks Colqhoun about after eating the man, how he was changed, if he was stronger and Colqhoun tells him that he did feel a bit of strength.
Toffler gets wounded after falling down some rocks. That night he freaks and says that Colqhoun was licking the wound. Colqhoun claims that he was having a nightmare and begs the Colonel to bind him. The rest of the way he is tied up with a rope held by Reich.
When the come to the cave Colqhoun becomes terrified, not wanting to go in. Boyd and Reich go inside to investigate and find a rack of skeletons tied to the ceiling. But there are five bodies. Colonel Ives, it seems was killed as well, meaning that Colqhoun killed all of them.

Hey, you guys want some??

Outside Colqhoun has broken the robe around his wrists and starts advancing toward Toffler, humming and creeping everyone out. Now I have no idea what the hell the director told Carlyle during this, but it is pretty funny to see a character who has been more or less together suddenly flail about humming to the beat of the drums in the soundtrack like a crazy person!

Reich tries to warn the colonel, but Colqhoun (who dug out a knife from outside the cave) stabs him, shoots George and chases Toffler into the woods. Reich and Boyd follow him and find Toffler dead. Colqhoun throws his knife into Reich and he falls off a cliff. Boyd then shoot the man and it is pretty creepy when Carlyle stands as if nothing happened. Colqhoun corners Boyd, who jumps off the cliff and tumbles down a hill, taking Reich's body with him.

Colqhoun investigates, but leaves them, and we see him dragging Toffler's body into the cave.
The next few shots are showing the passing of time as Colqhoun and Boyd have their own ways of surviving. The time is shown in the phase that the moon is in, revealing about a month or so passes. As a last resort, Boyd eats the flesh of Reich's body. He then leaves, making it back to the fort where he tells his story.
The general does not believe him and it does not help when the new guy in charge shows up. Col. Ives appears and it is Colqhoun (the gunshot is investigated so kudos for not having really stupid characters, but there is no wound). So now Boyd has a cannibalistic boss to deal with and as comically as that sounds they play it pretty straight!
The soundtrack takes a turn around this point, going for a full orchestra of suspenseful music. I will complain about this in a bit.
Boyd is cautious around Ives, but Ives is completely calm, rational and collected, making Boyd seem more and more insane!
One cool scene is when Ives and Boyd are alone and can speak freely. Ives explains that he learned about the power of eating another man's flesh from a native american. He was dying from TB, and as soon as he ate said native he got better and stronger, and the more he ate the stronger he got, also he can heal faster than anyone else! Boyd confuses Ives in the fact that Boyd has eaten a man and yet fights the urge to do so again. Boyd cuts Ives' hand and is arrested for it.

While he is locked up, Cleaves goes missing and is found dead, along with the horses. Ives did not do this, so Boyd is blamed. Mary must go meet the General so Boyd can be taken to military prison. Ives is making a stew when Col. Hart returns.
Turns out that Ives saved him by feeding him Toffler's body. It caused him to heal and crave more meat. Hart tells him that they don't want to kill Boyd, but turn him. Also they want to turn the General to gain more power and become undetectable.
Ives tells Boyd that soon more and more people will travel to California, moving right through the fort. All you can eat buffet for them! When Boyd refuses Ives stabs him in the side, informing him that he either eats the stew he was making which has the meat of Knox as an ingredient, or die from the wound.
While Ives and Hart eat, Boyd sits there bleeding out.
It is now that I will tell you what is mainly wrong with this movie, because it is illustrated here perfectly! On one side you have Jeffrey Jones, a great comical actor with movies like Ferris Buller and Stay Tuned (a review coming soon) under his belt. On the other you have Robert Carlyle, who has been in mostly serious if not down right scary roles. Now I know that Jones has been in serious roles as well, but like I said, this illustrates my problem, the movie does not know what it is! That first frame of quotes was hilarious and the funniest moment in the film. The rest of the movie falls flat comic wise and soon does a 180 and tries to be a serious picture. This film could have been hilarious or terrifying, but what we got is no good! If there is one movie that deserves a remake it's this!

trailer for Ravenous

Anyway, Boyd eventually does eat it and wakes up the next morning healed. He is able to walk with Hart, who tells Boyd he can't let him go. It turns out that Hart regrets those he has killed, despite that he did it to live. Hart lets Boyd go and asks Boyd to kill him. Boyd does so, slitting his throat just as Ives comes in.
The rest of the film is an all right battle between Ives and Boyd, leaving the two of them stabbed, bludgeoned and bleeding. ( I was hoping a sword fight was in order, but was disappointed). Boyd eventually finds a GIANT bear trap and is able to trick Ives, triggering it on top of them both. As the general comes in, Ives explains that if Boyd dies first, Ives will eat him and live on, but if Ives dies, it will be Boyd's choice: eat or die.
And just because I feel like it, I won't tell you what he chooses.

Though anyone who finds them will just think it was a Romeo and Juliet thing!

I saw this for Carlyle and I got him! He plays one of the most interesting antagonists I have seen in a long time! This is a man who ate another to live on and now sees it as his only way of living. He isn't evil, just smart, he is a colonel, but needs a few others and a general to continue living without getting caught. He is strong, cunning, and creepy. His plan worked. Lead the members of a fort to a cave where he has hidden a knife, turn the leaders and then a general so when the herd comes in no one will question why a few people get killed now and again!
He plays it serious and is pretty creepy during it. I'm pretty sure that laugh of his will be in my nightmares tonight!

This movie is so indicative of a vampire turning! Someone gets bit and they don't want to accept it so they fight it until they need it to survive, but this is with people! There is an air of the supernatural  but no one but the suspicious native american says that Ives is a wendigo. It can be perfectly acceptable that this is just a nut who eats people and arguable that he was another creature entirely.
I'm not sure if it was casting, writing or directing, but something, well, it didn't miss, but it....slanted. The more research I do the more it seems that rewrites are to blame as it has been said to have meant to have dark humor, but I didn't see it!

It is a great story with interesting character, but it is the mixed messages that spoiled it for me. Getting past the comic attempts it is a good underrated movie and should be seen.