Eaten Alive
by Tobe Hooper
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DVD details
Actor: Carolyn Jones, Marilyn Burns, Mel Ferrer, Neville Brand, William FinleyDirector: Tobe Hooper
Cinematographer: Robert Caramico
Editor: Michael Brown
Producer: Mardi Rustam
Writer: Mardi Rustam
Writer: Alvin L. Fast
Writer: Kim Henkel
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Letterbox, 1.85:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-02-01
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Dark Sky Films
DVD Reviews of Eaten Alive
DVD Review: Don't Waste Your Time!
Summary: 2 Stars
This review is for the 2-Disc Special Edition of Eaten Alive:
Based on what I read about the plot of this movie and the fact that a young Robert Englund acted in this film, I thought Eaten Alive would be worth the purchase, especially seeing how I'm such a fan of the horror genre.
Well, once I finished watching it, I was set straight. So allow me to do the same for you: Don't waste your time or your money. It's really that simple.
Dark Sky must have had to work extra hard to restore this film and it's still a grainy mess! Grain ran for over 95 percent of the movie, which seem to enhance the atmosphere, but it was way too much. I imagine the original negative was not properly cared for.
The croc looked half real and half fake depending on the angle it was shot. The nudity was okay and the idea of using a scythe was kind of original, but the whole damn mess was poorly executed.
Stay away. You've been warned.
DVD Review: Good Director, Very Bad Movie
Summary: 1 Stars
This is one of the worst horror movies I can remember watching, and I have watched a lot of them over the years, and I want those 90 minutes back. I won't go into a detailed analysis, because the movie doesn't deserve one.
The movie is supposedly based on the true story of a hotel owner who had an alligator as an attraction and where several women were murdered, though it was never proven he fed them to the alligator.
I watched it because it was directed by Tobe Hooper (this was his follow-up to Chainsaw). The other notable horror connections are Robert Englund in his first significant role (listen for his first line at the beginning) and Marilyn Burns (from Chainsaw).
What can you expect from this movie? A hotel owner that mumbles incoherently to no one for most of the movie, bad dialogue, bad special effects (though Steve Martin would be proud of the scythe killing), and the worst music ever contained in a horror movie. Are you getting the picture yet? It's bad!
I only watched the movie itself on cable, so the DVD special features may be worth watching, but there is no way in hell this movie rates 4 or 5 stars. Do not waste money buying or renting this movie! You have been warned.
DVD Review: You Will Learn To Despise Country Music
Summary: 1 Stars
The amazing thing that jumped out at me while watching EATEN ALIVE was that Tobe Hooper made this AFTER he made THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. This movie definitely looks like a debut: it's horrible.
Everything that worked in TEXAS CHAINSAW doesn't work here. It looks and sounds horrible. The sets are cheap and the story--what story there is--drags along. Marilyn Burns appears to spend her entire part of the movie tied to a bed. In one long scene--a very long scene--a mother squirms and bounces and tries to scream through her gag in one room of a house. A couple tries to get busy (a young Robert Englund!) in another room. And under the house is a crying little girl trying to elude the psycho and then his fake-looking alligator. All of this noise is drowned out by a radio blasting terrible Country music. I've never been a big fan of Country music...but I really hated it after enduring this movie. (That it switched to Mariachi music for the finale didn't help).
I've never really known what to think about Tobe Hooper. I thought THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE was a classic in horror films. EATEN ALIVE is pure drive-in dreck, amateurish and lame. FUNHOUSE was fifth-rate slasher crap. I'd also read that Hooper, although his name is still on POLTERGEIST, had very little to do with it (stylistically, that movie has Steven Spielberg all over and I'd read that he actually finished the picture).
I caught this on the Independent Film Channel or the Sundance Channel as part of a "grindhouse" retrospective. I remember watching awful movies like this at the extinct drive-in movies theatres of the 70s or cut-to-ribbons on local Monster Chiller Horror Theatre shows. It's laughable how Sundance and IFC elevate such rotten movies to snobbish "grindhouse classic" status.
But I'm curious how a lousy flick like this gets 2-Disc Special Edition treatment. What on earth could be on it to justify that?
Ten times zero...is still zero.
DVD Review: The Grin Reaper...
Summary: 4 Stars
Warning: This is NOT THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE! Nope, EATEN ALIVE isn't TCM, nor is it supposed to be. This movie has elements not found in Tobe Hooper's first film offering. EATEN ALIVE contains actual blood, nudity, and is more exploitative than TCM. It also has a far less serious approach. Judd (Neville Brand) is a self-righteous, homicidal maniac who sees himself as judge, jury, and executioner of those he convicts of being unclean / sinful. The guilty are slain, either by scythe or Judd's handy pet alligator (or both)! Judd also has a serious problem w/ his temper. He just cannot control it! This all leads to multiple murder, and some entertaining, gruesome moments. The Starlight hotel becomes a funhouse / slaughterhouse when some of the guests get uppity and Judd has his hands full trying to contain them. Marilyn Burns (TCM) does her usual screaming, squirming, and running. Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger himself!) is annoying, yet good as Buck. Carolyn Jones (House Of Wax, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, "The Addams Family") is the crusty old madame, Hattie. Stuart Whitman plays the sheriff. Mel Ferrer is the ill-fated dad of the first victim. All things considered, EATEN ALIVE is a fun movie that never takes itself seriously. Enjoy... DVD Review: The Bates Motel in the Swamp
Summary: 3 Stars
Judd is insane; he owns the Startlight Hotel in a swamp. He feeds his guests to his pet crocodile. After the success of "Jaws," Tobe Hooper tried his hand at directing a creature feature, "Eaten Alive." This movie is very similar to "Psycho." Early in the film, Judd repeatedly strikes a young prostitute with a rake, stabbing her numerous times. While she is still breathing, he throws her off the front porch railing. The crocodile rises up from the water and gobbles her up. Just as in "Psycho," her sister, and also her father, come by the hotel looking for her.
This movie is very intense, from its bloody beginning to its bloody ending. Though not as provocative as Tobe`s "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," it manages to serve its purpose at being a terrifying and gruesome movie.
"Eaten Alive" would've fared better if it had been filmed on location rather than the obvious sound stage. The crocodile was extremely unrealistic. In fact, there were several scenes where it looked like a miniature version was used in lieu of a life-size one. Look closely at the scene where Snoopy the dog is about to be devoured.
There are big name stars in this movie such as Mel Ferrer and Carolyn Jones, but they are underused. Marilyn Burns from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" spends much of her time tied to a bed. A young Robert Englund, who played Freddy Krueger in "A Nightmare on Elm Street," plays Buck, an oversexed, troublemaking redneck.
If you like movies about alligators and crocodiles on the rampage, rent or buy Tobe Hooper's "Crocodile." It is definitely more entertaining than "Eaten Alive. In "Crocodile," a group of teens are relentlessly pursued by a crocodile because one of them is unknowingly carrying her eggs. The body count is high. There are numerous mutilations as the teens are killed one by one. Who will live and who will die?
Description of Eaten Alive
A wild mix of surreal fantasy and grindhouse splatterfest, Tobe (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) Hooper's 1976 sophomore feature pits an all-star cast against the homicidal owner of a backwoods hotel and his pet crocodile, with expectedly bloody results. Veteran character actor Neville Brand gives a memorably eccentric performance as the deranged hotelier, whose unpredictable rages frequently end in the violent death of his guests; Mel Ferrer is the inquisitive father of one victim, Robert Englund is a lusty local yokel, and William Finley and Marilyn Burns (Chainsaw's heroine) are a married couple on the verge of a meltdown who make the mistake of renting a room from Brand. Naturally, Brand's homicidal impulses get the better of him, and the film's finale nicely echoes the sheer bedlam of Chainsaw's final act, with all parties (including Stuart Whitman as a very laid-back sheriff) struggling to escape Brand and his croc with all body parts intact. While Eaten Alive never hits the same nerve-jangling heights of terror as its predecessor, Hooper does bring considerable style and verve to its crazy-quilt story, most notably in its garish lighting scheme, which suggests the exaggerated panels of '50s horror comics. And horror fans who don't mind a dash of black humor with their grue will appreciate Brand's stream of consciousness mutterings, as well as the cat-and-mouse game conducted by Finley and Burns' daughter (Kyle Richards) and the monster croc under the hotel. The impressive double-disc set includes a widescreen presentation of the original feature taken from vault materials (the picture was available under a variety of titles, each with different running times); disc one also offers commentary by Finley, Richards, producer Mardi Rustam, and makeup artist Craig Reardon. Hooper is profiled on disc two in an interview that details how he became involved in the project, and the difficulties encountered in bringing it to the screen. Englund and Burns are also interviewed about their careers and participation in the film, and a short documentary titled "The Butcher of Elmendorf: The Legend of Joe Ball" sheds like on the obscure real-life crime that in part inspired the movie. The extras are rounded out by a battery of behind-the-scenes photos, theatrical trailers and radio spots for Eaten Alive's numerous retitlings (including a preview from Japan), and two alternate credit and title sequences. The most amusing extra, however, comes in the form of comment cards filled out by test screening viewers, which run the gamut from disgusted to enthralled. -- Paul GaitaGeneral DVDs
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