Eat To Live: 'Ravenous'

Ravenous opens with the wise words of Nietzsche: “He that fights with monsters should look to himself that he does not become a monster.” The next quote is by anonymous: “Eat me.”

Initially, the (punch) line seems designed for a cheap laugh (which it gets), but as the picture continues, it takes on deeper significance. Instead of a tired putdown, “Eat me” develops into a fervent sexual plea.

One of the most peculiar, darkly humorous, entertaining, and perfectly queer mainstream/art house/period piece/monster movies I've ever seen, Antonia Bird’s Ravenous has remained largely underrated through time. More Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers than Frank Marshall's Alive, Ravenous mixes dramatic tones, genres, messages and moralities into a curious, uncommon portrait of, appropriately, cannibalism. A meditation that’s part mastication and part masturbation, the picture considers consuming one’s own as not simply a choice between eating or not eating, but between deviating or not deviating.

A twist on the familiar film territory of the vampire legend, Ravenous is seen through the traumatized, starved eyes of a cowardly military captain named John Boyd (a wonderfully haunted and fantastic looking Guy Pearce). Banished to a desolate mountain outpost in California during the Mexican-American War, Boyd joins an eclectic group of wartime weirdo’s, including a geeky emissary to the Lord, a drunken doctor, an alpha-male soldier and a drug-addled cook. Odd, but nice enough fellows, the real man-action (for Boyd), walks into camp when a wild-eyed, half-dead Scotsman named Colqhoun (Robert Carlyle) stumbles down from the mountains. Colqhoun relays a horrific account of being snowbound with a group of settlers who, no surprise, resort to cannibalism. According to Colqhoun, all of this flesh eating has made the expedition's leader, Colonel Ives, acquire a blood lust so strong that he’s feasted on the group's surviving members. Upon hearing Colqhoun's story, commanding officer Hart (a great Jeffrey Jones) organizes a search party to find evil eater Ives.

Now here’s where the movie turns into something spectacularly sick and weirdly sexual --   the troop discovers that the object of its disgust is none other than Colqhoun, and with glorious gore, terror and humor, the Scotsman turns on the group. Ever the survivor, Boyd eventually makes his way back to the post, but is horror-struck -- he himself has eaten human flesh to survive. Colqhoun also returns, now in the fanciful, handsome guise of Colonel Ives, a man who will unapologetically pursue his wanton ways, while beseeching Boyd to give in. Join the flesh-eating fold.

Like many vampire pictures, Ravenous examines (via the Native-American myth of Wendigo) the lust of consumption -- the bloodsucker, or in this case, the cannibal, becomes stronger and increasingly insatiable the more he feasts. But concurrently, there’s also specialness to such diners -- as if this is their destiny, leading such an exclusive lifestyle. Their lust for eating man feels almost innate, making the picture’s homoerotic subtext run so robustly that after a while, the sub abandons the text.

It’s just too deliciously out there, and the chemistry between the somber Boyd and the rakish Colqhoun is just too striking, too spicy, too vigorous. I have to think that Bird (who also directed Priest, about a homosexual man of the cloth) meant all of this intentionally. Yes, the ideas of Manifest Destiny, religion and wartime morality run discursively throughout the picture, but Ravenous offers a more intriguing metaphor in pitting the intelligent, clever and sexy cannibal against the hypocrisy of a boring straight establishment.

That sparkling Oscar Wilde-man is Colqhoun, an animal in “polite” society, but the most refined of the outpost's troop. When disguised as Ives, he is a flawless dandy, with perfectly coiffed hair, a curled mustache and stylish clothes -- he’s a lusty bon vivant whom we genuinely like. Amidst all of this drab awfulness and horrific boiled food, who wouldn’t want to be around this guy? He’s funny -- when spying two military officials and a Native-American female guide nearing the post, he says to himself, “Breakfast, lunch and reinforcement” (you get the feeling that the only “good” food is male food). And he’s impressively persistent -- the film’s final bang (gang bang?) comes in the fantastic closing sequence of lusty bloodletting between Colqhoun, Boyd and a bear trap. I can’t properly describe how ardent and hot this showdown plays, but it’s so incredibly homoerotic that the female guide of the post, catches a clue, and simply ups and leaves. She’s not necessary. The men's extensive fighting is shot like a rake's pursuit of a chaste maiden. With gorgeous intensity and heaving bosoms, Colqhoun and Boyd tussle and wrestle and breathe heavy and…oh come on Scarlett, you know you want Rhett.

Using monsters as a metaphor for homosexuality can run the risk of offending, but Ravenous celebrates its deviants with gory, full bodied, beautiful radiance. Thanks partially to an inspired performance by Carlyle, Colqhoun is a heroic outlaw -- a man, who, in a world of hypocrites, could very well (and this gives nothing away) die for his desire. Unexpected, and good, more than good -- good eating -- Ravenous is a brilliantly bloody turn-on.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Comments

[Rachel]

I love it when horror and quality meet (or meat ;-)) such a rarity.

[Wildcat]

This has to be the best write up I've seen for Ravenous. Thank you. I saw this movie twice in the theater. Both times were in the same week, and I'm pretty sure it was gone from the theater the following week. I have a long-time friend that shares an appreciation for this film, and it's nice to see someone else gets it. Most people were obviously turned off by its refusal to adhere to a single genre and formula. I love its mix of dark humor and horror. This movie put Guy Pearce on my radar, and just thinking about the music gets to me. There is so much that can be said for this underrated movie, yet I think you did a good job.

[Steve M]

Excellent film

[Skipper Bartlett]

I'm so glad there are more people who love this film. I avoided it for a long time, eventually watched it on TV and loved it. Truly brilliant. Happy belated Thanksgiving.