Search - Welcome To the Jungle on DVD

Deidra C. (Deidra670) from GARRETT, KY
Reviewed on 3/21/2011...

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE rocks!! I loved it all, the story told by handheld video footage, the goofy enthusiasm of the characters, the big payoff at the end. Everything flowed together for a visceral, nerve-racking horror experience.

Two couples meet in Fiji and discuss the mystery of Michael Rockefeller who disappeared in the early 60's and was reportedly eaten by cannibals. Then they get the bright idea that they'll go to the region where he disappeared, find him, get an interview with him and get batshit rich in the process. Well thought out, huh?

One of the couples is quite annoying and it is a relief when they split off from the others. The jungle is creepy and one can almost feel the steamy humidity pouring off the greenery. The slow realization that something isn't right, the slow build of terror is quite effective.

I really enjoyed WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE. It was original subject matter, one that hasn't been done to death. I'd gladly recommend it. Here's my money, now give me my guts and change. Rumble in the jungle, party people!!

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Chad B. (abrnt1) from CABERY, IL
Reviewed on 3/19/2011...

Modern Cannibal Film

Decent "Found Footage" homage to Italian Cannibal Movies. When I first read about this film awhile back I was lead to believe that it was a remake of Cannibal Holocaust and I was glad to learn that it wasn't. It would be inpossible for any film to match the overall intensity of Cannibal Holocaust while having any hope of being released. This film was made by an established director familiar with how the studio system of film works (Director Jonathan Hensleigh is best known for the Thomas Jane version of The Punisher).

For the majority of the movie the cast consists of four characters who have cannibal lunch stamped on their heads. These people r idiots and really do deserve to be eaten. It's this quality that makes this film entertaining. Going in audiences know what to expect. Nobody in their right mind watching this movie doesn't. In a cannibal movie people get eaten & in a "found footage" film the majority of the time the people "making the footage" r dead. Mix the two together and EVERYBODY DIES. Let the good times roll.

The four end up deep within the New Guinea jungle and mess with tribal remains. One of the four takes a souvernior and that spells their eventual doom. The Blair Witch Project used a similar tactic to incite the bad mojo (Blair Witch has a lot in common with Cannibal Holocaust which used some "found footage" type of filmmaking). This film is more suspense than gore and does a good job of creating a sense of impending doom. There's a few "payoff" shots (the best being the homage to cannibal Holocaust which is really well executed in it's overall simplicity keeping perfectly within the nature of the film).

2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Jorge S. (jorgito2001) from WESLEY CHAPEL, FL
Reviewed on 9/28/2009...

This movie is a pretty decent homage to the cannibal exploitation movies of the 70s & early 80s (and not nearly as gory, disturbing or bloody). Granted, the characters in this movie are ANNOYING and very UNLIKABLE!...but I'd recommend it to fans of the genre.

3 of 4 member(s) found this review helpful.

Bring You to Your Sha-na-na-na-na-na Knees

Sky | New York | 11/16/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Based on the jacket of this DVD, I set my expectations for "a bloody gore fest." Trust me, Welcome to the Jungle qualifies more as a bore fest than a gore fest.



I didn't say it was a bore fest exactly. But the Welcome to the Jungle cast doesn't even run into their first native tribe member until about an hour into the film, and the film is only about an hour and 20 minutes long.



Back in 1961 Michael Clark Rockefeller (heir to the Rockefeller fortune) disappeared after a boating accident during an expedition in the Asmat region of New Guinea. It was speculated that Rockefeller drowned, but sensationalized by the theory that he was abducted, living among or perhaps even eaten by cannibals.



Welcome to the Jungle is about two young couples that get the bright idea to take their inexperience and hike into the Asmat jungles to see if they can find any proof of Rockefeller's true fate. Going back to the jacket of the DVD, it tells you that trouble starts when the couples run into "a fierce tribe of cannibals deep in the jungle." This gives you the impression that our couples are indiscriminately attacked while on their innocent trek. But everyone knows that today's Asmat Tribesman would only attack if provoked, right?...Like, say, because some knuckle-head desecrated an Asmat gravesite.



Some of the cast do indeed get brutalized. But a gore fest? No. Friday the 13th has *a lot* more slicing and dicing than you ever see in Welcome to the Jungle. In fact, you never actually see any of the real brutality while it's occurring in Welcome to the Jungle; you do see some of the carnage...but certainly not in the large doses that all of the hype seems to suggest.



Welcome to the Jungle has that handheld camera, Blair Witch Project feel throughout. Writer/Director Jonathan Hensleigh (also directed 2004's The Punisher and co-wrote a bunch of very popular flicks) goes for storytelling here...not shock. Yes, when things finally get ugly in this movie...it ain't pretty. It's R-rated stuff, but probably tamer than you're thinking it is.



So all in all...it's an okay movie. I'm no gore-monger, so the lack of it was just fine with me. With the underlying sense that something horrible is going to happen, Hensleigh does a masterful job of quenching the boredom of what amounts to more of a jungle expedition documentary than an all out Horror film.



Well gotta go. Lunch is served. Beef carpaccio...mmmmmmmmmm.



"

Horrific... not the gore, the actual movie is horrific.

Richard L. Sotir III | Rochester, NY United States | 12/03/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"If you've ever sat through a horrible movie thinking to yourself, "well... this is incredibly bad, therefore, it can only get better," then this movie is not for you. Not only does it start out awful and get worse... it gets downright ridiculous. This is the single worst movie that I have ever seen in my entire life. The plot is absolutely ludicrous. It is literally unbelievable. I honestly can't believe that Dimension Films green-lighted this project. "Hey... I got it... let's make a film about four idiots that are on vacation in New Guinea, and arbitrarily decide to go searching for Michael Rockefeller... you know... that guy that was the son of the governor of New York that disappeared in 1961 that four different governments were unable to find... better yet, let's shoot it on a couple of handycams like the Blair Witch Project... sound good?" Uh, no.







Honest to God, there is actually a part in the movie where the four main characters are given a traveler's advisory that says, "if you see a child or a woman in the middle of the road, either drive by or turn around, because they just want you to stop so that they can rob you. Serious harm and/or death can and usually does result if you stop." About 3 minutes later, this very thing happens, and what do our heroes do? You guessed it... stop dead, and talk about what to do for a couple minutes. Of course, four guys with guns come out and start shooting at the car.







This movie is so incredibly bad, that I wanted to drive back to Blockbuster and start slapping people that were standing anywhere near the other copies of this movie and were contemplating renting it. I can't even find the words to describe how bad this film actually is. I sat there after the movie ended and racked my brain about what movies I've see that are actually worse, and I couldn't think of a single one. It was so bad that it wasn't even fun to make fun of it... it was WAY too annoying for that. Every minute of that film that I sat through was more annoying than the last. I'm so bummed that I wasted an hour and fifteen minutes of my life, along with $2.99 and however many IQ points I lost. Do yourself a favor if you are considering buying or renting this movie... click the back button on your browser or move to another section of whatever rental store you are standing in. Believe me... you'll thank me.



"

Welcome to the Jungle, We'd Love to have you for Dinner.

Captain Insanity | NY | 02/10/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Well it definitely ain't Cannibal Holocaust, that's for sure,

but it's does have a few of it's own moments.

None nearly as graphic or remotely as brutal, mind you.



Four morons set out into the jungle in search of the lost Rockerfeller,

in hopes of rescuing him, and claiming the million dollar reward.

What they find instead is hostile, blood-thirsty, cannibals who paint themselves white, and well.....they eat morons.



The dialogue is juvenile, but it keeps the story moving.

Struggles within the surrounding communities, as well as highway robberies, prevent the viewer from losing interest before entering the jungle.

Once inside the green labyrinth away from civilization confrontations flare, and the stupidity flows in abundance.



Obvious connections will be drawn between this and "The Blair Witch Project" due to the identical style and pace.

But this flick had one thing going for it that it's predecessor didn't.

A visible, tangible enemy.

If "Blair Witch" ended with cannibals, you'd essentially have this flick.



Sadly though, none of the violence takes place onscreen,

all you're ever witness to is the bloody aftermath,

(chick hung from a pole through her head, various organs and limbs scattered about, and a writhing, limbless wonder)



My one major gripe is that they don't even bother to show the cannibals eating people.

Which is insane, considering this is a cannibal movie!!

But like I said it does have it's few redeeming moments.



MORAL OF THE STORY:

Easy Money comes with Hard Consequences"