Eaten Alive (1977)
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| Umbrella Entertainment (Australia). All Regions, PAL. 1.85:1 (16:9 enhanced). English DD 2.0. 89 minutes |
| The Movie |
| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: Tobe Hooper
Starring: Neville Brand,
Marilyn Burns, William Finley, Robert Englund
Screenplay: Alvin. L.
Fast, Kim Henkel
Country: USA
AKA: Death Trap; Horror
Hotel |
Tobe Hooper has had a funny old career. One minute
he's making a legendary horror film that will
continue to terrorize and astound decades after
its original release with The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre. Then he's a faux Steven
Spielberg with Poltergeist. Then
he's producing direct to video rubbish like Spontaneous Combustion. In between
he actually made some interesting little movies; The Funhouse, the delightfully
mad Lifeforce and Eaten
Alive.
Written by Chainsaw scribe Kim Henkel, Eaten
Alive is a sleazy little number about a demented
hotelier who feeds his guests to his pet crocodile
that lurks in the swamp. That's about it
with regards to plot; a procession of oddballs
arrives at the hotel little knowing they will
soon become the giant reptiles nocturnal feast.
In one hilarious scene the croc even chomps down
on a family dog.
Hooper shows little of the documentary style
he gave Texas Chainsaw Massacre but lets the croc and his actors run rampant.
The attacks are gory and the whole film is lit
like the red light district in Amsterdam. Subtle
this is not. Neville Brand attacks his role with
relish; his mumbling psychotic is almost unintelligible,
one of the weirdest characters in modern horror.
The film features a plethora of horror talent.
Marilyn Burns almost replays her role in Texas
Chainsaw Massacre. William Finley, a
Brian De Palma regular starring in Phantom
of the Paradise, Sisters and The Fury is fed to the crocodile
and Robert Englund, Freddie Kreuger himself plays
a young punk "My name is Buck, I'm
rarin to fuck."
Hooper's handle on the horror isn't
matched by his use of the actors. Its always nice
to care just a little but in Eaten Alive you don't care whose been eaten for breakfast,
lunch and dinner. The Crocodile is the real star
of the film despite the fact it spends most of
its time trapped in a swampy cage. |
| Video |
| The print is clean but a bit dark. A lot of the
film is set at night with a garish colour scheme
that doesn't always remain stable but on the
whole the film has never looked better. I haven't
seen the US disc by Elite to compare. |
| Audio |
| The Dolby stereo mix is effective without really
astounding. |
| Extra Features |
| We have to make do with a theatrical trailer and
some Umbrella propaganda. |
| The Verdict |
Entertaining gory fun that while never quite living
up to the terrors of The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre still retains its power to shock.
A video nasty in the UK, the film has some deliciously
dark moments that, unfortunately in hindsight, are
some of the most effective scares that Tobe Hooper
has given us. It's a shame his career never
revisited the glory of his Seventies output.
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I on the other hand think this movie is fun and don't sit there asking questions like why and how - particularly when I'm aware it is indeed a sleazey horror film I'm watching.
The title character is a total slime, the victims deserve to be killed for being stupid enough to even set foot in that sleazy motel. Whole thing could have well been made up of cutting room floor stock footage left over from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.