The story follows Captain Boyd (Guy Pearce: The Time Machine, LA Confidential), a soldier singled out as a coward while also being regalled as a hero. He is given a backhanded promotion to the dismal Fort Spencer. Here he encounters an enclave of loons headed up by the soft-hearted, lame-brained Colonel Hart. The characters in the fort range consisting of the die hard, tough as nails Private Reich (Neal McDonough:Band of Brothers, Minority Report), the drugged out, mumbly Private Cleaves (David Arquette), soft-spoken, Bible-thumping Private Toffler (Jeremy Davies: Saving Private Ryan, Solaris), liquor sodden Major Knox (Stephen J. Spinella: Virtuosity), superstitous Martha (Sheila Tousey) and her tight-lipped brother George (Joseph Runningfox). Their normal life, as normal as life gets in Fort Spencer, is interrupted by the arrival of of a half-frozen Scotsman, F.W. Colquhoun (Roberty Carlyle: Formula 51, Trainspotting). Coluqhoun spins them a tale centering around a devious man called Colonel Ives. He tells of how Ives, while leading a wagon train into the west, miscalculated their travel time and got them all stranded in the Sierra Nevadas in the dead of winter. He continues to tell them as the group got hungrier and hungrier they started to eat the dead. But that was not enough for Colonel Ives. His hunger became insatiable and now the only other survivor besides Colquhoun and Ives, Mrs. McCready, is in danger of becoming the next victim. Colonel Hart organizes the troops so they can go save this poor unfortunate woman from the evil clutches of Ives. The only ones who stay behind are Major Knox, Cleaves and Martha. But the group quickly learns that Ives and Colquhoun are actually the same man and Ives used to story to lure them into a trap. Turns out he needs more people to feed on so he can grow strength. Boyd manages to wound Ives and escape the encounter. He returns to Fort Spencer and tells Major Knox, Martha and Cleaves about what happen, but they find his story too unbelievable and start to thin that it was Boyd who killed them. You see, Major Knox was passed out when Colquhoun arrived and never once laid eyes on the man. And Martha and Cleaves had been on a supply run. They have no reason to believe him. Things are complicated by the arrival of Colonel Hart's replacement, Colonel Ives. Now Boyd must overcome his fear and find the courage to destroy Colonel Ives.

Anyone who likes a thoughtful tale and doesn't mind a little gore here and there.

The part where an injured Toffler, open wound on his stomach, awakens the rest of the camp with his screams. When they ask him what happened, he tries to speak, but his words are quiet, as always. Finally, he points to Colquhoun and screams "He was licking me!"

I also liked the dark humor. The scene where Ives and Boyd are seated in front of the fire eating stew made from the remains of Major Knox and Boyd's bleeding from his stomach wound, someone(I won't tell you who because it will spoil one of the surprises) chimes in "Well, isn't this civilized.".

There was nothing I disliked. I remember when I went to see it in the movies, there were some people in the theatre who couldn't handle the cannibalistic themes and marched out halfway through. That didn't bother me because the whole film was tongue-in-cheek. Take it seriously and it will disturb you. Give it a chance and it will make you think.

Watch it again and again.

It's just a great, great film. One of the more overlooked modern day classics.

This was one of the best casts ever assembled. Even David Arquette was tolerable.

Guy Pearce (Captain Boyd), Robert Carlyle (Colonel Ives), Neal McDonough (Private Reich), Jeremey Davies (Private Toffler), David Arquette (Private Cleaves), Jeffrey Jones (Colonel Hart)

It's excellent.

You may think the plot sound disgusting, but you should definitely give it a chance. Don't dismiss it because the theme is somewhat bothersome. Think of it as a realistic vampire movie because that's what it is. Plain and simple.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of Ravenous   from Amazon.Com!

Created Oct 21, 2003 at 9:25pm • Submit your own review...