RAVENOUS

This week we’re going back to the 90s to discuss a film that received poor critical reception, and due to off-base marketing, performed quite poorly at the box office. We’re talking about 1999’s Ravenous.

Set during the Mexican-American War, the film recounts the story of an American soldier named Boyd (Guy Pearce) who is promoted to Captain; however, he’s exiled to a remote fort in the Sierra Nevada Mountains after his heroic story of Mexican defeat is found to be suspect. There he joins a ragtag group of officers, soldiers, and Native American scouts – it’s snowy and cold, Robert Carlyle shows up, and strange things happen….

Within this macabre western (yes, it’s technically a western) is a deep character study surrounded by rich American lore, and inspired by true, harrowing legends from the Donner Party and Alfred Packer to the Native American myth of the Wendigo. It’s a darkly humorous horror tale in the Sierra Nevadas that pits a reluctant hero against a possible supernatural evil. But really, I won’t get into it because you should really watch this film if you haven’t already.

Please enjoy our discussion of Ravenous, complete with cannibalism, Wendigos, westward expansion, folk music, and so much more.