College freshman Justine (Lorenza Izzo), whose father is a UN lawyer, decides to become an activist to help stop female genital mutilation in other countries. She joins the charismatic Alejandro (Ariel Levy) on a trip to the Amazon to demonstrate against big companies bulldozing the rainforest. On the way back, their plane crashes, and a group of survivors is captured by a strange tribe of cannibals. If they can hold on, they might be rescued -- or they could try to escape. But infighting and an unexpected betrayal complicate matters, and none of them may ever make it out of the jungle.
In a way, the prolonged path to theaters works to Roth’s advantage. He’s been absent from the director’s chair since 2007’s underperforming “Hostel II,” and “Inferno” would’ve made for an entirely anti-climactic comeback if not for the imminent arrival of his follow-up, the Keanu Reeves starrer “Knock Knock,” which made the festival rounds earlier this year and hits theaters in just two weeks. Arguably Roth’s most mature movie to date, “Knock Knock” makes “Inferno” look even more like the nadir of an unapologetically lowbrow resume.
Both pics share the same leading lady, Chilean model and actress Lorenza Izzo, who wed Roth in real life last year. (The mind boggles at what point during filming that particular romantic spark was lit.) In “Inferno,” Izzo plays college freshman Justine, the daughter of a United Nations lawyer (Richard Burgi) who wants to make her own mark fighting injustice in the world.
Fired up after a lecture on female genital mutilation and more than a little attracted to alluring campus rabble-rouser Alejandro (Ariel Levy), Justine dismisses the advice of sardonic roommate Kaycee (singer Sky Ferreira, seemingly auditioning for Tim Burton) and signs up for Alejandro’s protest in the Amazon rainforest. In what may be intended as meta-foreshadowing of the literal torture to come, this excruciating setup takes roughly a half-hour to get through and is filled with bon mots like Kaycee telling Justine “Activism’s so f—ing gay” before she boards a plane bound for Peru.
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