'Chris Alexander

In this ongoing SHOCK column, editor Chris Alexander muses on classic and contemporary films and music worthy of a deeper discussion.

If its true what they say, that you are what you eat, then Colonel Ives is every man.

Literally. Hes EVERY man.

Because Colonel Ives is a cannibal.

Allow me to speak of Colonel Ives, about his adventures in superhuman flesh eating and the terror and unexpected hilarity that ensue. Come with me as I muse on a film that once escaped many a genre film fans radar and thankfully is now embraced as the batshit bizarre work of weird gastro-western awesomeness that it is.

Now then. Whos hungry?

Me?

Im RAVENOUS.

Directed by tragically departed British art house filmmaker Antonia Bird (the spectacular dark melodrama PRIEST) as a last minute sub for filmmaker Milcho Manchevski, RAVENOUS is, simply put, one of the strangest studio supported shockers ever made. Starting as a kind of western and then becoming a horror film before revealing itself as a comedy, then a social satire, then a western again, sliding back into horror beforeoh balls, Im losing you. Lets back up a bit

MEMENTO and LA CONFIDENTIAL vet Guy Pearce stars as Captain Boyd, a soldier who, after playing dead during a Mexican ambush, inadvertently drinks the blood of a slain comrade, gets an inexplicable jolt of energy and single-handily saves the day. When details of his initially cowardly exploits sour his reputation, hes stationed in the farthest outpust in California, Fort Spencer, a camp populated by assorted drunks, hookah smokers and military cast-offs of every sort.

One night, a barely dressed, shivering and raving traveler drifts into camp named Colqhoun (28 WEEKS LATER and TRAINSPOTTINGs Robert Carlyle), spilling a wild- eyed story about his trapped companions and the cannibalistic means they were forced into by their guide, a one Colonel Ives. The outposts leader Colonel Hart (played by the always entertaining Jeffrey Jones in a turn that would be sort of reprised in the awesome and sorely missed HBO series DEADWOOD) in a fit of outrage, decides to take leave for the grim site in hopes of rescuing any non-entrée survivors there may be left. However, upon their arrival it becomes clear that Colqhoun is not only insane but is in fact the demonic Colonel of his own tale; the rescue mission turns out to be a trap and the feral Colqhoun/Ives proceeds to kill and eat as many of the search party as possible. The woozy Boyd who by this time is fascinated and tempted by the power of cannibalism tries to escape by jumping off a cliff with the corpse of a semi chewed colleague. Trapped in a hole, battered and broken and hungry Boyd opts to power up and have a bite before setting forth to get his revenge on the maniacal Ives.

And then RAVENOUS really gets weird.

Turns out the overly viral Ives has tapped into the power of the Wendigo, an ancient Indian cannibal spirit, and has become a sort of superhuman vampire. It becomes clear that his chief goal is to position the apprehensive Boyd as his male Eve, the other half of a soon to be flourishing mid century skin eating California uber-clan.

Taking its cues from the tragic, true life tale of the Donner Party (an unfortunately real band of 19th century settlers who were forced to cannibalize their dead during a treacherous trek) RAVENOUS goes off the rails fairly quickly and refuses to behave by any sort of narrative rule. I think it was this very tonal freestyling that doomed the picture to a critical death as many journos and genre fans didnt get what Bird and company were trying to do. Now, I cant very well claim that I do either, but I can tell you that RAVENOUS is one of those rare films that stands tall in its staggering originality, a film that defies audience expectations at every turn and manages to entertain smashingly while provoking goosebumps and giggles. You know youre in for a sneering anti-mainstream epic before the word RAVENOUS even pops up on screen as two portent dripping pre-credits quotes appear: The first is a serious minded scribble from Nietzsche; the second is credited to anonymousit reads, in bold caps, EAT ME. Incredible stuff

The cast is universally excellent. Pearce is vulnerable and tough when he needs to be, while Jones and the often aggravating David Arquette (seen most recently in another horror/western, BONE TOMAHAWK) offer fine, quirky turns. But the real star is Carlyle. Looking like a spooked deer one second, turning into a drooling, cunning, salivating wolf the next, the veteran Scottish character actors on screen presence as the arrogant ghoul Ives is unlike anything previously essayed by anyone in any film.

I always attempt to isolate and stress how pivotal a pictures music is, especially in the annals of horror, to effectively stamp the filmmakers imagery and ideal into your psyche and the score for RAVENOUS ranks as the most unique and effective works ever heard in a horror film. Brit rock band BLUR front man Damon Albarn and the late composer Michael Nyman (THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND HER LOVER) have created a disorienting, weird aural landscape of hillbilly loops (Albarns stuff) and dread drenched orchestral string stings (Nyman) that uncomfortably combine to goose the already disturbing and outrageous flesh eating cowboy set pieces and elevate them into brain scrambling hysterics. The final piece, which meanders over a long, ultra-violent 15 minute struggle between the reluctant Pearce and the cocksure Carlyle, is particularly effective and hypnotic, brilliantly at odds with the frenetic on-screen action.

Full of left field philosophy, gruesome bloodletting, berserk performances, peculiar plotting, deranged music, beautiful cinematography (by Anthony Richmond, TALES FROM THE HOOD) and a deliciously cross eyed sense of lunatic humor and bitter satire, RAVENOUS is a fascinating one-off and Im willing to bet, a future cult classic. And the film may seriously tempt your inner cannibal: one look at that chunky fork or spoon human stew bubbling away in the movies final reel made me fucking ravenous indeed!