Justine (Lorenzo Izzo) is a college student who becomes interested in a local activist group who are planning to travel to Peru to protest against the deforestation in the area which is displacing ancient tribes still living in these areas. Group leader Alejandro (Ariel Levy) decides that Justine would be useful to bring along but not because of her views, she just so happens to have a father who is a diplomat in the UN.

While their initial protest is reasonable successful, on their return home their plane suffers engine problems and crash lands deep in the jungle where the survivors are captured by a local tribe. Back at the village they are herded into a crude cell and watch horrifically as one of their group is devoured by what they now realise are cannibals so it becomes a fight for their lives against this tribe that have been untouched humans or any technology.

Director Eli Roths is no stranger to graphic horror films and is a leading light in the ‘torture horror’ genre so this tribute to the Italian horror movies of the late 70’s/early 80’s (particularly Cannibal Holocaust one of the very first found footage movies) is right down that alley. Very reminiscent of one of Roths other movies, Hostel, in terms of a gang of Americans are thrown into a despicable situation from which they need to survive by letting go of their ideals and morals and starting to act and think like their captors. There’s death and gore galore and if you’re easily shocked then you’ll probably be horrified by some of the scenes which are both over the top and graphic.

I can only assume the director felt that he was making some form of social commentary on the assumption that modern civilisation whose idealism of assistance is driven through the internet is oblivious to the actual plight and way of living of these ancient, uncivilised tribes. There’s plenty or irony here as well with activists ending up being devoured by the people they are trying to save in the first place and he main character Justine, who is being motivated by a class she attended which spoke of the genital mutilation which still occurs on women across the world, ends up in that very same situation but this irony doesn’t really improve what it a weak script with no acting stand out and I had no empathy towards any of the characters so their deaths had no impact on me. At least the movie had the decency to not go down the road of including jump scares which are all the rage at the moment so some credit is deserved for that.

If you’re a fan of this genre or just like horror movie is general then it’s watchable but far from a classic, if you didn’t like Roths other movies then you most likely won’t like this either.

DJ Speaks Rating: 4.5 Out Of 10