Sunday, May 15, 2016

Indigenous (2014)

In a typical horror movie fashion, idiot college kids scoff at a local legend and traipse off into the jungle to their inevitable deaths.

A group of friends go on vacation in Panama to hang out on the beach and party.  One night in a bar, they are told of a beautiful waterfall deep in the jungle which is not known to tourists.  When they express interest in seeing it, one of the locals whose befriended them warns them not to go.  There is a legend about creatures who roam that part of the jungle, and people who go to that area disappear never to be seen again.

Now you would think that even if they didn't believe in the legend, they might want to be concerned that people disappear in the jungle.  But as a bunch of drunken privileged white college kids who feel invulnerable, they're not worried.  They're here to party, and seeing something that other tourists don't should get them more hits on whatever social media they're posting on.  Yeah, that's right. We went to this secret location that other people aren't told about, so there.

Although she promises not to take them there, the woman from the bar drives the group deep into the jungle the next day.  And it's all fun and games until someone disappears after uttering a blood curdling scream. Oh yeah, there's creatures in this here jungle so get ready for some death college kids.

There's nothing to distinguish Indigenous from any other film where kids wander off to a place where they shouldn't go and they pay with their lives. If you know that people disappear when they go to a certain area of the jungle, then why are you going? It's a foreign country. You don't believe in the legend? Fine, but what about animals, poisonous things, drug traffickers, guerrilla armies, or even locals who don't like your smug stupid face? What if you've accidentally done something horribly insulting or rude while you were drunk?  Not every culture is going to just let you walk away. You don't know the customs there. So yeah, maybe be cautious when a local warns you away from a certain area.

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