Ravenous (DVD)

Lieutenant Boyd (Guy Pearce) is an apparent hero during the American war with Mexico in the 1840's. Having been promoted to captain, his commanding officer discovers that he is a coward and transfers him to the remote Fort Spencer in the bleak, but picturesque, Sierra Nevada mountain range. With Boyd having met the dysfunctional fort team, Calhoun (Robert Carlyle) stumbles into camp looking bedraggled and traumatized. He tells his story about a wagon train, lost and cut off from the outside world after attempting a short cut that went wrong. As his story unfolds, the fort inhabitants listen in terror as Calhoun recounts a tale of desperation and depravity as the wagon ...

Having survived the perils of the Mexican American War captain John Boyd is publicly congratulated and privately condemned. Aware that Boyd's survival was not due entirely to selfless bravery, his commanding officer "rewards" him with a promotion and a new posting – to a remote, mountainous base named Fort Spencer. Upon his arrival, Boyd is greeted by a dubious selection of peers and superiors, including an alcoholic, an overzealous Christian, and a simpleton. Late one night, Boyd is startled by a figure at the window outside the cabin. When the unit dashes outside to find the intruder, they find a dirty, emaciated man unconscious, suffering from ...

Ravenous, released briefly in 1999, is an unfairly overlooked little film. A darkly comic tale of cannibalism in nineteenth century America, it managed to both amuse and, at times, unsettle me. It seems that Hollywood is ill equipped to deal with genuinely interesting and innovative films these days. In a fair world Ravenous would be as well known as Blair Witch Project, and just as successful (it's the only Yank horror movie I've seen from the last few years that's as good as Blair Witch). Instead it's all but unknown. The film is set during the US/Mexico war of the 1850s (I know nothing about this war, I'm afraid). John Boyd, played by Guy ...