When I last saw the work of Eli Roth, it came via 2015’s Knock Knock. That film branched out from Roth’s usual horror fare, as it gave us a thriller.

With 2015’s The Green Inferno, Roth returns to his bread and butter – though the term “return” might not be accurate. Roth completed Inferno back in 2013, but a variety of issues meant it didn’t hit theaters until the fall of 2015.

In Inferno, we meet Justine (Lorenza Izzo), a NYC college student who shows interest in student activism. However, it seems unclear how much of desire to get involved comes from idealism and how much stems from her romantic attraction to protest leader Alejandro (Ariel Levy).

Justine eventually joins the cause, and she accompanies a group that heads to Peru in an attempt to protect the rainforest. They plan to use their cell phones to record loggers and then upload these images to the Internet to raise awareness of the problems that result from deforestation.

This doesn’t go well. Not only do they face the expected opposition from the loggers themselves, but also they encounter a snarl when they try to head home, as their plane crashes and strands them in the rainforest. We follow their attempts to survive and bizarre challenges that come along the way, as the natives don’t treat them in the expected way.

Like his buddy Quentin Tarantino, Roth consistently wears his B-movie influences on his sleeve. In the case of Knock Knock, he borrowed heavily from 1977’s Death Game, while Inferno owes a significant debt to 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust. Neither film acts as true remake, but they demonstrate considerable similarities.

Of the two, Inferno works better, perhaps because Roth feels more at home with graphic material such as this. As I noted earlier, Roth branched into the erotic thriller vein with Knock, and the move didn’t seem to suit him.

On the other hand, Inferno finds Roth at home with its graphic gore and nastiness. Roth loves gruesome visuals, and Inferno packs plenty of unpleasant visuals. These become over the top at times, but I’m sure they’ll please genre fans.

As a story, Inferno does okay for itself. With a thin collection of characters, it never becomes particularly involving, but it delivers a mix of twists and turns. While I think it relies too much on graphic content to maintain viewer interest, at least the narrative comes with some decent elements.

Inferno does display an intensely cynical worldview. The film seems to say that the world sucks so why bother to improve it? I don’t mind the mockery of self-involved college students – especially given their not-always-altruistic motives – but the movie’s dark take on humanity goes deeper than that, and it seems unduly harsh.

Flaws aside, Inferno generates a reasonably involving adventure tale. It’s violent and cynical but it presents a fairly taut journey.

Footnote: stick around through the end credits for a tag that hints at a possible sequel.

The Green Inferno appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Expect a high-quality transfer.

Sharpness consistently looked strong. Any softness remained minor, as the vast majority of the film seemed accurate and well-defined. No signs of shimmering or jaggies materialized, and I noticed no edge haloes. In addition, print flaws failed to mar the image.

In terms of colors, Inferno lived up to its title, as it boasted a heavily green palette. Some prominent reds appeared as well, and these came across as well-rendered. Blacks looked deep and dark, while low-light shots seemed smooth and clear. I found no issues in this satisfying presentation.

I also thought the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack worked well. The Peruvian forest mustered a lot of natural ambience, and a few action sequences brought out good use of the channels. The plane crash delivered the most impressive sequence, but others – such as the assault by the natives – contributed strong movement and integration. Add to that vivid stereo music and the soundscape worked well.

Audio quality also satisfied. Music was bold and dynamic, while effects appeared accurate and full. Speech came across as natural and distinctive. This became a very good soundtrack.

As we shift to the set’s extras, we launch with an audio commentary from writer/director Eli Roth, producer Nicolas Lopez and actors Lorenza Izzo, Aaron Burns, Kirby Bliss Blanton and Daryl Sabara. All six sit together for a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, sets and locations, cast and performances, various effects, stunts, music and related areas.

Many of the same folks participated in the commentary for Knock Knock, which left me less than optimistic for this discussion. The Knock track was packed with praise and little else, so I feared this one would follow the same path.

We do get some of that happy talk, but not nearly as much as was the case with Knock. Instead, the participants cover a good array of subjects and do so in a reasonably peppy manner. We find a fairly useful examination of the film here.

We also find a Photo Gallery. Its 240 images mix shots from the set, movie elements and production details. It becomes a pretty good compilation.

The disc opens with ads for Sinister 2, London Has Fallen, The Visit, Visions, The Forest and Curve. No trailer for Inferno shows up here.

Despite rampant cynicism and buckets of gore, The Green Inferno manages to present a pretty solid tale. It delivers enough compelling twists to make it mostly involving effort. The Blu-ray brings us excellent visuals as well as very good audio and decent supplements. Inferno doesn’t become a great film but genre fans should enjoy it.