Green Inferno @EliRoth's cannibal disco with @lorenzaizzo

*** This review may contain cannibal spoilers ***

A group of students travel to the Amazon to save the rain-forest and villagers habitat but soon find themselves in deathly hot water.

Eli Roth returns to his directing roots in this cautionary horror tale which harks back to the golden age of 80's exploitation films like Cannibal Holocaust (1980) and Cannibal Ferox (1981). 

Roth effectively sets up the reassuring false sense of security within the first act introducing the characters. Naturally these unsuspecting victims will later become part of a graphic (twist) plan crash and later tribal fodder. Roth executes the crescendo tension and madness to follow effortlessly. Its horrific with amputation, mutilation, blood, gore and wince inducing torture which debatably exceeds the nature of films it pays homage to. The special effects are exceptional, bodies on wooden stakes and decapitated heads to name a few.

Lorenza Izzo's Justine is particularly notable and shoulders the weight of the first 45 minute build up to join the activists then excels in the latter half sporting make-up to rival the look of Hell of the Living Dead's Margit Evelyn Newton. When the group arrive at the village (briefly seen in the opening) the film's tone become ominous and thanks to the jungle setting and local extras fortifies its authenticity. Likable actors Aaron Burns and Nicolás Martínez stand out and Richard Burgi briefly appears as Justine's yuppie father.

Reminiscent of Ti West's The Sacrament (2013) in terms of structure that mirrors the likes of Roth's own Hostel & Hostel part II and Aftershock (2012) which he produced, Roth sticks to his successful blue print and along with writer Guillermo Amoedo's adds a little twist delivering much more than a generic torture porn but a film with social commentary at its core. 

Perfectly executed, no pun intended, wonderfully detailed, those familiar with the genre will know what they're in for (for everyone else there's Roth's forthcoming commercial outing MEG) but as for cannibal films arguably they don't come better than the sub-genre defining Green Inferno.