RAVENOUS

Ravenous – U.K. title

Vorax – Mexican title

Ravenous – U.S.A. title

Voraz – Argentinian title

Mortos de Fome – Brazilian title

Erämaa syö miestä – Finnish title

Vorace – French title

Ravenous - Friß oder stirb - German title

Ta arpaktika – Greek title

Farkaséhség – Hungarian title

L'insaziabile – Italian title

DRapiezcy – Polish title

O Insaciável – Portuguese title

Ferocitate – Romanian title

Izgladneli – Serbian title

Ravenous – Spanish title

Ravenous – English title

A 1998 British, Czechoslovakian, Mexican, U.S.A. co-production [Engulf & Devour Productions Inc, Heyday Films (London), ETIC, Prague, 20^th Century Fox (Hollywood)]

Producers: Adam Fields, David Heyman

Director: Antonia Bird

Story: Ted Griffin

Screenplay: Ted Griffin

Cinematography: Anthony B. Richmond [color]

Music: Damon Albarn, Michael Nyman

Song: “Weendigo Myth” sung by Milton Sahme

Running time: 108 minutes

Cast:

Captain John Boyd – Guy Pierce

Colonel Ives/F.W. Colqhoun – Robert Carlyle

Private Cleaves – David Arquette

Private Toffler – Jeremy Davies (Jeremy Boring)

Colonel Hart – Jeffrey Jones

General Slauson – John Spencer (John Speshock)

Major Knox – Stephen Spinella

Private Reich – Neal McDonough

George – Joseph Running Fox (Joseph Runningfox)

Lindus – Bill Brochtrup (William Brochtrup)

Martha – Sheila Tousey

Mexican Commanders – Fernando Becerril, Gabriel Berthier, Pedro Altamirano (Pedro Marquez)

U.S. blonde soldier – Joseph Boyle

Mexican sentries – Damian Delgado, Fernando Manzano (Fernando Salazar)

Mexican soldiers – Alfredo Escobar, Gerardo Martinez

Mr. Janus – David Heyman

Mr. MacCready – Tim Van Rellim

Jones – Miezi Sungu

Borracho – Abel Woolrich

Mrs. MacCready – Kate Mestitz

Stunts: Gerardo Moreno (Gerardo Flores), Alejandro Avendano (Alejandro Luhrs), Rudolf Bok, Petr Bozdech, Wilebardo Bucio, Viktor Cervenka, Jorge Luis Corzo (Jorge Rosales), Petr Drozda, Daniel Díaz, Martin Engel, Raul Escandon, Antonio Gallegos, Tomás Guzmán, Jan Holícek, Jirí Horký, Peter Hric, Jindrich Klaus, Jirí Kraus, Milos Kulhavy, Ladislav Lahoda, Robert Lahoda   , Javier Lambert, Dimo Lipitkovský, Júlio Martínez, Mauricio Martínez, Raúl Martínez (Raúl Yánez), Pavel Myslik, Vaclav Pacal, Jan Petrina, Matías Salgado, Jiri Stanek, Leo Stransky (Leos Stransky), Hector Tabares (Hector Garciaconde), Rafael Valdez, Juan Manuel Vilchis (Juan Manuel Sosa), Petr Vlasak, Karel Vávrovec, Paul Weston

During the Mexican-American War (1846–1848), Second Lieutenant Boyd fights in the United States Army. But in battle his courage fails him, and, to avoid being killed, he plays dead—while his unit is massacred. He is transported along with the other dead back to the Mexican headquarters. However, in a moment of sudden bravery, he captures the Mexican command. For his heroism Boyd is promoted to Captain, but when his commanding officer learns of the cowardice by which his victory was achieved, he exiles Boyd to the remote Fort Spencer in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

After Boyd joins the seven other inhabitants of Fort Spencer, a stranger named Colqhoun arrives and describes his wagon train becoming lost in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and being reduced to cannibalism to avoid starvation. The soldiers stationed at the fort see it as their duty to investigate and search for survivors, and so assemble a rescue party. Before they leave they are warned by their Native American scout, George, of the Wendigo myth; a story that a man consuming the flesh of his enemies takes their strength but becomes a demon cursed by a hunger for human flesh.

When they reach the cave where the party had taken refuge they realize that Colqhoun is Ives and has lured them into a trap. He had killed his five companions and sets about killing the soldiers from Fort Spencer one by one, including the commanding officer, Colonel Hart.

Boyd manages to escape the massacre by jumping off a cliff, breaking his leg in the process. He hides in a pit along with the body of a fellow soldier and eventually he eats some of the man's flesh to stay alive. When he finally limps back into the fort he is delirious and severely traumatized; none of the remaining soldiers believe his wild tale, and a second expedition finds no bodies or any trace of the man. A temporary commander is assigned to the fort and to Boyd's horror it turns out to be Colqhoun, now cleaned up and calling himself Colonel Ives. The others still refuse to believe that Ives is the killer, especially after he bears no sign of the wounds inflicted on him during the massacre.

Ives tells Boyd that he used to suffer from tuberculosis, but when a Native scout told him the Wendigo myth he "just had to try," murdering him, eating his flesh and in the process curing his maladies. Having murdered the expedition he led he now plans to use the fort as a base to do the same to other passing travellers; he compares the location of the fort, with the guaranteed supply of isolated migrants that it entails, to the notion of Manifest Destiny that draws them there.

Boyd is suspected of murder after another soldier mysteriously dies and is chained up; he watches helplessly while the last officer is murdered by an unexpected ally of Ives: Colonel Hart, back from the dead after the massacre.

Ives saved Hart by feeding him his own comrades, and now Hart is addicted, like Colqhoun, to human meat. Ives wounds Boyd and forces him to make a choice: eat or die. Eventually Boyd gives in and eats a stew made out of the last officer killed, and his wound heals. But rather than join the two men in their conspiracy to convert General Slauson, he convinces Hart to free him so he can kill Ives. Hart does so, but asks Boyd to kill him first as he no longer wants to live as a cannibal. A battle between Boyd and Ives takes place at the climax, with both men wounding each other badly, yet they won't die easily due to their new recuperative powers. Finally, Boyd forces Ives onto a large bear trap and springs it, pinning them both together. Ives taunts Boyd by telling him he'll eat him as soon as he dies, but Ives expires first. Boyd refuses to save himself by eating Ives' body and dies on top of his adversary.

Martha, George's sister, stumbles upon the bodies of both Ives and Boyd, closes the door, and walks away. General Slauson arrives, and, while his aide looks around—the general tastes the stew that was left on the fire.

YouTube trailer link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO98NMMgp0Y