A crazed motel owner murders his guests and feeds them to his pet crocodile in Eaten Alive. It begins with a young girl who is prostituting for the first time. She realizes quickly that she isn't cut out for that lifestyle when a guy named Buck (Robert Englund) gets rough with her. She is thrown out of the brothel and heads to the rundown motel. When Judd the motel manager discovers that she was working as a prostitute, he flips out and murders her, then disposes her body by throwing it to the crocodile in the swamp surrounding the shack. Things get hairy for Judd when that girl's family (as well as other motel guests) arrive and start snooping around.
Tobe Hooper directed this film, and he of course did Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Eaten Alive has a lot of the same elements from that film mixed with Hitchcock's Psycho. Neville Brand plays the crazed psychopath Judd to perfection. He is manic and verbally erratic at almost all times, it's really unsettling. When he chases some of the women around in the tight corners of the motel, it's really intense. Hooper was just a marvellous director. The Judd character reminds me a lot of Jim Siedow's character (The Old Man/Drayton Sawyer) from the first two 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' films. There are also parts that are so strange like the father of the little girl who completely loses his mind after seeing his little dog eaten by the crocodile. Normally I would be wondering what the hell those scenes were all about but, in Eaten Alive, EVERYTHING happening is crazy, strange and off-beat.
I loved seeing Robert Englund before his Freddy Krueger days, he did a fine job in this film. Marilyn Burns from 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' has a lead role playing pretty much the same character as Sally from that film, and does a terrific job as well. Overall Eaten Alive is a gritty disgusting but intense horror film. The craziness from Judd the motel manager really takes away from the horror of the giant crocodile moving around in the swamp. Watching this movie, you'd almost rather face the croc than Judd!
Where the film fails is at tying up loose ends and explaining why Judd was so crazed. And why did no one in the town catch onto his strange behaviour? I find it hard to believe that the prostitute at the beginning was his first victim. Nevertheless, I recommend Eaten Alive to horror fans. It's very intense and brutal, with some gore as well.
7/10
Tobe Hooper directed this film, and he of course did Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Eaten Alive has a lot of the same elements from that film mixed with Hitchcock's Psycho. Neville Brand plays the crazed psychopath Judd to perfection. He is manic and verbally erratic at almost all times, it's really unsettling. When he chases some of the women around in the tight corners of the motel, it's really intense. Hooper was just a marvellous director. The Judd character reminds me a lot of Jim Siedow's character (The Old Man/Drayton Sawyer) from the first two 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' films. There are also parts that are so strange like the father of the little girl who completely loses his mind after seeing his little dog eaten by the crocodile. Normally I would be wondering what the hell those scenes were all about but, in Eaten Alive, EVERYTHING happening is crazy, strange and off-beat.
I loved seeing Robert Englund before his Freddy Krueger days, he did a fine job in this film. Marilyn Burns from 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' has a lead role playing pretty much the same character as Sally from that film, and does a terrific job as well. Overall Eaten Alive is a gritty disgusting but intense horror film. The craziness from Judd the motel manager really takes away from the horror of the giant crocodile moving around in the swamp. Watching this movie, you'd almost rather face the croc than Judd!
Where the film fails is at tying up loose ends and explaining why Judd was so crazed. And why did no one in the town catch onto his strange behaviour? I find it hard to believe that the prostitute at the beginning was his first victim. Nevertheless, I recommend Eaten Alive to horror fans. It's very intense and brutal, with some gore as well.
7/10