no humans were harmed , tested or tasted in the making of this film . all recipes are fictions . twentieth century fox does not condone cannibalism . a psychological thriller that will scare you to the depth of your soul ! director/writer antonia bird shows us that the most terrifying horror is not provided by giant beasts , but instead by monsters lurking in ourselves . . " . . they were a party of settlers in covered wagon times and they had to resent to cannibalism in order to stay alive . . " this true story , briefly mentioned in " the shining " , has no turned into a 143 minutes long motion picture . in 1847 , the united states was a land of pioneers , of gold-starved americans making their way west . it was a period of manifest destiny , the inevitability of the country extending its boundaries , stretching out its arms and consuming all the land it could . capt . john boyd ( guy pearce ) has become both a " hero " and a victim during this period of relentless consumption . . . in ways he could never have imagined . boyd's journey to hell begins when he is awarded for an act of cowardice during a horrific mexican-american war battle earns him banishment to a desolate military outpost , a waystation for western travelers in the barren and icy sierra nevada mountains in california . upon his arrival he is greeted by a small , motley group of soldiers , including his commanding officer , hart ( jeffrey jones ) , a previously intelligent and sophisticated man who has lost his aristocratic origin in the heat of battle and has pretty much given up on life ; toffler ( jeremy davies ) , the fort's personal emissary to the lord ; knox ( stephen spinella ) , the veterinarian that plays doctor , who never met a bottle of whiskey he didn't like ; reich ( neal mcdonough ) , the no-nonsense soldier of the group ; and the seriously " over-medicated " cleaves ( david arquette ) , a cook whose meals are inspired more by peyote than culinary ambitions . into this cold , bleak and bizarre world staggers a stranger , colqhoun ( robert carlyle ) , a half-starved scot who had been traveling with a group of settlers until they became snowbound . seeking refuge in a cave , they soon ran out of food - and were forced to consume one another . colqhoun barely escaped becoming an hors d'oeuvre himself . our heroes then decide to journey through the mountains to find the survivors , and colqhoun tags along to help out . soon it becomes clear that colqhoun's tale has ramifications beyond cannibalism and the will to survive . it involves an old indian myth called weendigo , which states that a man who eats the flesh of another steals that person's strength , spirit and very essence . his hunger becomes an insatiable craving : the more he eats , the more he wants , and the stronger he becomes . there can never be enough , and death is the only escape . . it's all fairly sickening and you have to have a healthy stomach to see the whole movie through . as professionally made as the movie is , you have to wonder who they thought would come piling into the theater to see this . teen-age horror fans won't care because none of the soldiers look remotely like neve campell . older folks might show up when they hear that the movie is actually a satire about the pioneer spirit , but they'll be disappointed once all the raw meat starts getting waved in their faces . but jokes aside , this is a film that is well worth watching . it has wonderful and mature characters , that few horror film s can boast of and a strangely effective story that continues to electrify you till the end . the two main characters are also the most interesting . boyd is a simple , honest man tiered of war , killing and fear . his sacred wish is to live a normal , quite life away from gunpowder and blood . colqhoun is different . he proves that a man , on the brink of death , would do anything to stay alive , including sacrificing his own soul . he believes so much in this indian myth that he starts to change physically . it is the power of the human mind and conviction that make miracles happen . the atmosphere in " ravenous " is macabre and bizarre , scary and surreal . completely isolated from the rest of the world , stands fort spencer . here time stands still , and nothing changes . the inhabitants are soldiers driven by war and pillage . they are all somehow losers of society that have been banished -- men that are used to killing and have not done anything else in their entire life . men that are nothing , and has nothing to loose . the result is some sort of cabin fever . cannibalism is more like a sick game for them . since they find no pleasure in living , they find some excitement in killing and dying . it's like " who's going to die first ? " the unchangeable icy landscape , where birds do not sing and even wind doesn't move the leaves on the trees , resembles kubrick's " the shining " . it's hard to not get mad here ! one of the scary aspects of the film is a strange connection that the viewer establishes with the characters , and starts to understand them , although they have turned into half crazed killers . music is another factor that strengthens the atmosphere . a strange musical score , composed by michael nyman ( the piano ) and damon albarn , that often seems out of place , and in complete contrast to the image , somehow reflects the characters' twisted reactions on the world and their situation . the director herself stated that it was " ok to laugh " during the picture . and i must admit that it is often very funny , in a strange way ( such as the wonderful quote : " . . it's lonely being a cannibal . you don't get that many friends . . . " or when colqhoun is quoting ben franklin , saying " eat to live . don't live to eat . " ) . but mostly it is frightening and shocking as it goes deeper into the minds of these strange men and we witness their psychological change . every actor does a great job . especially robert carlyle as the sinister and intelligent cannibal , and guy pearce as the moral and honest soldier , nagged by his undeserved honor . this strange couple resemble lestat and lois in neil jordan's 'interview with the vampire' . actually there are many amusing parallels and connections to vampire movies , since the topics are so alike . " ravenous " starts wonderfully and continues to shock and scare until it gets to the finale , where it looses focus and gets too primitive and rather boring . however these little failures don't diminish the impression . this is a bizarre dark comedy about the human mind and its change in different situations . it is a scary fable about the monster that lurks in everyone's soul , a dark side which we're all trying to hide -- but it's there -- always . it is one of the most frightening and successful horror films since " the shining " . " . . i said no food . i didn't say there was nothing to eat . . . " - colqhoun , ravenous 
