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movie review - Ravenous

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Vancouver, 2002.08.12

Upon a second viewing, I have to upgrade my rating on this flick. Yes, it's a silly vampire story (as my brother pointed out). The vampires are replaced with bad guys of native American folklore, true, but similarities between the Wendigo in this one and run-of-the-mill vampires is too much.

The plot is essentially this: a fnck-up in the US army (played by a hungry-looking Guy Pierce) is sent to a remote mountain pass somewhere in the Sierra Nevada. There, he encounters a crew of similar outcasts. Life progresses apace for a spell, until the fort is visited by a striken wanderer seemingly on his last legs. The wanderer (Robert Carlyle) tells his story, one of cannibalism following a failed settler voyage through the Nevadas.

Things go, of course, straight to hell once the team of soldiers goes to check out the wanderer's tale.

Seeing this one a second time (after three years and change) gave me the chance to see a bit more of its subtleties, which aren't necessarily obvious.

In all, it's worth a look.

Recommended.

rand()m quote

The race is not always to the swift, nor the fight to the strong, but that's the way to bet.

—Damon Runyon