Entertainment

A 'Green Inferno' Sequel Could Bring More Chaos

by Dino-Ray Ramos

Eli Roth's cannibalistic thriller The Green Inferno is the last in what the director calls the "Travel Trilogy," which includes his other movies of bloody shock and awe, Cabin Fever and Hostel. Each features a group of college kids exploring indulgences that lead to insane consequences — i.e. bloody messes that make moviegoing audiences squirm with glee. In Cabin Fever, a group of college kids seek out one last hurrah of irresponsible partying, while Hostel finds American backpackers trying to find sexy time and debauchery in Europe. Green Inferno brings us to "slacktivism," where activists are more concerned about portraying themselves as heroes than the cause they are protesting — a timely story for our social media-obsessed generation. As with the previous two films, some gory things start to happen — but will all this gore spill over into a sequel? According to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, a Green Inferno sequel, Beyond the Green Inferno , is already in development.

Although Roth will still be involved with the sequel, he won't be directing it; THR reports that Nicolas Lopez (Aftershock) will helm the follow-up instead. As for what the movie will be about, that's unclear; all that's known is that Roth will co-write and produce the movie, along with Lopez.

“After writing and scouting all over Peru, we realized that The Green Inferno had an expansive universe and that we would love to visit it again and go deeper into the jungle," Lopez said in a statement. "Our plan with Beyond the Green Inferno is to make a sequel in the tradition of Aliens, where the creative team went bigger, darker and scarier into the unknown. Eli has been an amazing creative collaborator and has set the groundwork for an entire universe of stories we're both incredibly excited to tell."

It shouldn't be a surprise that Roth would spin-off a brand new horror-thriller franchise from his "Travel Trilogy" with Green Inferno. Hostel and Cabin Fever both had sequels, so why would he deprive his cultish audience of more cannibal goodness of Green Inferno? After all, the cannibalism in Green Inferno is probably going to be one of the main things that people will be talking about after walking out of this movie because — well — the act is fascinating, even if it is disgusting.

Another thing the filmmakers will likely bring back in the sequel? The real Peruvian tribe Roth cast in the movie to play the group that kidnaps and tortures the over-idealistic college activists. The tribe is very remote, and its members didn't know much about movie-making when they signed on to the film; because of this, Roth showed them the cult mockumentary, Cannibal Holocaust, a movie that the director was paying homage to with Green Inferno.

It'd be great to see the tribe return, but nothing is confirmed just yet about the sequel. In a statement, Roth said, "We don't want to give away any plot secrets, only that we want to take the story to an even darker and scarier place on all levels."

Darker and scarier than cannibalism in the Amazon? I'm in.

Image: Blumhouse Tilt/Universal Pictures