Ravenous

Ravenous (1999) What we have here is a kind of ‘Dances With Wolves’ meets ‘Cannibal Apocalypse’ meets the Donner Party. You don’t see too many horror/western/satires but we have one here and one with an excellent cast including Robert Carlyle, Guy Pearce, Jeremy Davies, and David Arquette. Taking place in 1847, a ‘hero’ (Guy Pearce) of the Mexican War is sent to a remote cavalry post in the western Sierras to help keep track of travelers coming into California. The post is a wart on the frontier’s butt and as unimportant a post as could be imagined. No one ever comes by in the winter months and the staff numbers about 8 including a couple of Native Americans (who help explain what is happening) and who live at the post. Things start to happen when Robert Carlyle staggers into town and spins a tale of terror about his group being trapped in the mountains and resorting to cannibalism in order to survive. The cavalry walks (they only had about two horses at the post) off to investigate and find far worse things in store than the horrors contained in the stranger’s tale.
The photography (shot in Slovakia) is breathtaking and the score is excellent. The movie is a bit of a satire on westerns and horror movies as well as on moral dilemmas (which the hero certainly has). After watching this movie, I suspect we will all be cooking our steaks a bit more than in the past and paying a little more attention to the inspection tag on the package in the market. Ravenous could be an excellent choice for a rental. The movie is rated R for: appalling cast mortality, nekkid Carlyle butt, grue to the max, red snow, literate nutcrackers, and for the number of knife entries into assorted cast members.