What's up, you butt chugging crypto lovers? I don't normally usually do this, but I decided I wanted to post a repost of an old review that I wrote. Initially the review didn't get much attention, and I think the more people who know about this movie and check it out the better. (Maybe I'll post this once a year as the platform grows or if for some god forsaken reason we have to jump ship again.) This shit has gone down in history as one of the most dangerous movies ever made, yet most people have never heard of it. So, put down the 5 tubs of hair gel, stop banging those stones on your genitals like the caveman you are, and check out this review, babyboi's.
The movie that I'm going to be talking about today is called Roar, and is by far one of the most strange, insane and just weird movies I've ever seen. After watching this with 3 other people, we all came to the conclusion that this movie is certainly a special experience. At the very least, I can tell you that you'll have some fun checking this out. But, before we really get into it let me yap some backstory at you about the film. The director, producer, writer and star of the film is a man by the name of Noel Marshall, whose previous claim to fame was being a producer on The Exorcist. Roar, however, is a bit more special as the story of the film reaches out beyond just being a movie and gets very personal. This film would both be another stand out part of his career, while also simultaneously being a coffin nail in it for several reasons. At least in my totally correct opinion, you fucking virgins.
(How rad is that Japanese poster?) Filming for the movie began in the 1970's, but production had so many problems going on that it ended up being delayed for 11 years before finally seeing its release. Three years into being made a flood caused by a dam ended up wrecking all of their equipment and the set itself. Did I mention the set used was Marshall's actual fucking home? Yeah, his ranch was where they filmed pretty much all of this movie. They lost nearly everything, including the lives of three of the lions. The total estimate of damages done was around the 4-5 million dollar mark. There were several other setbacks, but these guys just kept pushing forward even when in excessive debt. The film unsurprisingly was a commercial and critical failure, making only 2 million dollars while having a budget of 17 million (Inflation puts that 17 million at around 48 million dollars today).
So, lets talk about the basic premise of the movie. The short version is that the film is about a man, his friend and his family coming together to manage a big cat nature preserve located in Africa. The film chronicles the families journey as well as going with a pro nature message, and I'm assuming after reading this you've opened up a new tab with pornhub but hold the fuck up, fam. Because this movie is the farthest thing from boring. You see, Noel decided he wanted to use nothing but 150 untrained large cats during the entirety of the movie shoot. So, basically, you have 150 untrained animals just attacking the actors and rest of the film crew while the movie was shot. The movie is just pretty much scene after scene of real animal attacks strung together with a very flimsy narrative. And, holy fuck is it just amazing to behold.
Over the course of production there were over 70 documented attacks that injured crew members. These injuries were all mostly pretty damn severe, with the most infamous one being the director of photography who had to get several hundred stitches on his head due to an attack where a lion basically scalped the poor bastard. Other injuries on set were things like bone fractures, bites to the neck and face requiring 40-50 stitches, and even some delicious gangrene. A lot of which is actually left in the film for the viewers to see. Due to the frequency and seriousness of the attacks, a lot of the crew refused to come back to the set during the 11 years of production. Remind me, did I mention how fucking crazy this movie actually is? Seriously, who the fuck would actually sign up for this?
Well, it's funny that I mention that so I can continue on to my next point. Because not only did Noel Marshall star in his own film, but his wife and their children also starred in it. Yeah, that's right. The majority of all the cast is actually this mans family. They all lived with these big cats day in and day out and dealt with all of this nightmarish sounding shit. For some reason, they thought they could reign in control over the cats. Obviously, that didn't exactly work out for them. You can certainly tell that pretty much the entire cast is timid and afraid in every take. I will give some props to Noel Marshall, however. The guy must have had some cro-magnon sized fucking balls to do what he did during the filming of this movie. In between all of the animals fighting, wrecking a house and all the other chaos you'll find this man just jumping into it all, running alongside them while screaming and yelling at them. Even going as far as to pull out his genitals and slap them with his penis slap the animals occasionally.
There's one scene that comes to mind while I talk about this guy. There are some alpha lions fighting each other, and Noel decides to hop in to try and get them to stop. Low and behold, one of the lions doesn't give a fuck and jumps up and and punctures a giant ass hole into his hand. You can see this in the movie and it's 100 percent real. He had arterial bleeding with blood basically spurting out of him and he just goes on with filming. He apparently even wanted them to take some close up shots of the wound and squirt in some extra fake blood after it had finally stopped bleeding. Noel was an absolute fucking legend. Perhaps a crazy one that makes me question if he was snorting meth and injecting cocaine directly into his heart. But, a legend nonetheless.
The movie itself to me isn't anything amazing narrative wise. The plot is very flimsy and light throughout. Honestly, from what I can tell from watching and doing a bit of research, they had to write most of the script day to day to work around the cats. There's so many scenes that get interrupted and just go wherever the cats want it go. For example, there's a scene where the cast is talking with some poachers and community leaders in the area. While in the middle of talking, a tiger decides to investigate their small paddle boat and he ends up sinking it and then starts attacking the people while they're in the water. So much of this movie is improvised by the animals, it's just fucking amazing to see.
While the plot isn't anything amazing, it is a competently made film. The cinematography itself isn't actually too bad at all. There are lots of very cool/well done shots throughout the film. The music itself can be very ridiculous and weird, but also not exactly bad or anything. The editing is honestly almost god tier considering what they had to work with. I'm genuinely impressed with what they put together considering it's just a series of people being mauled for pretty much the entire movie. While I won't say this is an amazing film, it's definitely at least an average one. However, it's definitely elevated due to the backstory and insane stuff that was included in the film.
I can't help but marvel at this movie, just due to all the things that were sacrificed and lost to get it done. Noel Marshall's family fell apart somewhat due to the experiences of making the movie and the huge debt that was incurred, as he and his wife got divorced shortly after the release of the film. It's such an interesting story and just an anomaly of a film. It has a reputation fro being the most dangerous film ever made, and it certainly fucking earned it. I don't think we will ever see a movie quite like this one again, and I certainly would recommend anyone reading this to check it out. There is so much genuine suspense throughout it, and lots of moments where I just had to laugh at the absurdity that had befallen my eyeballs. If you don't watch it, then I've lost all respect for you and believe you're probably not an epic gamer. Fucking troglodytes.
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