Delirious, surreal, and savage, Tobe Hooper's follow-up to his landmark debut ("Chainsaw" for those not in the know), is one of a kind while bearing the same signature stamp he left with his predecessor. A sheer unrelenting onslaught of pure madness, macabre and dark humor. Although not as entirely successful as Chainsaw, "Eaten Alive" is one messed up little drive in flick with good performances particularly by Brand as the psycho Inn keeper of "Starlight Hotel". Mumbling incoherently through most of his screen time and sputtering gibberish when audible, Neville Brand is eerily convincing. The beginning of this picture owes to Psycho in that you meet a character that you are led to believe is the (no pun intended) titular heroine but is quickly dispatched and we are left with the equally sleazy and\or oddball residents of the locale like ole' country boy Buck (Englund, who's a hoot) or that oddball couple who's dog gets chomped by the gator that lives in the swamp behind the hotel. It's that kind of movie folks so be aware what you're getting into. Creepy, oddball fun.
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megavenganceman14 June 2006
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Tikkin12 June 2006Eaten Alive is a truly bizarre film with an almost nightmarish quality to it. I can't say I particularly loved it, because the lack of lighting often makes it hard to see what is happening. Yet at the same time, the lack of lighting also adds to the murky atmosphere. The motel owners performance is slightly over the top and annoyed me a bit, although he does play his part very well. There are some tense and disturbing moments such as when he's chasing the two women, which are excellently done. However the claustrophobic feel of the film got a little boring in parts and made it slightly hard to follow.
Overall, if you like your horror films creepy and bizarre, then this is for you. It has a similar grainy feel to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, so if you loved that then this will be right up your street. -
A crazy homicidal man named Judd owns a shabby hotel in the Louisiana bayou and when he receives guests he goes out of his way to murder them and feed them to his pet crocodile. Some of these unexpected guests who face this horror that awaits them ranged from a reform hooker, an unfortunate family and the hooker's father and sister who are looking for the missing girl.
Tobe Hooper (director) and Kim Henkel (co-writer) the two who brought us one of the most powerful and groundbreaking horror films of all time "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" team up again for their next independent B-grade project: the crzay exploitation piece "Eaten Alive". The film's title has been renamed plenty of times by the distributors and also it's been labelled as Hooper's lost movie. It may lack the power, raw intensity and realism that made TCM so nerve wrecking, but this gruesome horror film doesn't hold back on the shocks and sleaze of the typical low-grade horror that filled the late seventies. There's a sheer amount of gore and flashes of nudity evident compared to his previous film. Though, it does come across as more of a comic book horror because of eccentric characters and outlandish setups. The absurd plot doesn't stand out as it's basically taken right off "Psycho" and doesn't make too much sense, but the look of the film is terrific and it's high on atmosphere. The cheap sets and swampy terrain with its blankets of fog and wildlife sounds capture such a horrifying and morbid awe and there are some rather uncomfortable scenes that are sick and twisted. It's filled with adrenaline packed scenes of graphic, if comical violence of crocodile munching and graceful blood splattering involving Judd's scythe. These thrilling sequences involve a chase through the swamp, girl under the house and a sudden burst to the climax that ends with a whirlwind of sheer chaos. Another element that stands out is the rusty colour scheme, which is rather murky and dull in tone because of the lighting. These under lit sets add to the disorientating and gritty feel. An eerie and high pitch music score is rather effective, as it really nags away and makes it quite unsettling. Frantic, edgy and encroaching camera-work is achieved to great effect. We get the usual sloppy and atrocious special effects that we see in cheap b-films and the massive rubber crocodile (looks real shoddy) is no exception.
The cast gives mostly amateur performances. Though, there are some fine performances by Robert England (Freddy Kruger fame) in one of his first big screen roles as a horny local stud called Buck and when on screen he shines. Neville Brand as the mumbling and wandering Judd delivers it brilliantly. He totally captures the mentality of this crazed character. There are a lot of scenes where we just listen to the creepy Judd ramble on in a husky tone and meandering around the shadows that fill run-down hotel listening to country music and most of these sequences feel like they're dragging the pace. Marilyn Burns who also starred in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" plays Faye the mother of the annoying family who checks in and spends most of her time being gagged and then finishes off by screaming her lungs off. Good support by Mel Ferrer and Crystin Sinclaire as the prostitute's father and sister and Stuart Whitman as Sheriff Martin. Roberta Collins and Janus Blythe also appear. The dialogue is rather bad and inane at times, but there's some added tongue-in-cheek humour.
It's definitely not in the same league of Hooper's previous effort "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Rather silly stuff, but amusing low-budget nastiness with good art direction and some sudden jolts of excitement. -
Infofreak4 January 2002Tobe Hooper's much maligned follow up to 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' isn't half as bad as it's detractors claim. While it certainly isn't as good as TCM, if viewed in the right frame of mind it's probably his second best flick. 'Death Trap' reminds me of Dario Argento's movies. Not in the subject matter, or directorial style, but in the sense that what you're seeing is a filmed nightmare, devoid of logic, but full of memorable over the top images. The sets are cheap and nasty, the acting varies from quite good to plain silly, the "plot" can basically be summed up as: people check into a seedy motel and get fed to a pet crocodile by its nutty owner, but you know what? It's still a hell of an entertaining trashy horror movie.
Neville Brand ('The Ninth Configuration') gives a gonzo, almost vintage Timothy Carey-like performance as psycho scythe wielding Judd, owner of the one place in town you really don't want to check in to. Horror legend Robert Englund appears as sodomy lovin' white trash local Buck. Also on board are scream queen Marilyn Burns ('TCM', 'Helter Skelter'), cult star Roberta Collins ('Death Race 2000'), the original Morticia (Carolyn Jones), the 'Phantom Of The Paradise' (William Finley), and veterans Mel Ferrer ('The Hands Of Orlac') and Stuart Whitman ('Crazy Mama'). All this and one of the most unconvincing looking killer crocodiles ever seen on screen!
Highly recommended. -
***SPOILERS***
Death Trap is a film horror film with a difference. It is possessed of a special evil power most films don't have - an evil power to ruin a perfectly good day, suck all the joy out of your heart and make you forget you'd actually been enjoying yourself, or maybe even forget the whole IDEA of joy.
I'd been having a good day when myself and a couple of friends sat down to watch one of the 2 shiny new movies I'd bought. The choice was Lucio Fulci's surreal zombie meltdown "the Beyond" or "Death Trap", Tobe Hoopers follow up to Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Being huge TCM fans we went for Death Trap, after all, Tobe Hoopers second film has to be worth watching right?
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG!
So very very wrong.
Death Trap is basically a cut price, hillbilly, Psycho rip off. At the start we meet a female character, who fleeing from trouble stays at a grotty hotel where the nutcase owner "shockingly" kills her. Except where Norman Bates was fixated on his mother, Judd has a pet crocodile. (and you'll never see the end coming, not in a MILLION YEARS!!!!....oh OK, the croc eats Judd)
Then some more people show up, including the worlds most annoying family, and a mildly amusing Robert Englund as a horny redneck. Most of them die, but not in any remotely interesting ways. Oh, and a pet dog gets eaten by the crocodile, possibly the highpoint of the film (unless you really want to watch the future Freddy doing "the nasty", in which case my advice is - seek professional help!)
The main problem here is the pacing (and the script, and a lot of the acting, and the unoriginality, but hey lets stick to the pacing). The film is desperately slow, and I can't believe it only runs the 87 minutes listed on the box. If so Death Trap must be possessed of another evil power - that same power doctors waiting rooms and tube station platforms have to make minutes seem like hours.
Pretty much everything Hooper did right with TCM, he messes up here. The film is ugly, lacking in real atmosphere, and just so damned slow! The fact that it's mostly filmed on one set, and in overlong takes often makes it feel more like a film of a really bad play than an actual movie, complete with horribly overwrought acting like the cast are playing to the folks at the back of the stalls.
Worse, there's no real tension - the only scene with any suspense has a child crawling under the hotel to escape the crocodile, and using a child in jeopardy to provoke a response from the audience is a pretty cheap shot.
Death Trap suffers the same problems as the 2004 Dawn of the Dead - it's not scary, or really horrible, or funny. It's just painfully boring, it killed the vibe of a perfectly good day, and made at least one of my friends fall asleep.
There are all sorts of conspiracy's to try and explain exactly how come this film is so bad (haven't these people seen Lifeforce???), like Hooper walked off/was sacked/the film was re-edited by the producer/the distributor/bigfoot/George W. but the plain truth is that this is an ill-conceived, poorly executed failure. You can see how Hooper was aiming for a similar effect to TCM (the psycho killer in the clammy southern setting, the sudden deaths and OTT performances), but this time it just doesn't work. Perhaps it's the stagebound production, but then perhaps it's just the crummy screenplay...
Afterwards, the only way to try to make the wasted 87 minutes seem worthwhile was to then lend the film to some TCM loving friends and inflict it on them too. They didn't rush to thank me. -
`The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (of course) and `Death Trap' (less obvious already) are the only two films Tobe Hooper should be really remembered for as a horror director. They both are raw and chilling explorations of the angry rural America. The location of this film looks like a giant swampy area, homed by underdeveloped perverted rednecks and other freaks of society. Neville Brand terrifically portrays Judd, the isolated owner of the Starlight Hotel. Judd suffers a bit from the incapability to communicate with people and the guests at his hotel are doomed to die as soon as they enter his facility. He also has a pet crocodile swimming underneath the porch of his hotel, which is a pretty convenient method to get rid of human leftovers… A poor, rejected prostitute is the first to undergo Judd's murderous rituals. Her relatives soon come to search for her and are doomed as well. In the meantime, the croc feeds on some more unfortunate by passers. Although I regard this as Hooper's second best film, it doesn't come close to the power of TCM…Which kind of gives you an idea of how great I think TCM was! The settings and photography of Horror Hotel (one of the film's a.k.a's) look nasty and utterly cheap. Just as it did in TCM, this actually increases the macabre atmosphere and you constantly feel something wicked is about to happen. The characters – although pretty imaginative – aren't as convincing as the Sawyer family but they too seem to come running straight out of a freakshow as well! There's Judd of course, but also a very memorable Robert Englund who plays a retarded yokel with an obsession for anal sex. The scream-queen prototype Marilyn Burns returns as well before disappearing into actress-oblivion forever. The crocodile as well as most other horror scenery looks really cheap, but to me, this only increases the trash-fun value of this film. Highly recommended viewing as far as I'm concerned.
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Speechless18 December 2000The reason this movie has twenty alternate titles is because Tobe Hooper and the film's distributors wanted to combat the terrible word-of-mouth that would inevitably arise once the film was shown to unsuspecting audiences. That's how bad this movie is--even its creators were ashamed of it.
Don't ask me what Tobe Hooper was thinking with this movie. One of these days I'll track him down and ask him about it. "Hey Tobe, why did you think we wanted to see a movie with Robert Englund as a sodomy-obsessed nutcase and a filty, rundown hotel with an obvious psychopath for a proprietor and a random, fake-looking alligator?" Maybe Hooper was drunk on the success of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Maybe he was just drunk. I don't know. But this seriously has to be one of the worst, most unbearable films of all time.
In TCM you could sorta believe what was going on. Here we have what is probably the worst, least inviting hotel on the planet, but somehow people keep showing up and checking in. Are you people crazy? Just freakin' LOOK at that place! And look at the crazy guy with a scythe who runs it! And look at the giant alligator in the diseased swamp out front! Gee, honey, this place looks nice...
For some reason the sky is red throughout almost the entire film. Is it supposed to be on Mars? -
BaronBl00d31 December 1998Well, if you saw The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and were impressed with director Tobe Hooper, your next move might be to view his second film Eaten Alive. I searched all over for a print and finally was lucky enough to find one and see this somewhat forgotten picture. One reason for its seemingly firm place in the ranks of oblivion is its numerous title changes. Notwithstanding all this I found the film and watched it. The film is interesting, bizarre, unbelievable, and disturbing. The setting is just a trifle too unimaginative to be taken for real as is the central character of Judd (for the most part deftly played by Neville Brand). The plot too seems to be making its viewers accept too much for granted without really giving any knowledge of why Judd is the way he is, etc... Despite these shortcomings, the film has some of the truly most horrific scenes filmed. The scene in which Judd tries in vain to goad a young girl from under his hotel out is sheer terror. Other scenes in which he dispatches some of the hotel guests are equally effective. The film has a lot more going for it than its oblivious nature would suggest. It has fine performances, an eerier setting and score, and the taught, tuned terror Tobe Hooper realized in his first great film.
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Wuchakk18 November 2019The crazy dirtbag manager of a rundown hotel in east Texas (Neville Brand) threatens his clients if they upset him and feeds them to his pet croc. The cast includes notables like Mel Ferrer, Stuart Whitman, Carolyn Jones and a young Robert Englund.
Despite the presence of the croc, "Eaten Alive" (1976) is more of a slasher flick than crocogator horror (the croc is strictly peripheral, not to mention unconvincing). This was Tobe Hooper's follow-up to his unexpected hit "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974) wherein he borrows the plot of "Psycho" (1960). Unfortunately, he spectacularly fumbles the ball.
The surreal style, sets and cast are all good, but there's a lack of confidence in the execution: The flick's full of nonsensical actions, meanderings and padding. Hooper tried to make up for it by exploiting the women with lots of raunch & nudity, but "Chainsaw Massacre" proved that a slasher didn't need this to be effective.
Janus Blythe stands out in the feminine department as Lynette, as does Roberta Collins as Clara. Marilyn Burns (Faye) and Crystin Sinclaire (Libby) are also noteworthy.
Thankfully, Hooper moved on to much better productions, like "Salem's Lot" (1979), "The Funhouse" (1981) and "Crocodile" (2000).
The film runs 1 hour, 31 minutes, and was shot at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, CA.
GRADE: C-/D+ -
Nightman8526 January 2006Toby Hooper's follow up to his classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) was this atmospherically bizarre horror oddity.
Deep in the swamps, a crazed hotel owner is keeping a monster crocodile in his yard and occasionally feeding offensive people to it!
As with Texas Chainsaw Hooper gives this film lots of spooky atmosphere, but he really puts it into over-drive with Eaten Alive. The story is a bit disturbing and far more gruesome than Texas Chainsaw. The characters that parade through this film range from back-woods yokels to warped weirdos! Hooper gives the whole movie a kind of garish and bleak style that adds all the more to its off-beat weirdness.
The cast is good, Neville Brand makes for an especially convincing madman. Horror fans will see lots of familiar faces in the cast - Marilyn Burns (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), William Finley (Sisters), Robert Englund (Elm Street movies), Janus Blythe (The Hills Have Eyes), and young Kyle Richards (Halloween).
While Eaten Alive doesn't reach the nightmarish heights of some of Hoopers other films, it is a good B horror picture. For those looking for a twisted horror film it will more than suffice!
*** out of **** -
Tobe Hooper's cheapo follow-up to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is more like a grindhouse sleaze flick than a proper horror film, featuring as it does tons of gratuitous nudity, sleazy and grim characters. Hooper's greatest flaw is squandering the not inconsiderable talents of a game exploitation cast – featuring no less than six genre talents and one proper "star" – on what is a very boring and very derivative psycho-killer flick which very obviously models itself on PSYCHO. Filmed on the cheap, on pretty much a single set, this doesn't have a lot to recommend it, featuring as it does the looney Judd who feeds the guests at his hotel to a fake-looking crocodile in the lake underneath it (!). Unlike Texas, Hooper is happy to let the blood run free here, showcasing a series of graphic murders as Judd dispatches various unfortunate folk with his wicked-looking scythe.
Although the run-time is comparatively short, there is tons of needless padding, including a game of pool in the local bar which serves no purpose whatsoever, lots of pretty young girls stripping off and bathing/going to bed and most annoyingly, tons of scenes of Judd wandering around muttering to himself. Brand is ugly and haggard as the psycho, very convincing but his wild cackling does get a bit much after a while and the all-too-obvious twist at the end doesn't come soon enough.
Marilyn Burns returns from Texas and goes through the gruelling scream queen ritual again, getting beaten, humiliated, bloodied, and tied to the bed for most of the movie. Still, from what I see I do think she's a good actress and certainly an attractive one. Not, however, as attractive as Morticia from the devilishly good '60s TV series THE ADDAMS FAMILY, and guest-starring here is Carolyn Jones, who played Morticia. Sadly, Jones has aged incredibly, and being only in her late '40s she is unrecognisable from the Gothic glamour queen she once played; in fact it is very sad seeing her like this (surely her given date of birth – 1929 – must be incorrect). Thankfully she is on the screen for only a short time.
Stuart Whitman and Mel Ferrer, a couple of old-timers fallen on hard times, play the sheriff and a dying father respectively. Whitman has little more to do than look macho with a badge, but Ferrer has a briefer yet meatier role and I always get a kick out of seeing him on film. Also on hand is the kooky William Finley from PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE; although he makes up the numbers as a victim, he's also a bit of a psycho himself and starts barking like a dog in one scene! Strangely enough the film's most memorable character is that of the supporting perv Buck, as played by future Freddy Krueger Robert Englund. Englund is certainly the best thing in the film, playing one of the dumbest, sleaziest dirtbags I've ever seen, and it doesn't surprise me that he went on to stardom as a child-molesting zombie killer on the strength of his performance here. All in all a quirky movie, but also a boring one that doesn't stand up to repeat viewing. -
Captain_Couth1 October 2003Eaten Alive (1977) is one of the most overlooked and under-appreciated films. Maybe the critics and fans were disenchanted with it because they were probably expecting a film in the vein of first film Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE. In many retrospects the films are similar. They both feature dying, old ways of life (privately owned slaughter houses, roadside motels with sideshow exhibits). The film's main character is Judd, the proprietor of the Starlight Hotel and Zoo. Judd is a crazed war vet with broken dreams who's haunted by ghosts from the past. Neville Brand portrays Judd with such an eerie, uncanny flair (his experiences as a decorated WWII vet gives his role an aura of authenticity). A true slice of dying Americana as only Tobe Hooper can tell.
The support players are William Finley, Marylin Burns, Stuart Whitman, Mel Ferrer, Robert Englund and an unrecognizable Carolyn Jones (TV's Morticia
Addams). This film has been restored for DVD by Elite. Beware of the cheaper DVDs because they are truly ghastly.
Strongly recommended -
In Tobe Hooper's follow-up to THE Texas CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, Neville Brand is totally out of control! I could not believe my eyes seeing his twitching, nervous, maniacal, laughing psycho performance! He seems to be on some kind of high-powered drug from outer space! Thankfully, his acting is perfectly welcome in this film, where almost every bizarre character seems to be up to something devious.
Neville runs a secluded Louisiana hotel on the Bayou where various people show up. He kills them off (with a scythe, pitchfork, etc.) and feeds their dead bodies to his pet crocodile. Marilyn Burns, William Finley and their daughter eventually show up in disguise and are tormented by Brand. Family members and cops show up to search for missing prostitute Roberta Collins and become victims, too.
Brand hacks them up while hopping around uncontrollably and laughing with glee. Totally creepy. So is Wayne Bell's music score, which is similar to the one he did for TCM. Good make-up, lots of surprises, Hooper's direction and Brand give this film an edge over it's competition. -
Zeegrade3 August 2009Before M. Night Shamaylan started making horribly inadequate movies after the superior "Sixth Sense" Tobe Hooper twenty years earlier was following up his cult masterpiece "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" with the dull and moronic "Eaten Alive". Neville Brand is Judd a mentally unstable owner of one of the most uninviting hotels on Earth. Why anyone of sound mind would want to stay here is beyond me. The soundstage it was filmed on doesn't help with its constant red horizon surrounding the place. None the less wary travelers attempt to brave the night there and are treated to being either skewered with a scythe, witch is a very inefficient murder weapon of choice personally, fed to Judd's pet crocodile or, just for the ladies, beaten and tied up. Why Judd does all this is never addressed as it seems everyone with a pulse draws his ire. I would assume that some of his guests had to live beforehand otherwise he wouldn't be in business very long. It is impossible to watch this without comparing this to Texas Chainsaw Massacre and realizing how woefully inept this is as a follow-up film. The scary thing about Leatherface is the fact that you can tell that this grotesque lifestyle is all he knows and will ever know. Judd comes off as a cranky old man very much in need of a nap. The cast is forgettable as Mel Ferrer stars in his first of two movies titled "Eaten Alive" and Robert Englund makes his film debut as Buck who like to fu......fornicate. I've had scarier nights at a Holiday Inn.
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Michael_Pilkington17 June 2004A crazed proprietor (Neville Brand) runs a motel located in the swampy Louisiana bayou where he keeps a pet crocodile in front of the place. For some reason, he murders unsuspecting guests with a scythe and feeds them to the always-hungry animal.
Tobe Hooper's follow-up to his cult hit "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is surprisingly disappointing, lacking suspense and atmosphere that worked in the last film. In addition, the film suffers from poor script, inept pacing and unconvincing characters. Robert (Freddy Krueger) Englund's offbeat performance as a sex-crazed hillbilly with his opening memorable line ("My name is Buck and I'm ready to f---!") is the film's only asset, but it's not enough to overcome these faults. Marilyn Burns ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre") also stars a hapless victim (again).
Also known as "Horror Hotel," "Horror Hotel Massacre," and "Death Trap."
My evaluation: *½ out of **** -
lastliberal23 October 2008This video nastie is not Robert Englund's first film, but it is close. He is a young buck, named Buck, that jumps on anything he can.
It is director Tobe Hooper's third film, done right after Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He gives us something weird, yet compelling. It was initially banned in Britain, where it went under the name Death Trap (there are a lot of other names). It was released there in 2000 with no cuts.
I imagine they initially objected to the death of Snoopy. It was painful for me to watch also, Funny how you can watch a crocodile/alligator chomp down on a human, but to see a cute little dog in it's jaws can be disturbing.
Neville Brand was Judd, the owner of the Starlight Motel. I really never could figure out his problem. He just went around babbling all the time, making absolutely no sense, and throwing people to the croc.
Oscar-nominee Stuart Whitman was the sheriff; and William Finley, who we will see again in Hooper's Funhouse, was a strange man that was given to delusions and barking.
Fortunately, all those who gave us a view of their chest treasures managed to avoid the croc. Too bad for Snoopy, but I was thankful for that. -
hu67530 August 2005A Psychopath (Neville Brand), who has a crocodile living in the front yard of his motel. This Psychopath is been feeding his pet crocodile to the periodically guest, who upset this Psychopath. Especially when they are upset of the management of his bayou hotel.
Directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1 & 2, Poltergeist, Salem's Lot) made a truly garishly stylized, unrelentingly bizarre film. Brand's interesting performance keeps this extremely flawed film worth watching. Also the film has a good cast like:Mel Ferrer, Carolyn Jones, Marilyn Burns, William Finley, Staurt Whitman, Janus Blythe, Kyle Richards and a young Robert Englund. Which Englund has the film's best line in the opening scene. It is worth a look, if you are a fan of Hooper's work or the love of strange cinema. (***/*****). -
Celluloid_Fiend16 October 2019As a bit of a horror film buff, I'm always looking to check out some of the older b-movie horrors of the past, both to learn more about what makes for a good scare, as well as to get interesting insights into exactly how and why those things have changed over the decades. And I can safely say that "Eaten Alive" provided none of that for me.
This is the third film from Director Tobe Hooper (known mainly for his cult classic "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"). Once again, the film revolves around a mentally disturbed person, living within the southern part of the United States. This time around, the story is about a deranged inn keeper who, for reasons never explained, keeps killing the guests who come to his motel and feeding them to the large crocodile in the swamp next to it.
Those who are familiar with Hooper's style, will see a lot of similarities between this film and his most famous work, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre", which was the film he made directly preceding this one. It is filled with the kind of strange and oddball cinematography, with weird neon lighting and close-up focusing shots on weird images throughout. But unlike the previous work, it doesn't really gel here. What once might have been directorial excess, is simply pointless and unintelligible nonsense. It is obvious he's trying to set an eerie and creepy atmosphere, but it is just so poorly crafted and lacking in any sense of commonality, that what is meant to feel bizarre and surreal, feels completely unbelievable instead. The script for this must have been about one page long, as that is how bad the plot and storytelling here is.
The acting is, also, very much below par, even by low budget horror film standards. It is shown that the inn keeper (played by Neville Brand) is out-of-his-mind, but we never come to understand why or what it is the guests do that sets him off. This lack of context makes it almost impossible to be scared by his crazy (re)actions and leaves you more inclined to scratch your head in puzzlement, than to feel any sense of dread or menace. None of the other characters really gets enough development for you to care about them, save that of Buck (played by a then unknown Robert Englund). His performance is the only one to have any real resonance at all and even that isn't very much.
Perhaps Hooper thought he could capture lightning in a bottle for a second time, like he did with "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" a couple years earlier (even going so far as to bring back Marilyn Burns to play the part of a victim once more). But as this film shows, it isn't something you can force or easily recreate. As a result, "Eaten Alive" never really comes to life or finds it's own voice (a point only belabored, by the fact this film has been renamed many different times). It just stagnates and meanders, providing no real thrills, scares, or even the macabre tone of TCM. If you are a Hooper completist, you might derive some kind of enjoyment or interest from this outing. Otherwise, you are best just to skip on this uninteresting and plot less bomb. The reason this film is highly overlooked, isn't because it was ahead of it's time. It is because efforts this poor are better off being forgotten. -
Toronto8518 December 2012A 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 -
Snake-6661 February 2004‘Eaten Alive' is known as ‘Death Trap' in the United Kingdom and thus I shall be using this alternate title in reference to the film.
Judd (Neville Brand), a deranged southern psychopath, runs the Starlight Hotel and even keeps a pet crocodile in the swamp next to it. The guests of this hotel soon learn about Judd's eccentricities and discover (to their own dismay) that the crocodile will eat just about anything.
Tobe Hooper's follow up to the immensely successful ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' (1974) is a slow and dull failure of a movie lacking all the charm and intrigue that TCM possessed. Whereas TCM was a near-perfect exercise in psychological terror, ‘Death Trap' is here to provide all the `goodies' (gore) that TCM, despite its title, only ever implied. Instead, we are left with an often unintentionally hilarious and downright feeble horror outing from a director who, in my opinion, lives off the reputation he has garnered for just a couple of films. This film is certainly not one of them. Accomplished stars of the big screen are paraded across the film in short roles in a desperate attempt to give ‘Death Trap' some sort of cinematic credibility, most notably Neville Brand in the leading role and previous Oscar-Nominee Stuart Whitman (The Mark (1961)) as the Sheriff. There is also an appearance from a pre-‘Nightmare on Elm Street' Robert Englund in the role of Buck. Incidentally, the character of Buck is one of the few highlights in this otherwise abysmal movie. If anything, one cannot really complain about the performances from the main cast even if half of Neville Brand's dialogue was completely incoherent.
The story itself is basic. People show up at the hotel, get dispatched for one reason or another and then along come the next group of people. While horror (particularly during this time period) is not predominantly famed for any sort of intricate storyline, for a film such as this to work requires an adequate building of tension/suspense and a lot to happen. Unfortunately, ‘Death Trap' fails on both counts. There is so little that happens in this movie that it becomes nigh on impossible to actually remain interested and although the `money shots' are in general worth watching, the rest of the film falls flat on its face. Sadly, attempts to build up tension fail as well due to the overly predictable nature of the work and the long, drawn out process in which suspense is attempted. Tobe Hooper is certainly no Alfred Hitchcock and this is certainly no ‘Psycho' (1960).
Fans of ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' are better skipping over this one as this is a shadow of the ability shown by director Tobe Hooper. In fact, one should probably skip over a few and go straight to ‘The Funhouse' (1981) (which is a masterpiece compared to ‘Death Trap') or the Spielberg/Hooper co-production of ‘Poltergeist' (1982). ‘Death Trap' unfortunately had some potential but failed to deliver on virtually every opportunity. To sum up, ‘Death Trap' is a distinctly slow and dull production that could not really be saved by a couple of good scenes and some credible acting performances. My rating for ‘Death Trap' – 4/10. -
gavin694218 August 2011A psychotic redneck (Neville Brand) who owns a dilapidated hotel in the backwater swamps of Louisiana kills various people who upset him or his business, and he feeds their bodies to a large crocodile that he keeps as a pet in the swamp beside his hotel.
This film is very loosely based on the story of 1930s serial killer Joe Ball from Elmendorf, Texas. He owned a bar with an alligator pit serving as an entertainment attraction. Several murders of women ensued, and flesh was later found in the pit.
According to makeup artist Craig Reardon, cinematographer Robert Caramico directed several scenes due to creative differences between Tobe Hooper and the films' producers. I would love to have this confirmed by anyone else associated with the film. Hooper mixes sex and violence like few others and for that reason I would still have to say this is ultimately his vision... but this is not the only film where Hooper's direction came under question (Poltergeist).
The cast is excellent, with Mel Ferrer, Robert Englund as an anal rapist, and Hooper veteran Marilyn Burns. Englund's line, "Name's Buck..." became inspiration for Tarantino's "Kill Bill"... William Finley ("Phantom of the Paradise") is here. And Kyle Richards ("Halloween"). And, of course, we have World War II hero Neville Brand...
Roberta Collins plays a good lead, and she proudly acknowledges this is the only horror film she had done (apparently not counting "Saturday the 14th"). Despite being in some other cult films (like "The Big Birdcage" with Pam Grier and "Death Race 2000"), she may not be well-known to horror fans, which is a shame. Take in her performance and her very odd character, as she is sadly no longer with us.
Sure, this movie has cheesy alligator effects, and the sets look like the Third World, but everything is still somehow effective and it is an enjoyable flick for horror buffs. If you are a fan of Hooper and have not seen this one, see it. You just cannot top the classics. I recommend picking up the Dark Sky version. While the film is still gritty, they did a fine job of cleaning it up -- other companies have put an almost unwatchable VHS transfer on DVD. -
Scars_Remain3 March 2008I always thought that Tobe Hooper got lucky with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and never did anything great after that, with the exception of Poltergeist though, most people would argue that Spielberg was the true director of that one. This movie isn't up there with those two but it still is a great entry from Hooper. I was genuinely creeped out at times and i really enjoyed it the whole way through.
This is Robert Englund's first horror picture and he does a great job. The other actors were good with a couple exceptions. The story was good, and I really like the idea of it. The direction is also good but some of the editing seems a little iffy. All in all, I think this deserves to go down in horror history.
Check this one out if you're a horror/exploitation fan and you shouldn't be disappointed. It took me by surprise. -
BA_Harrison29 August 2006Crazy old Judd (Neville Brand) is the owner of a run down hotel on the edge of a swamp that is home to a massive crocodile. The old coot, a few sandwiches short of a picnic, thinks nothing of feeding his guests to the old croc, after hacking them to death with his huge scythe.
Eaten Alive, Tobe Hooper's follow up to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was co written by Chainsaw collaborator Kim Henkel, and stars Marilyn Burns, the damsel-in-distress from the '74 horror classic. It even features a scene in which a young woman is chased through the woods by a maniac wielding a large cutting tool. However, this movie fails to capture the intense feeling of terror that Hooper delivered so well with his incredible debut; only in the closing moments of Eaten Alive does he manage anything close to the absolute horror of his first and finest film.
Before that, we get a rather dreary hour and a half of loopy old Judd muttering to himself and occasionally offing the odd guest—tipping them into the water for his scaly friend to devour. The realism of Chainsaw is gone, replaced by an almost cartoonish atmosphere; the characters are mostly freakish caricatures, there is a smattering of gore, everything is swathed in garish primary-coloured light, and the old croc is as bad as one might expect from a low budget horror.
Tobe also finds time to throw a few fit birds into the mix, and two of them obligingly flip their norks out (and very fine they are too).
Eaten Alive is enjoyable on a trashy level, and if this had been directed by anyone other than the director of possibly the finest horror movie of all time, I wouldn't have felt quite so disappointed; but as a follow up to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Eaten Alive just didn't impress me enough. -
mrush19 April 2008Boy what a mess this movie was.Tobe Hooper's follow up to the great "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is just plain bad.The more Hooper films I see the more I'm convinced he just lucked out with "TCM" cause everything else I've seen by him pretty much blows chunks.
A crazy motel owner living in the backwoods on the edge of a swamp keeps his pet gator happy,which he claims is a croc for some reason, by a continuous supply of fresh meat.This motel owner runs around waving what I took to be a wheat hook,or whatever you call one of those things that Death is always seen carrying.The crazy hotel owner, called Judd ,just can't compare to the sinister chainsaw waving Leatherface and that may be the problem----everything Hooper ever does will be compared to "TCM".
But with this picture comparison to "TCM" isn't the big problem.The big problem is this picture sucks even if you didn't know anything about Hooper and "TCM".The script is just horrible.I was trying to figure out what a couple who had stopped by the hotel were talking about after they got to their room and I never could catch on to it.It was like they were talking in code---a sentence never connected to the one before or after it.Maybe Hooper was trying to create an eerie disjointed feel but most of the script was just nonsensical ramblings from Judd or some of the other characters.And Hooper didn't seem to know what to do with Judd a lot of the time.....he just sort of ambled around the lobby of the motel and dusted while people upstairs and outside were screaming and yelling.
The soundtrack,if you can call it that,was the radio in the motel lobby that stayed on during the entire movie...it played generic sounding country music that was probably made up for the picture so no royalties would have to be paid.The result was a steady stream of boring droning stereotypical country songs about cowboys and lost loves by people who couldn't really sing if their life depended on it.For me ,as a music lover, this generic lazy-ass approach to something so constantly used in the film was almost the worst thing about this movie.
But the special effects were bad too.The croc was a big plastic looking piece of junk mostly hid by bad lighting and black swamp water.The whole pic was cursed by bad lighting and grainy looking film,those things gave "TCM" some of it's aura,here they were just cheapo looking and annoying.The whole set itself looked worse than the fake island sets used on "Gilligan's Island".But this little junky run down motel setting out in the swamp was a busy place nonetheless just like "Gilligan's Island" was.You'd think this place was in downtown New York by the amount of people passing through.
The only redeeming thing about this pic was a couple of topless chicks we get to see near the end of this mess.I guess by then Hooper had realized that the crappy mess he had so far was a stinker and his last ditch effort to save this disaster was some boobage.
Didn't work,the bad lighting mostly ruined those too (or four), i should say.