'Green Inferno's Biggest Scare: Stale Stereotyping

With summer finally upon us and plans quickly snapping into place, it's likely that those still college-bound know at least one person who will be engaging in some form of "voluntourism" — a trip abroad with an altruistic mission, ever-popular among the affluent and well-meaning. After catching a glimpse of Hostel director Eli Roth's comeback gorefest The Green Inferno , however, would-be travelers might change their tunes. The latest trailer for the film begins heartwarmingly enough, with sobering stats about the rainforest's decimation and a group of New York young folk ready to fly into Peru to do their part, kafias and all — but once that plane goes down mid-trip and a group of natives takes them hostage, the film soon devolves into standard Roth fare, with panicked expressions and gut-ripping body horror galore.

While horror fans might be psyched to see a beloved director behind the camera once more, this film feels icky on a less than thrilling level. Sure, on the one hand, there's an implicit critique of the "I studied abroad in Africa" white savior mentality behind such "slacktivism" — the idea that college kids taking two months out of their lives to Instagram their own personal National Geographic spread is by definition actually helpful to any native population. But hand in hand with that potentially valuable commentary comes yet another stereotype-ridden portrayal of native peoples as fearsome cannibals with Wacky Nose Piercings™ and Cool Ritualistic Facepaint™. No matter how skillful the scares — and, I mean, it's Eli Roth, so they're bound to be something — that kind of blatant othering is probably going to be hard to stomach.

Watch below, and see what you think: