Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Good horror movies are nearly impossible to find these days. With the sheer amount of repetitive and laughable excuses for horror movies that flood the theatres today, I didn't expect much from 1999's box-office flop "Ravenous". However, this is one of those films that I just can't understand why it did so badly. All right, there's huge helpings of gore and violence to be sure, but even so, this is an absolutely incredible gothic horror film that deserved a much better fate.

It tells the story of a man named Boyd (Memento's Guy Pearce) as a coward soldier during the Mexican-American war in 1847. He's rewarded as a hero but his superior officers realize that his heroics were more luck than courage and they punish him by sending him to a nearly abandoned outpost in the Sierra Nevada mountains. There he meets a quirky cast of characters, among them are Hart (Jeffrey Jones), Reich (Neal McDonough), and Cleaves (David Arquette).

The story really picks up when a half starved man named Colqhoun (Robert Carlyle) stumbles into their camp. Once they've saved him from the bitter cold he explains that he was with a group settlers who tried to take a shortcut and ended up hiding out in a cave in the woods while waiting for the storm to pass. But it didn't, and when the food ran out they ate their belts, the horses, shoes, and eventually resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. Hart then launches a rescue mission to search for any remaining survivors. The rest of the plot I'll let you watch for yourself. There's two big plot twists, one of which completely knocked my sock's off.

I would not recommend eating a juicy tenderloin steak before viewing. Unlike the "horror" films of the present, "Ravenous" actually manages to get your pulse going and will deliver a few gruesome scares, and I'm not one who's easily scared. The atmosphere is chilling, although at times to music throws it all out of whack. I really prefer more of an ominous and foreboding soundtrack like that of "Alien", which still has the best horror music to date. The beautiful forest and Czech mountains only add to the scenery of this desolate outpost. Also, the movie doesn't resort to giving Pearce's character a tag along love interest like so many lesser movies feel the need to, and it's actually quite refreshing.

Another problem with today's horror films is that the quality of acting is a joke. The likes of "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Scream 3" pale in comparison to "Ravenous". Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle play their roles to perfection, but often what makes a good movie even greater is the supporting cast, and I couldn't have asked for a better one than the talented group assembled here. Jeffrey Jones one-ups his great performance in "Sleepy Hollow", while David Arquette does a great job of playing himself; a bumbling, incoherent fool.

Just on a side note, why does epinions have special effects listed as a rateable category in a horror film? Whatever, back to my review.

The film slides a bit towards the end, but it's still exciting and the acting only heightens the tension. A lot of reviewers said this movie was icky and disgusting. To that I say this: I don't know what you expect from a movie about cannibalism, but it stands to reason that it's not going to be a picnic. With a fantastic ensemble cast of character actors, buckets upon buckets of gore, a chilling and dark atmosphere, "Ravenous" is not to be missed.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age