History Film / Ravenous

Colqhoun begs them to come rescue whoever may still be alive, and the seven residents of the fort agree, out of boredom as much as anything else. But when one of them is hurt, Colqhoun wakes him up licking the wound...

A drama/horror/black comedy released in 1999, written by Ted Griffin and directed by Antonia Bird. ''Ravenous'' did poorly in theaters, managing only approximately one quarter (~$3 million) of its 12 million dollar budget, but has since become a minor cult favourite. Starred [[{{LAConfidential}} Guy]] [[Film/{{Memento}} Pearce]], Creator/RobertCarlyle, Jeremy Davies, Jeffrey Jones, David Arquette, Creator/NealMcDonough.

* FakeAmerican: Guy Pearce is Australian.

* MoodWhiplash: We have TheReveal, wherein the party finds a cave full of bloody skeletons, "reverend Colqhoun" turns out to be the BigBad, two guys die brutally; and it's immediately followed by Ives chasing Toffler around to silly banjo music.

* MoodWiplash: We have TheReveal, wherein the party finds a cave full of bloody skeletons, "reverend Colqhoun" turns out to be the BigBad Ives, two guys die brutally; and it's immediately followed by a chase scene with silly banjo music.

A drama/horror/black comedy released in 1999, written by Ted Griffin and directed by Antonia Bird. ''Ravenous'' did poorly in theaters, managing only approximately one quarter (~$3 million) of its 12 million dollar budget, but has since become a minor cult favourite. Starred [[{{LAConfidential}} Guy]] [[Film/{{Memento}} Pearce]], Creator/RobertCarlyle, Jeremy Davies, Jeffrey Jones, David Arquette, Neal [=McDonough=].

Lieutenant Boyd, a soldier in the {{Mexican-American War}} of the 1840s, has a freak-out when his commanding officer dies in front of him and decides on PlayingPossum. The Mexicans thus load him into a cartful of corpses and (for some reason) taken back to their base. Then some blood drips into Boyd's mouth, giving him an intense adrenaline rush during which he single-handedly captures the enemy command, winning the battle. But everyone realizes (most of) what happened when he throws up at the victory barbecue. He thus gets a MedalOfDishonor and a [[ReassignedToAntarctica Reassignment To Fort Spencer]], a rarely-visited ramshackle mountain pioneer stop in the [[MiddleOfNowhereStreet Middle Of Nowhere]] populated solely by [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits drunks, layabouts and crazies.]]

* [[spoiler: SinisterMinister]]: Colqhoun.

* [[spoiler: UnreliableNarrator]]: Which part of [[spoiler: Colqhoun's story]] was a fabrication and which was truth? We know that [[spoiler: Ives ate some people]] and that he lived in that cave. But what about all the details?

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: ''Private'' Reich has to remind ''Captain'' Boyd not to point a loaded rifle at him. A nicely subtle way of reinforcing how useless Boyd is as a soldier.

* WordOfGod / ShrugOfGod: Pertaining to the identity of the villain. Did [[spoiler: Reverend Colqhoun take Colonel Ives' identity after killing him? Or was he Ives all along? Director Antonia Bird says Ives ''is'' his real name, and the Reverend was a false identity.]] Conversely, screenwriter Ted Griffin has literally said he doesn't know one way or the other, and that the audience can make up their own minds.

A drama/horror/black comedy released in 1999, written by Ted Griffin and directed by Antonia Bird. ''Ravenous'' did poorly in theaters, managing only approximately one quarter (~$3 million) of its 12 million dollar budget, but has since become a minor cult favourite. Starred [[{{LAConfidential}} Guy]] [[{{Memento}} Pearce]], Creator/RobertCarlyle, Jeremy Davies, Jeffrey Jones, David Arquette, Neal [=McDonough=].

Essentially, it's a ''{{wendigo}}'' story filmed with a morbid sense of humor about ManifestDestiny, IDidWhatIHadToDo, and the varied joys of BlackComedy. The soundtrack absolutely cements its ambiguous character, ranging from a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHVXAMVC53M carefree organ piece underpinned with a dissonant string part]], to a simple string dance piece which is played during a strangely funny murder scene.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Fox barely released the film (dumping it into 1,000 theatres during a crowded month) and mismarketed it with spoilerous trailer as a teen-aimed horror film rather than the historical thriller that it really is. Not surprisingly, the film did awful business at the box office (but rented decently at video stores).

* ThrowItIn: Due to the film changing pretty radically during production a lot of dialogue is improvised including Ives and Boyd's [[spoiler: death scene]] which they also choreographed and performed, Ives's line "Breakfast, lunch, reinforcements", Colonel Hart's explanation of what happened in the cave, and a scene where Reich explains why he got sent to Fort Spencer which wound up being deleted. Also everything RobertCarlyle is doing in front of the cave he just made up on the spot.

* TroubledProduction: They went through a few different key crew members, the weather didn't cooperate, and they didn't have the time/money to shoot a lot of what was in the script, and the screenwriter went back home early in the shooting schedule. Needless to say, the actors had to do [[ThrowItIn a lot of improvising.]]

* SinisterMinister: Colqhoun.

->''"It's lonely being a cannibal. Tough making friends."''.

->''"That's the problem with being a cannibal, tough making friends"''.

* AuthorTract: The writer, the director, and the leading actor are vegetarians, and take every chance they get to show their disgust of meat. A constant theme is comparing the flesh of animals to the flesh of humans. However, [[TropesAreNotBad the honesty of that disgust enhances the horror beautifully]].

* CaliforniaDoubling: Tatra Mountains (Slovak part) as Sierra Nevada.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Major Knox can possibly qualify, thanks to his AndThisIsFor moment. Or maybe he just needed to get sober.
* DarkMessiah: Ives

* DirtyCoward: Boyd. Everybody knows it, including him. He only took the Mexican fort after PlayingPossum because some of his C.O.'s blood dripped into his mouth. But in the end, [[spoiler:he willingly dies [[TakingYouWithMe Taking Ives With Him]].]]

* EvilRedhead: [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] [[spoiler: When Hart turns wendigo he becomes younger and his hair goes from grey to red. When he dies it [[DyingAsYourself goes back to grey again]]]]

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Referenced in the quote at the beginning of the movie

* MadEye: Everytime Ives is about to do something even more grotesque than normal, one eye half-closes and the other eye gets wider. When he's sane (or acting sane), they're both perfectly normal.

* MrFanservice: Boyd, played by Guy Pearce. Also Reich seems to have his shirt off a lot

* NoEscapeButDown: When Boyd is cornered by [[spoiler:Ives/Colqhoun]] at the cliff's top. He jumps, without '''any''' landing spot. [[spoiler:He survives, but his leg is badly broken.]]
* OverDrawnAtTheBloodBank: The final fight was so over the top the production ''ran out of fake blood.''
* PeekabooCorpse: [[spoiler: A whole cave full! Wait a minute... One, two, three, four, five corpses with the meat stripped off... OhCrap! [[EurekaMoment There were six pioneers]]! [[TheReveal Colqhoun is the cannibal]]!]]

* TeachHimAnger: Ives to Boyd. Which ends in [[spoiler: a very bloody PygmalionSnapback]].

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: One of the biggest offenders of '99. Before even the lector starts to comment the film, we already see [[spoiler:Robert Carlyle's character as an inhabitant of Fort Spencer]]. Then half way through we also learn that [[spoiler:Jeffrey Jones' character is a cannibal, Major Knox is killed and turned into a stew ''and'' Guy Pearce will fight to death with Robert Carlyle]]. And just to add insult to the injury, [[spoiler: Robert Carlyle is shown in his Colqhoun persona, pointing gun at Jeremy Davies]]. The trailer spoiled ''every single twist'' aside from the sole ending scene.
** Did we mention that NoEscapeButDown is also in the trailer, removing any shock from the actuall scene in the film?
** And then there is a milder example. First dialogue from the trailer is from General Slauson, commenting [[spoiler: failed expedition to the cave]]. The line is from the middle of the film, spoiling everything to that point.

* TroubledProduction: They went through a few different key crew members, the weather didn't cooperate, and they didn't have the time/money to shoot a lot of what was in the script, and the screenwriter went back home early in the shooting schedule. Needless to say the actors had to do [[ThrowItIn a lot of improvising.]]
* WordOfGod / ShrugOfGod: Pertaining to the identity of the villain. Did Reverend Colqhoun take Colonel Ives' identity after killing him? Or was he Ives all along? Director Antonia Bird says Ives ''is'' his real name, and the Reverend was a false identity. Conversely, screenwriter Ted Griffin has literally said he doesn't know one way or the other, and that the audience can make up their own minds.
** Made even more confusing by RobertCarlyle saying that Colqhoun is his real name and Ives was invented later

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: One of the biggest offenders of '99. Before even the lector starts to comment the film, we already see [[spoiler:Robert Carlyle's character as an inhabitant of Fort Spencer]]. Then half way through we also learn that [[spoiler:Jeffrey Jones' character is a cannibal and Major Knox is killed and turned into a stew and Guy Pearce will fight to death with Robert Carlyle]]. And just to add insult to the injury, [[spoiler: Robert Carlyle is shown in his Colqhoun persona, pointing gun at Jeremy Davies]]. The trailer spoiled ''every single twist'' aside from the sole ending scene.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: One of the biggest offenders of '99. Before even the lector starts to comment the film, we already see [[spoiler:Robert Carlyle's character as an inhabitant of Fort Spencer]]. Then half way through we also learn that [[Jeffrey Jones' character is a cannibal and Major Knox is killed and turned into a stew and Guy Pearce will fight to death with Robert Carlyle]]. And just to add insult to the injury, [[spoiler: Robert Carlyle is shown in his Colqhoun persona, pointing gun at Jeremy Davies]]. The trailer spoiled ''every single twist'' aside from the sole ending scene.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: One of the biggest offenders of '99. Before even the lector starts to comment the film, we already see [[Robert Carlyle's character as an inhabitant of Fort Spencer]]. Then half way through we also learn that [[Jeffrey Jones' character is a cannibal and Major Knox is killed and turned into a stew and Guy Pearce will fight to death with Robert Carlyle]]. And just to add insult to the injury, [[spoiler: Robert Carlyle is shown in his Colqhoun persona, pointing gun at Jeremy Davies]]. The trailer spoiled ''every single twist'' aside from the sole ending scene.

* TheAlcoholic - Major Knox.
* AmbiguousDisorder - Private Toffler

* AntiVillain - [[spoiler: Col. Hart at the end.]]

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety - ''Private'' Reich has to remind ''Captain'' Boyd not to point a loaded rifle at him. A nicely subtle way of reinforcing how useless Boyd is as a soldier.
* AuthorTract - The writer, the director, and the leading actor are vegetarians, and take every chance they get to show their disgust of meat. A constant theme is comparing the flesh of animals to the flesh of humans. However, [[TropesAreNotBad the honesty of that disgust enhances the horror beautifully]].
* BeingEvilSucks- Boyd definitely thinks so [[spoiler: as does Hart in the end]]
* BlackComedy - The film is ambiguous in this regard.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst - The first member of Colqhoun's party to bite it in the flashback is the token black servant.

* BlondGuysAreEvil - Reich isn't evil, but he is... unpleasant.
* BodyHorror - The scene in the pit involving Boyd's broken leg is rather painful to watch
* CaliforniaDoubling - Tatra Mountains (Slovak part) as Sierra Nevada.
* CannibalismSuperpower - In the film, the {{Wendigo}} myth is true; eating human flesh grants SuperStrength, a HealingFactor, and cures all diseases. It also [[HorrorHunger acts as a drug that makes heroin seem about as addictive as artificial sweetener.]]

* CassandraTruth - Boyd ends up with this problem when he tries to warn the others about Ives.

* DarkMessiah - Ives
* DeadpanSnarker - Hart most of the time, though he's revealed to be more StepfordSnarker in the end

* DirtyCoward - Boyd. Everybody knows it, including him. He only took the Mexican fort after PlayingPossum because some of his C.O.'s blood dripped into his mouth. But in the end, [[spoiler:he willingly dies [[TakingYouWithMe Taking Ives With Him]].]]
* DownerEnding - But a ''hilarious'' downer ending, which, in this movie, is somehow possible.

* TheEndOrIsIt - At the end of the film, [[spoiler: the newly-arrived General Slauson greedily slurping up the "Stew a la Major Knox", thus becoming a cannibal and [[HereWeGoAgain starting the whole mess up again]].]]
* EvilTastesGood - Ives certainly thinks so.
* EvilRedhead - [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] [[spoiler: When Hart turns wendigo he becomes younger and his hair goes from grey to red. When he dies it [[DyingAsYourself goes back to grey again]]]]
* FakeAmerican - Guy Pearce is Australian.
* FakeUltimateHero - Boyd gets a medal for [[PlayingPossum fainting bravely in the face of danger]].
* FauxAffablyEvil - Again, Ives, who manages to make Boyd look absolutely insane by virtue of being so damn convincingly charismatic to everyone else.
* HealingFactor - The effect of the {{Wendigo}}, but with the side effect of HorrorHunger.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor - [[spoiler: Colonel Hart, starts out as a KnightInSourArmor but turns cannibal when Ives brings him back from the dead before having a [[IncrediblyLamePun change of heart]] and asking Boyd to MercyKill him]]

* HeWhoFightsMonsters - Referenced in the quote at the beginning of the movie
* IndulgentFantasySegue - This is probably the only movie ever made where the protagonist fantasizes about eating David Arquette.
* JekyllAndHyde - [[spoiler: Colqhoun and Ives]] according to RobertCarlyle. [[spoiler: Apparently his behavior in front of the cave was his transforming from one to the other]]
* LetsFightLikeGentlemen - Well, not exactly fight, but Ives does give Toffler a sporting chance, telling him to run instead of simply killing him as he stood there whimpering in shock.

* MadEye - Everytime Ives is about to do something even more grotesque than normal, one eye half-closes and the other eye gets wider. When he's sane (or acting sane), they're both perfectly normal.
* MagicalNativeAmerican - Mostly averted. George and Martha do tell the cast about the Wendigo Myth, but the rest of the time spend time either caring for the horses and doing other chores (Martha) or getting stoned (George).
* MedalOfDishonor - Boyd gets one just before he gets ReassignedToAntarctica; ''everyone'' knows that his victory was due him PlayingPossum, and they really don't want him around.
* MildlyMilitary - The guys at Fort Spencer spend most of their time just kind of hanging out, eating, or getting stoned. Granted, there's not much better to do in the middle of nowhere, but still.
* MoodDissonance - Blood, murder, freezing weather, ambiguous moral decisions, character flaws, and... stoners. Comedy, drug humor, everybody here was ReassignedToAntarctica... but the emotional impact is unhindered.

* NewMeat - Boyd starts out like this, but unfortunately doesn't get any better, resulting in his reassignment.
* NoEscapeButDown - When Boyd is cornered by [[spoiler:Ives/Colqhoun]] at the cliff's top. He jumps, without '''any''' landing spot. [[spoiler:He survives, but his leg is badly broken.]]
* OverDrawnAtTheBloodBank- The final fight was so over the top the production ''ran out of fake blood.''
* PeekabooCorpse - [[spoiler: A whole cave full! Wait a minute... One, two, three, four, five corpses with the meat stripped off... OhCrap! [[EurekaMoment There were six pioneers]]! [[TheReveal Colqhoun is the cannibal]]!]]
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits - The occupants of Fort Spencer. Contrary to the trope's general use, they don't really do so well.
* ReassignedToAntarctica - The basis for every lead character except the villain. Possibly related to the nature of Western expansion, which likely attracted those who wished to leave.
* ReassignmentBackfire - Subverted. Boyd is sent to Fort Spencer as a punishment for his cowardice, but, despite the fact that he gets better, pretty much [[KillEmAll everyone dies]] anyway.
* ScreamingWarrior - Private Reich, even in the first second you ever see him.
* ScrewedByTheNetwork - Fox barely released the film (dumping it into 1,000 theatres during a crowded month) and mismarketed it as a teen-aimed horror film rather than the historical thriller that it really is. Not surprisingly, the film did awful business at the box office (but rented decently at video stores).
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere - [[spoiler: Martha]]
* ShownTheirWork - The movie is, on occasion, oppressively realistic in its portrayal of its mountainous, unpleasant terrain and the military of its time.
* SinisterMinister - Colqhoun.
* SnowMeansDeath - Sure, the trek into the mountains is dangerous, but it's really the cannibals you need to watch out for.
* SouthernGentleman-Major Knox
* SuicidalGotcha - Messy, and without the common convenient landing spot. Boyd actually jumps off a cliff, falls down through tree limbs and into a PitTrap, breaking the ever-loving crap out of his leg in the process. Also, [[spoiler: the end of the movie, where Boyd lures Ives into a bear trap, which kills them both.]]
* TakingYouWithMe - [[spoiler: Boyd comes to this conclusion]]
* TheStoner - "The over-medicated Private Cleaves".
* ThrowItIn- Due to the film changing pretty radically during production a lot of dialogue is improvised including Ives and Boyd's [[spoiler: death scene]] which they also choreographed and performed, Ives's line "Breakfast, lunch, reinforcements", Colonel Hart's explanation of what happened in the cave, and a scene where Reich explains why he got sent to Fort Spencer which wound up being deleted. Also everything RobertCarlyle is doing in front of the cave he just made up on the spot.
* TeachHimAnger - Ives to Boyd. Which ends in [[spoiler: a very bloody PygmalionSnapback]].
* TookALevelInBadass - Boyd spends the entire film as the designated wimp (he even gets a medal of cowardice), until the last 3 scenes [[spoiler:when he decides to fight Ives, using all of his new cannibal superpowers]].
* TrappedBehindEnemyLines - Boyd at the beginning of the movie. He, however, doesn't exactly [[PlayingPossum fight his way out]].
* TroubledProduction- They went through a few different key crew members, the weather didn't cooperate, and they didn't have the time/money to shoot a lot of what was in the script, and the screenwriter went back home early in the shooting schedule. Needless to say the actors had to do [[ThrowItIn a lot of improvising.]]

A drama/horror/black comedy released in 1999, written by Ted Griffin and directed by Antonia Bird. ''Ravenous'' did poorly in theaters, managing only approximately one quarter (~$3 million) of its 12 million dollar budget, but has since become a minor cult favourite. Starred [[{{LAConfidential}} Guy]] [[{{Memento}} Pearce]], RobertCarlyle, Jeremy Davies, Jeffrey Jones, David Arquette, Neal [=McDonough=].

** Ives also implies that cannibals become sexually potent.

* DeadpanSnarker - Hart most of the time
--> "My advice to you, don't get sick. I'd say don't eat but then again most of us have to"