The DVD version of this movie is well worth your time. Even though it was a commercial flop when it came out in 1999, RAVENOUS endures as a well-deserved cult horror classic. With a great cast giving memorable performances, a darkly funny script, and a mesmerizing soundtrack, this movie delivers in a way that you seldom see these days.

Guy Pearce's Captain John Boyd is frustratingly not a protagonist you can readily root for, but then there's not much nourishment in roots, is there? His shellshocked Boyd navigates his own personal horror to the wider horror of the Wendigo mythos that comes to afflict Fort Spencer. Robert Carlyle is a wonder throughout it, giving one of his all-time best (and most memorable) performances.

The narrative nicely braids together American frontier notions of Manifest Destiny with cannibalism, to offer up a sinister horror feast that's guaranteed to stick to your ribs.

Listen: I read all the reviews and none of them talk about the most important part of this movie...the soundtrack. Let's discuss...
It is the most diverse soundtrack in cinematic history. I know. I am a cinematic historian. The soundtrack was composed by two different people who 1) never talked 2) didn't know they were making a horror movie. Tense chase scenes and horrific revelations are accompanied (enhanced) by theme music better suited for the select screen for Sim City 2000. The actors think they are performing dramatic and scary scenes, unaware that they are in a romping comedy.
If I was Robert Carlyle, and I saw my monologue scene on opening night, I would be straight-up mad at the director. In fact, Robert Carlyle told me that he made a precious vow to never ever send a Christmas card to the director.
We must all remember that this movie was made in the 90s. You can't have a soundtrack like this in movies after 9/11.
One of the composers, Damon Albern, pioneered the use of repetitive samples of period appropriate instruments in an effort to create a tense, modern score with echoes of the past. He failed. The other composer, Michael Nyman was on a trip for biscuits. Let me repeat, they never spoke to each other.
Michael never got his biscuits.
5 Stars!

If you are a "Horror" fan - it's worth the watch.. only reason i give it 4 Stars is i saw this a few times, it had been a while, so when i saw it again, i noticed a couple flaws that were a little ridiculous. First, the movie is obviously a theme of the "Donner Party" But as they head to the cave the music is stupid & annoying.. some might say it's humor attached, but it get's better .. and I love the rest no problem. if you like the Dad from 28 weeks later you might like a story set in the mountain fort of the civil war - about this demented man's addiction to human meat. Cannibalism for him is the cure for all what ails ya !!! Considering, this was made in 1999.

Ravenous BLU RAY review: I would give the movie itself 4 out of 5 stars, as it is a fun dark comedy with lots to enjoy. However, the Blu Ray release from Scream Factory is only worthy of a 2.5 out of 5 star review. The picture quality is simply unacceptable. I was rather surprised that Scream Factory, a company with a great reputation for putting out quality releases, allowed this transfer to be released. The image quality is quite soft at times, there's a fair shair of mosquito noise, and there really isn't an improvement over the DVD that was released when the film first came out on home video. Even the opening titles are soft, almost blurry. The titles are actually sharper on the DVD release. This is one of the worst transfers I have seen on Blu Ray and it's unfortunate because "Ravenous" is a great little film that deserves better. There are some good extras on the disc and the audio is adequate, but with no improvement in picture quality, there was no point in putting this out on Blu Ray yet. Somebody needs to clean up the master and give the fans a quality transfer.

This movie is definitely not for everyone, but it's been one of my favorite movies of all time ever since it came out. Not for people squeamish at scenes of cannibalism. It's kind of like a more demented version of what happened to the Donner party.
It combines many different genres: horror, comedy, drama, and even Western and war. The cast is absolutely perfect together and the acting is great. I've always imagined that true terror must be the most difficult emotion for actors to portray, because it's not an emotion most people experience often, if ever. Guy Pearce does an amazing job portraying his crippling fear of Colqhoun. The scenes with Boyd and Colqhoun are the best. Lots of funny lines in this movie like "breakfast, lunch, reinforcements" and I always laugh at their references to Ben Franklin.
The scenery is beautiful and is supposed to be the Sierra Nevada although the movie was filmed in Slovakia. I love all of the music, it fits the demented nature of the movie, especially the weird music heard during the scenes outside the cave.

Ravenous was a movie about the British and their insatiable appetite to not get over the fact they lost the Revolution and only exist today because the Yanks saved them from Adolf. The irony is the British whose massive appetite for expansion made them the largest empire (by land mass) the world's ever seen, which sadly has shrunk back to original size and keeps shrinking by demographics daily. The story of Great Britain will be a lesson for the ages; How a country cannibalized itself, a history of a vanished people who "thought" themselves out of existence. "Wow to the British" will become the cautionary tale of generations. By the way to the director Antonia Bird; the current American flag during the Mexican American War didn't exist yet, which I'm sure is another demonstration of your lack of historical knowledge.

The two stars are for a mediocre transfer of an excellent, underrated, often misunderstood movie (I myself did when I first saw it). A black suspense-comedy that gains in ulterior viewings. Mind you, not at all an up-to-your-face comedy, of course. Wittly dialogues, marvelous actors, excellent production desing and music. Unfortunately, the transfer is not as good as it should; there is very little definition, the image is constantly blurry, like slightly out of focus. It looks as if it was treated with too much DNR and/or transferred from a master tape instead of a negative or print. It has not been restored or remastered either. Still, the best version currently available, but not quite up to the standards of high definition. Too bad Amazon still mixes reviews of dvds, blu-rays, even vhs. When will they do it properly? Each version has a separate page, so...or they only change the pic?

So, this film is billed as a horror movie but I find it to be more of a suspense. It doesn't rely heavily on "shock value" or "heavy gore" (like House of a thousand Corpses, etc - not a fan). Now - there are gory moments, I just mean they aren't intended to carry the movie.

Depending on your sense of humor.. you may also find this movie funny. I probably laugh more than I ought to! I love to make a stew with big chunks of beef in it and serve it for dinner, with red wine, when I introduce people to this film. :)