Last year, we reported that distributor Open Road Films had pulled Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno from its release calendar, citing a disagreement over advertising funds as the reason for the delay. And that—well, that seemed like that would be it for the film. But now BH Tilt, a subsidiary of the hugely popular Blumhouse Productions horror label (recent Blumhouse releases include Paranormal Activity, Sinister, Insidious, and The Purge), has bought The Green Inferno and plans to bring it to approximately 1,000 theater screens on September 25.
The Green Inferno will be Roth’s first theatrical release in eight years, six if you count his segment in Inglourious Basterds. Dedicated to Ruggero Deodato, director of the infamous Cannibal Holocaust, The Green Inferno is about a group of earnest student-activist types whose trip to the Amazon takes a horrific turn. It does sound like a good opportunity for Roth to do what he does best—depict obnoxious Americans getting their comeuppance in sickeningly graphic ways—but the cannibal films that inspired The Green Inferno haven’t exactly aged well, not least because of their depictions of native tribes as sadistic savages. But we’re sure Roth handled the whole thing very tastefully. Get it? Tastefully?
We’ll see ourselves out.