Wordiezett
So much average
SpuffyWeb
Sadly Over-hyped
Matrixiole
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Sam Panico
Texas Chainsaw Massacre co-writer Kim Henkel was inspired by Joe Ball, the Alligator Man, who owned a live alligator attraction in the 1930s. Despite being suspected of several murders, legend had it that Ball would feed the dead women to his alligators. Ball started as a bootlegger before opening his Sociable Inn in Elmendorf, Texas, which was surrounded by a pond where he'd charge people to watch him feed them live cats and dogs. After former girlfriends, barmaids and even his wife went missing, two policemen tried to question him. He pulled a gun and shot himself — either in the head or the heart. That said — there are many that believe the stories about Joe Ball to be simply Texas folklore. He did exist, though.Working under the title Death Trap (the film is also known as Horror Hotel and Starlight Slaughter), this entire film was made on a soundstage, using the Raleigh Studios pool as a swamp. This enabled Hooper to create what he called a "surrealistic, twilight world." True to form, issues with the producers took him away from the film before the shooting ended, but he had a decent relationship with the actors. Cinematographer Robert Caramico finished the direction of the film once Hooper left.This movie starts grimy and stays that way. Buck (Robert Englund in an early role) demands kinky sex from Clara Wood (Robert Collins, Matilda the Hun from Death Race 2000!), who refuses. This scene contains the line, "I'm Buck and I'm here to f," line that Quentin Tarantino used in Kill Bill.No one says no in Miss Hattie's (Carolyn Jones, who is better known as Morticia Addams!) house of women, so Clara is kicked out. One of the girls takes pity and gives her money to stay at the Starlight Hotel, a rundown motel in the swamp. There, she meets the owner, Judd (Neville Brand, famous for playing Al Capone in The Untouchables TV series and The George Raft Story), who we soon learn is a demented sex maniac. He attacks her, chasing her into the swamp where a Nile crocodile eats her. Yep — don't get too attached to anyone here. This is very Psycho territory, where bad people meet even worse ends.A couple soon arrives — Faye (Marilyn Burns, Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and Roy (William Finley, Winslow Leach from The Phantom of the Paradise), along with their daughter Angie (Kyle Richards, Lindsey Wallace from Halloween!) and dog Snoopy. Don't get attached to Snoopy, who isn't long for this world. As Angie finds a dead monkey and screams, the dog runs into the swamp where he is eaten. Roy goes to kill the gator, but is stabbed by Judd's scythe. Then, the insane motel owner ties Faye to the bed and tries to grab Angie, who hides under the porch of the building.Read more at bandsaboutmovies.com/2017/09/15/eaten-alive-1977/
poe426
There are drive-in memories I sometimes wish I DIDN'T have; seeing EATEN ALIVE happens to be one of them. Director Tobe Hooper has a way of getting under your skin- whether it be with a chainsaw or a scythe or a crocodile-, but that's not necessarily a Good thing. I've seen movies that made me so nauseous I came THIS close to losing my lunch- and a few of them turn out to have been directed by Hooper. He's clearly demonstrated considerable talent over the years (THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE, 'SALEM'S LOT, LIFEFORCE, etc.), but he's also shown a penchant for less-than-salutary fare, like THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE II and EATEN ALIVE. The most memorable scene in EATEN ALIVE: the opening scene, where Robert Englund, unbuckling his belt, announces, "My name's Buck an' I wanna f---..."
Ultimex_Varptuner
It's a surprise that Death Trap (Eaten Alive) was the film Tobe Hooper followed up The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with as, at first sight, TCM is totally and utterly superior in every way. However, that is not to say the Death Trap is not without it's charm. Albeit a warped, distorted, bizarre charm that leaves you feeling as if you've been watching the film through the bottom of a jam jar… after seven pints of beer.Okay, so right off the film lacks Gunnar Hansen's iconic, brilliantly unveiled antagonist, instead delivering… Judd. He is a mumbling, demented hotelier who looks a bit like a messed up version of my father-in-law, talks stream of consciousness nonsense and at one point sings a painfully elongated rendition of a song so annoying that you will want to murder him yourself. For all that, Judd is an interesting villain when set against the physical power of Leatherface. He doesn't look particularly sinister, almost certainly isn't particularly strong and due to his inability to speak properly, we can only guess at his motives and back story. In some ways these factors makes it more shocking when he lapses into hysterical, jittering psychotic episodes which are usually followed in short order by him feeding his victims to an extremely naff-looking plastic crocodile.On the subject of Judd's victims, this is one area where the film takes a pleasantly surreal turn and sets itself aside from it's peers. The crowd who visit the hotel on what appears to be rather a brisk day for trade are even weirder than Judd himself. We start with a messed up young woman sporting a wig so fake and pathetic looking that it would have stuck out like a sore thumb in an early 80's porno. Then you have the anal-retentive, deep-south John Cleese who comes looking for his estranged Daughter and Robert Englund, looking good as an angry southern hick who's only goal in life seems to be to get a female of the species to indulge him in the love that dare not speak it's name. Next onto TCM's lovely Marilyn Burns wearing, for reasons unknown, yet another really lame looking wig and her daughter, sporting a metal leg brace. But by far the craziest character here and, indeed, the most unhinged man this side of Frank Booth is Roy. This boy, to be fair to him, is a complete and utter raving lunatic who thinks nothing of lapsing into crazed animal impersonations and descriptions of having his eye burned out by his wife in front of his weeping child.Death Trap unfolds on a few scant, cheap and sleazy looking sets, none of it appears to be shot outdoors and all of the proceedings appear murky, often lit with a trashy red hue. These things should not be considered negatives to fans of this kind of cinema (myself included) as the whole thing looks like some ungodly, nightmare 70's theme park gone wrong and the constant soundtrack of either analogue synth bleeps or wailing atonal country and western music give the film a truly evil and otherworldly atmosphere.Personally I love the days of these crude, surreal, trashy films which now seem so far behind us and if the above are to be considered pluses then sadly there must be minuses. For me my single biggest gripe is that some scenes where nothing really happens, play out just too long and too uneventful. The problem here is that Judd's character is established as being so one-dimensional that once we have discovered he is a murderer, there isn't really anywhere else to go other than to show him shambling about being irritating. I guess Tobe Hooper wanted this film to more closely follow the perpetrator, rather than the victims (as in TCM), but with so little psychological meat, it just doesn't work.The overall film is also hindered by the fact that it doesn't gather pace heading towards the climax a la TCM. There is no real feeling of ratcheting up the suspense as Judd's actions get increasingly more risky and threaten to expose him.Tobe Hooper should be applauded for following a runaway indie hit with something that was so different. Can you imagine a writer/director these days under contract to some big shadowy corporation choosing to buck a winning formula and try something completely distinct in style? It simply wouldn't be allowed to happen. Which is why we need to treasure these films and our memories of the times they come from. Because it was a time when challenging, even assaulting the audience was the film maker's first goal and if you left the drive-in after seeing Death Trap feeling like you needed a shower then Tobe had done his job.He did his job.P.S.. I love you Marilyn Chambers.
kittenkongshow
Tobe Hooper's 2nd film after Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a major drop - This dull, cheap piece of exploitation seems to have gained a following as other reviews on here show.In some ways I can see how as it does have an 'interesting' cast who's performances vary from good to OTT. Another reason being it's status as a Video Nasty (Why - The gore is little and the deaths (apart from Mel Ferrar's) not particually violent).But to me the plot is basic, the characters mostly irritating and as said above the Gore limited, No horror or suspense and a plastic Croc.Only watch if you want to see how bad Tobe Hooper Dropped after TCM.
