‘The Green Inferno’ Updates: Cannibal flick earns mixed reviews from critics; Stephen King praises director Eli Roth’s work

By Staff Writer

Sep 29, 2015 10:59 AM EDT

'The Green Inferno' debuted in U.S. cinemas on September 25 and earned mixed reviews from critics. Horror novelist Stephen King praises director Eli Roth's controversial cannibal flick and calls it "gripping" and "glorious". The Chilean-American horror film inspired was by Italian gore movies from the late '70s and early 80's.

According to Rolling Stone, director Eli Roth is well aware that his newest cinematic release is not for everybody - especially the faint at heart. The film centers on a group of well-meaning American college students trapped in the unforgiving Amazon after their humanitarian trip to save the rainforest was put to the test after their plane crashed. They are then intercepted by a tribe of cannibals and are ultimately killed off one by one.

Roth told the magazine, "You don't make movies like the kind that I make to be universally loved... You make them because you want to provoke and you want a reaction... If I've really done my job as a director, nobody can actually watch your movie.... You don't want people walking out of a movie; you want them running out of the theater screaming. When that happens, that's like a standing ovation for me." He was inspired by the Italian cannibal flicks from the late 1970's to the early 1980's, specifically Ruggero Deodato's infamous 'Cannibal Holocaust'.

Another article by the Wrap highlighted several of the worst critics of Roth's R-rated film. Martin Tsai of Los Angeles Times, Neil Genzlinger of New York Times, David Edelstein of Vulture and A.A. Dowd of AV Club were among some of the critics who gave negative reviews.

Roth had his own share of praises though - novelist Stephen King in particular. According to Moviepilot, the 68-year old author took to Twitter to voice out his positive experience after watching the film. He wrote, "The GREEEN INFERNO is like a glorious throwback to the drive-in movies of my youth: bloody, gripping, hard to watch, but can't look away."

King is well-known to be a fan of the genre himself, penning best-selling books interspersed with supernatural, science-fiction, horror and fantasy elements. Many of these novels have also been adapted into feature films, television series, comic books and miniseries.

'Green Inferno' is an Chilean-American adventure-horror film that premiered in the United States on September 25, 2015. It stars Lorenza Izzo, Daryl Sabara, Sky Ferreira, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Magda Apanowicz, Ariel Levy and Aaron Burns among others. As of writing, the film has grosses $3.5 million according to Box Office Mojo.

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