
Ravenous
1999, Horror, 1h 40m
62 Reviews 10,000+ RatingsWhat to know
critics consensus
Ravenous tries bringing cannibal horror into an Old West setting, ending up with an uneven blend that will fail to satisfy most fans of either genre. Read critic reviews
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Movie Info
Cast & Crew
Capt. John Boyd
Col. Ives, F.W. Colqhoun
Pvt. Toffler
Col. Hart

Gen. Slauson
Knox
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Critic Reviews for Ravenous
All Critics (62) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (30) | Rotten (32)
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Ravenous will doubtless find some sort of cult following, but that cult will be following a lousy, ill-conceived movie.
October 29, 2019 | Full Review… -
I]f anyone could make a good adaptation of either of Lansdale's Jonah Hex comic mini-series or his great standard "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road," it's Bird and Griffin.
October 29, 2019 | Full Review… -
Antonia Bird's pitch black comedy is a patchily hilarious triumph. But the queasy and squeamish have been warned.
October 29, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review… -
Ravenous is a stupid black comedy set in the same place and the same year but more a Western version of Night of the Living Dead.
October 29, 2019 | Full Review… -
It's "Eating Raoul" in buckskins. But the movie is also coarse and bloody and uses far too many horror movie tricks, like the shock of the mutilated body or the unexpected plasma squirt.
October 29, 2019 | Full Review… -
Imagine a film that makes A Modest Proposal-style satire out of Dracula's gothic horror tropes in the spaghetti western milieu of The Great Silence. It's a pitch-black comedy about Manifest Destiny and cannibal frontiersmen.
June 17, 2014 | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for Ravenous
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Apr 13, 2016Based on the legend of Alfred Packer, Ravenous is a supernatural spin on the original story by introducing the mythical wendigo into this tale of cannibalism. It was darkly humourous, everyone performed well beyond expectation even though the budget is only suited for a B movie.Sylvester K Super Reviewer
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May 06, 2014This is a film of two halves. One half, where the mystery of what exactly happened in the cave is still unknown, is easily the better of the two halves. Perhaps it's not better, but the film score certainly helped make it seem better. And then there's the second half, where you know who Colonel Ives really is and how Boyd attempts to expose him and his actions to others, who don't believe him and assume he had something to do with the others' disappearance and/or death. I wasn't as into the film in the second half as I was into the first one, the fun and the mystery is all but gone once you find out the truth. Robert Carlyle is great as always, but the film becomes more and more conventional as it went along rather than it being the other way around. The story is darkly comedic and there's plenty of laughs to be had but, again, it's something that tapers off as the film progresses. But at least the film has a dark, but ironic, tone. Too many horror films forget their inherent silliness as they try to make everything so serious. It's good to see that not every horror filmmaker feels that way and injects a little comedy into a horrofic story of cannibalism. Still, even if there's problems with the pacing and the amount of interesting content to fill 95 minutes worth of film, and this is a problem with the horror genre in general and not with this film in particular, I found this to be a pretty good movie all things considered. The combination of a great first half, with an excellent score, and a killer performance from Robert Carlyle certainly helps make-up for the film's problems in the second half. Not great, but a solid horror film nonetheless.Jesse O Super Reviewer
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Jan 04, 2014This odd little movie has been wrongly advertised as an horror movie. This plays more like a dark comedy and the lunacy of war and how blinded soldiers follow a leader into battle, becoming brainwashed in the process. Yeah! All that on a canibalistic flick with great actors delivering amazing dialogue lines.Francisco G Super Reviewer
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Oct 07, 2013Unjustly maligned upon its release, 'Ravenous' is a unique, atmospheric and stingingly funny horror-comedy with a splendid ensemble cast. Cannibalism is a subject that can cause nausea in most people but it is handled with a deft comedic touch in Ted Griffin's shrewd screenplay. Despite the production troubles, Bird is firmly adept at scenes of high-voltage action (such as the final duel between Boyd and Ives), quirky humor (Toffler's zealot shtick is always amusing) and grandiose horror (the descent into the catacombs is genuinely nerve-racking). The quixotic tone is set immediately with a food-related quote from Ben Franklin followed by the anonymous citation "eat me". Carlyle was such a preening disappointment as a Bond villain in 'The World is Not Enough'. However, he is unfathomably urbane and demonic as Ives who feigns insanity in order to lull his hosts into a false sense of security before he voraciously devours them. The wintry landscape of the outpost seamlessly heightens the isolationist dread. With a bevy of wry one-liners ("Breakfast. Lunch. Reinforcements.") and unsettling themes about the "wendigo" power of replenishing one's lifeforce, 'Ravenous' is a unsullied jewel in Griffin's work.Cory T Super Reviewer
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