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film review

Like many Eli Roth films, this cannibals-gone-wild tale offers up extreme gore, unlikable characters and seriously confused themes.Eduardo Moreno

Thanks to a quirk of film-distribution fate, audiences find themselves in the unique position of facing two Eli Roth movies in the course of three weeks (the other is Knock, Knock, opening Oct. 9).

For most moviegoers – i.e., anyone with a weak stomach and a distaste for cinematic sadism – this is an untenable situation. After all, what are Roth's films other than cinematic truth-or-dare contests, ostensibly playful diversions that mask vicious mean streaks?

Like Hostel and Cabin Fever before it, The Green Inferno offers up extreme gore, unlikable characters and seriously confused themes (is it a pro-environment film, an ode to imperialism, a satire of social-justice warriors or a poorly sketched combination of all three?).

Whatever criticism you want to throw at Roth, at least the director stays true to his singular, repulsive vision: His cannibals-gone-wild tale is a work of unrelenting and squishy terror. Guts are spilled, eyeballs are gouged and the threat of vaginal torture is waved around like Chekhov's gun.

If that's your thing, you'll think you've died and gone to some godawful version of heaven.

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