This 1976 horror film has been the victim of many theatrical and home video distributors that destroyed any credibility the film may have had. It has been released with missing footage, and in cropped formats with poor source prints. EATEN ALIVE has also been released under numerous monikers by these quick-buck opportunists. Once again, Elite comes to the rescue, doing what they do best and restoring horror gems to their original theatrical luster. Producer Mardi Rustam was the man responsible for such low-budget genre fare as DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN, THE FEMALE BUNCH, and PSYCHIC KILLER. Rustam recruited Tobe Hooper (fresh off of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE) to direct. Hooper bought his skills to the table and even had a hand in composing the PYSCHO-esque score.

Rustam and Hooper gathered a great bunch of genre stars including some TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE veterans. The film stars Neville (WITHOUT WARNING) Brand in perhaps his most notable role, as the killer Judd. Italian horror fans will remember Mel Ferrer as General Murchison in CITY OF THE WALKING DEAD. Here he plays Harvey Wood, a terminally ill man on the trail of his missing daughter. Marilyn Burns of TCM fame is the victimized mother, Fay. A man who needs no introduction, Robert Englund portrays a redneck punk named Buck. Stuart (NIGHT OF THE LEPUS) Whitman is Sheriff Martin, a law enforcement officer who is very slow to catch on to the bayou disappearances.

Basically, EATEN ALIVE is a morbid variation on the Lassie and Timmy theme. Only this time it’s about a guy who loves his hungry pet crocodile so much that he provides human bodies for the croc to snack on. So the film is a combination of the slasher genre with a dose of ALLIGATOR (even though it predates that 1980 John Sayles film by several years). Crazy old Judd manages a broken down motel (called the Starlight Motel) in deep bayou country. It works out good for Judd because not a whole lot of people travel that deep into the woods and its rare for him to put up more than one visitor a night. Thus, there is no witnesses when it comes time for him to assault the guests, and throw them out back to that huge killer croc.

When Judd makes the mistake of killing a local prostitute, it leads her father Mr. Wood and his other daughter Libby (Cystin Sinclair) to the bayou to look for his missing daughter. Judd tells the father that he’s seen the girl at the local whorehouse. Mr. Wood and his daughter go to the police and ask Sheriff Martin (Whitman) to take them to the whorehouse so they can find out if she’s there. The Sheriff makes eyes at Wood’s daughter Libby, but takes them down to see Ms. Hattie, the madam of the local whore house. Ms. Hattie lies and says she's never seen the girl!

Meanwhile, crazy ol’ Judd is having himself a helluva time making life miserable for young mother, Faye (Burns) whom he ties to a bed so she can’t escape; and locks her screaming little daughter under the house where the poor kid is trapped with the rats and other creepy crawlers. Mr. Wood leaves his daughter in the care of Sheriff Martin and heads back to hotel, where he swiftly becomes croc-bait. Sheriff Martin and Libby grab some food at a nearby pub, where the Sheriff kicks out redneck punk, Buck (Englund). Buck and his stacked girl friend head to the Starlight Motel for some hanky panky, where Judd is terrorizing his patrons and cranks up the country music to drown out their screams! Buck finally wises up as to what’s going on, but ends up eyeball to eyeball with the monster crocodile. Libby comes back alone to the hotel unaware of what has been transpiring there. Will the Sheriff finally get a clue and head out to the motel?

Here are the violent highlights:

A father looking for his daughter gets a scythe to the throat.

A crocodile rips through the porch to get to a victim, and pulls him down into the swamp.

The crazed innkeeper strikes a prostitute several times with a multi-pronged pick-ax.

The crocodile chows down on a little girl’s dog.

The innkeeper pushes Robert Englund off of the porch to the waiting crocodile below.

EATEN ALIVE, although not a great movie, exceeds in a few key areas. The script makes no bones about Judd’s insanity (and his relation with the crocodile) right from the start. So there is no mystery surrounding the murders. So while there is no secret killer or motive, Hooper plays up this angle up for maximum suspense. I don’t know about you, but I dislike the idea of putting little kids in jeopardy in these films; it’s usually a cheap tactic to get you to despise the villain. But Hooper has this screaming little girl crawling around underneath this slimy house dodging alligators and rodents while being verbally terrorized by Judd. Again, the audience knows who the killer is but the victims don’t. So it plays with your nerves when the potential victims walk right into the psycho’s lair. The suspense also comes into play when Judd is about to be discovered several times. You think Judd will get his comeuppance, but he keeps on ticking until the end.

Besides the suspense, Hooper wraps up the story line with a lot of memorable visuals. The fog-shrouded bayou country makes for some atmospheric cinematography. The swirling fog combines with the wild lighting to create a very surreal effect. The effects are well done for a low budget film of the time, and the blood flows realistically throughout this well-paced film. The crocodile prop looks pretty convincing in most scenes, thanks to that shadowy fog and lighting I was telling you about. The B movie cast perform their roles remarkably well, especially Neville Brand who spends a lot of time talking crazily to himself like a madman. The film also has a lot of female nudity going for it.

So even though the movie has a lot to offer, is not without its plot inconsistencies. Especially when all throughout the film, everybody knows Judd has a pet croc. The police know, the madam Ms. Hattie knows, and they tell Mr. Wood, but non of them seem to think that having an African crocodile in your swamp is all that unusual. The film spends a lot of time exploring Judd’s behavior and activities, yet the script provides no reasons, references, clues, or even hints at why this guy is so unbalanced. I’ve seen a lot of incompetent law officers in movie before, but Sheriff Martin takes the cake. Stuart Whitman plays him like a macho police chief, but he’s more interested in getting into Libby’s pants than trying to get to the bottom of the disappearances. If there is an underlying pearl of wisdom or theme to a movie like this, it is definitely: "there’s never a cop around when you need one."

SIGHT

Elite presents EATEN ALIVE is it’s original aspect ratio of 1.85.1. Considering the age of this low budget film, Elite has done a decent job with the transfer. However, the transfer is not as good as recent Elite releases such as HORROR HOSPITAL and TOWER OF EVIL. Those DVD transfers were consistently good throughout with an occasional scratch or two. EATEN ALIVE looks great in most scenes, but appears murky in numerous scenes, and soft in other scenes. But this is not the fault of Elite’s mastering; it is the source prints which are the problem. Hooper got veteran cinematographer Robert (THE CREMATORS) Caramico to handle the visuals and he does a tremendous job with the weird lighting techniques and the swirling fog effects. The set design looks good in the transfer too, with lots of detail. Keep in mind that Hooper wanted the dark, foggy bayou to serve as the backdrop, so much of the murkiness and drab colors are intentional. They managed to photograph the little girl underneath Judd’s house and these scenes are great, and over flowing with fervent detail. The low budget effects scenes are few, but they are well done in the transfer and the blood appears convincing. The only other major problem I noticed is that the black level is off. Grain rears it’s head a few times, but not overly distracting. Overall, Elite did a commendable job with the authoring, and makes the cinematography that much more claustrophobic.

SOUND

Elite serves up a decent Dolby Digital Mono 2.0 soundtrack. The mono track has a good range and is not flat at all like most mono mixes. The highs are crisp and clear, and there is a good range of low-end sounds as well. There is no hiss, dropouts or distortion. The score, the sound effects, and the dialog are well synchronized and combined make for a good sound mix to support the visuals. Hooper does something unique and plays country music (because Judd has a radio in his hotel) over the stalking and attack scenes. Believe it or not, the country music makes a scary contrast to the onscreen mayhem. There is also some PSYCHO-esque sound effects (which sounds like distorted string instruments) played during some of Judd’s terrorizing scenes.

FEATURES

The only extra is the theatrical trailer. The trailer is widescreen (1.85.1), 2 channel mono and runs 2:11.

CONCLUSION

Don’t expect a TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE quality film here, but Hooper again proves he is (or was) a master of fear and suspense, with a definite ability to disturb an audience (and some studio execs). In this film he abandons the documentary style of TCM for a more surreal approach. Neville Brand is great as the mumbling psychotic Judd and gives a performance so over the top you won’t believe it. Hooper goes to great lengths to include a lot of atmosphere and tension along with his trademark mayhem. Elite does their usual bang-up job on this DVD with the only drawbacks being lack of extras and lack of 16x9 enhancement.

                                                 Rating (out of 5):