The Green Inferno -2013-
The Green Inferno (2013)
“The Green Inferno” (2013) is a visceral, divisive shock-horror film from director Eli Roth that trades subtlety for spectacle. Designed as both homage and provocation, the movie revives exploitation-horror tropes—gritty survival drama, sensationalized cultural clash, and extreme body horror—while attempting to interrogate Western activism and cinematic voyeurism. The result is a film that many viewers find compellingly bold and others find morally uncomfortable.
Plot Summary: Activism Gone Horribly Wrong
The film follows Justine (Lorenza Izzo), a naive college freshman from New York. Eager to find a cause and impress charismatic activist Alejandro (Ariel Levy), she joins a group of student protesters. Their mission, led by the intense leader Jonah (Sky Ferreira), is to chain themselves to bulldozers and halt the destruction of a remote Peruvian village by corporate developers.
Their protest is a viral success, but their victory is short-lived. On the flight home, their small plane suffers engine failure and crashes deep in the Amazon rainforest. Stranded and cut off from the world, the survivors soon discover they are not alone. They have stumbled upon an isolated indigenous tribe—one that has never been contacted by the outside world. The Green Inferno -2013-
The students’ nightmare begins when they realize the tribe is not only hostile but practices ritualistic cannibalism. One by one, the activists are captured, dismembered, and consumed in elaborate, gory ceremonies. Justine must use her wits to navigate the brutal social structure of the tribe and a shocking betrayal from within her own group to survive.
Production: Eli Roth’s Obsessive Homage
To understand the texture of The Green Inferno -2013-, one must look at director Eli Roth’s production process. Roth (famous for Hostel and Cabin Fever) has never hidden his love for the 1970s and 80s Italian cannibal genre. He conceived The Green Inferno as the third film in an unofficial trilogy of "survival horror" alongside Hostel (torture tourism) and The Last Exorcism. The Green Inferno (2013) “The Green Inferno” (2013)
The title itself is a direct nod to the fictional documentary within Ruggero Deodato’s infamous Cannibal Holocaust (1980), where the lost filmmakers are found in the "Green Inferno."
- Location: The film was shot on location in the remote jungles of northern Peru. Roth insisted on practical environments, forcing the cast to hike through actual snake-infested rivers and sleep in makeshift camps. This authenticity translates to the screen; the humidity, mud, and decay feel palpable.
- Practical Effects: In an age of CGI blood, Roth hired master prosthetic artist Greg Nicotero (of The Walking Dead) to create the film’s gruesome set pieces. From a man being hacked apart with a stone axe to the graphic amputation of limbs, every effect is practical. The infamous "anus scene"—where the tribe force-feeds a captive to the point of violent diarrhea—was designed specifically to cross the line of what audiences find acceptable in horror.
- The Cast: Roth cast his then-wife, Lorenza Izzo, as the lead, alongside newcomers like Ariel Levy and Sky Ferreira. The actors reportedly went through a "survival boot camp" to simulate real starvation and fear. Ferreira has since described the shoot as a "nightmare," citing severe illness and psychological toll.
The Plot: Activism, Betrayal, and Jungle Savagery
The narrative of The Green Inferno -2013- is deceptively simple. Justine (Lorenza Izzo), a naive college freshman from New York, is seduced by the charismatic activist Alejandro (Ariel Levy). The cause: stopping a corrupt corporation from bulldozing the ancestral lands of a remote Amazonian tribe. Along with a group of well-meaning but vapid student protesters, they charter a plane to Peru. Location: The film was shot on location in
Their plan? A non-violent disruption. The reality? The protest is a catastrophic failure. While attempting to return to civilization, their small plane crashes deep in the uncharted jungle. Justine awakens to find most of her peers dead or severely injured. The survivors soon realize they have crashed directly onto the territory of the very tribe they came to "save."
This is where The Green Inferno -2013- earns its title. The tribe, initially curious, quickly turns hostile. They do not understand the protesters’ mission. They see only intruders. One by one, the captured students are subjected to ritualistic cannibalism. The film meticulously details the dismemberment, cooking, and consumption of its characters, all while Justine—witnessing the horror of her own ideals—must find a way to survive not just the jungle, but the horrifying human appetites within it.