EATEN ALIVE - DVD review

Tobe Hooper is best known for his horror classic, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." That film helped define the slasher sub-genre. "Massacre" is one of the most classic horror films to ever grace the screen. It was extremely low budget and cheaply made. Its low quality look worked well for the film and today, the film still has countless followers and for many, it still packs quite a scare. "Eaten Alive" was the second attempt by Hooper. It was received poorly by critics and fans and did not come close to delivering the impact that "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" did. The film was released numerous times, under different names. It was known as "Brutes And Savages," "Death Trap," "Horror Hotel," "Horror Hotel Massacre," "Legend Of The Bayou," "Murder In The Bayou" and "Starlight Slaughter." For years the film disappeared and is just now resurfacing with this Elite Entertainment DVD.

"Eaten Alive" (though I prefer "Horror Hotel") is your typical low budget horror film. It throws a couple scares between scenes of gratuitous nudity and Cheese-Whiz inspired performances. "Eaten Alive" may be the landmark film to begin the rule of horror films that those who partake in coitus are destined for doom. A good part of the driving force for the killer is that those who have sex meet their maker, or an overgrown rubber alligator. This precedent has been followed over the years and was only recently pointed out in the "Scream" trilogy. Back to the sex, this film is full of gratuitous breast shots. A few of them are very entertaining. The acting is truly cheesy and of note is the early performance by horror legend Robert Englund (Freddy Kreuger, himself).

This film may not be as powerful as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," but to the groaning of many readers, I found "Eaten Alive" to be more entertaining. The smoky bayou scenery and run-down motel were wonderful sets that did well to show the tone of the film to the viewer. The film looks eerie and feels as well thanks to the marvelous sets and camerawork. There are a lot of visual similarities between the two films, but this one looks years better. The rubber alligator is a poor effect and has the pearliest white teeth of any reptile I have ever seen. The gore is far from realistic and a couple of the effect shots are as realistic as modern professional wrestling. Still, this all helps give the film a true B-grade horror movie feel.

The killer of this film, Judd (Neville Brand) owns a local motel. Many guests stop by and spend the night (or part of the night) and sometimes, an occasional prostitute from the local whorehouse is ousted and must visit the Starlight Motel as well. Judd has a problem with sex and is portrayed well by Brand, though he is sometimes hard to understand. A local boy, Buck (Englund) loves to harass Brand and stops by to use the Motel for his sexual escapades. Whenever a guest steps out of line or engages in sexual activity, Brand either chops them up or feeds them whole to the alligator that lives in the bayou in the front of his motel. Judd doesn't even mind throwing in the occasional pet dog to his gator. The killing is just as formulaic as "Massacre" and no reason is ever given to the viewers as to the motive for Judd's killing. He is as twisted and mysterious as the cannibal family in "Massacre."

The film is considered the "Lost Tobe Hooper Film." For many viewers it should probably be kept lost. It is not a follow up that would have been expected from the man responsible for "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." It really is not a fright filled film, but it does rate high on the cheese factor. The film is not the classic that "Evil Dead 2" is, but it falls in a similar category. Fans who enjoy this type of film will truly enjoy "Eaten Alive." The packaging says that this film is one of the most disturbing films ever made. I have to disagree with that statement, but it does contain enough content to rattle those who sleep with the hall light on.

Video :
The previous DVD release of "Eaten Alive" was a badly cropped version that supposedly made a VHS cassette look cutting edge. Elite has taken the time to restore "Eaten Alive" in its original widescreen presentation of 1.85:1. The transfer is not anamorphic. It is also inconsistent. Most of the film does look pretty good, but there are moments when tears and other flaws in the source materials can be found. Some scenes are sharp and clear and others resemble what that VHS cassette is capable of. Colors are generally very good and well saturated. There are some moments when things could be better, but this is an older film and for its age, it looks damn good. Film grain is a constant problem, but my guess is the original film stock was 16mm.

As mentioned, the scenery and sets of "Eaten Alive" are nicely done. The DVD does bring them to life and the quality is much better than VCR quality for the most part. The costumes are nicely done as well, when they are wearing costumes. From watching the film, it can be guessed that Tobe Hooper did not have much of a budget, but it seems that he did a great job with what dollars he had to spend. Without a full-blown, Criterion quality restoration, this is probably as good as it gets for "Eaten Alive," and it is certainly better than others would have done.

Audio :
The quickest way to tell that this film is around twenty-five years old is to close your eyes and listen. The film is mastered in glorious Dolby Digital 1.0 mono. Simply put, sound will come out of the center channel and nowhere else. The soundtrack is mastered a bit low and requires some additional volume to be clear. The soundtrack is never completely clear, as Neville Brand is hard to understand with his psychotic-cajun speech. The soundtrack lacks any depth of bass and the highs sound harsh and somewhat distorted. The sound is clean of any major faults, it just does not do anything to impress. The film is, and does sound… old.

Extras :
As mentioned, Elite is capable of doing some wonderful special editions. Tobe Hooper has done work before on special editions, as seen by Pioneer's very nice "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" disc. Special editions always help Eaten Alive and other genre pieces. Unfortunately, Elite has chosen to remaster the film in widescreen and present it with only a theatrical trailer. I personally found the trailer funny, especially when suggesting this film was the cinematic successor to "Jaws." The menus are decently done and they have taken care to master the disc. There are just no supplements.

Summary :
My experiences with Elite Entertainment have always been excellent. The first disc I purchased from them was the excellent "A Nightmare On Elm Street" LaserDisc. Even after purchasing the New Line box set of "Elm Street" films, I still own that Laser. The DVDs I have purchased are their nicely done "Night of the Living Dead," "The Evil Dead" and "Re-Animator" discs. All discs are chocked full of content. Elite does more than just groovy special editions; they bring horror classics back to life in movie-only form. "Eaten Alive," "Horror Hospital" and "Tower of Evil" is a group of films I have received to review.

Elite has done a good job packaging "Eaten Alive" and from my knowledge, this is the second DVD released of the title. It is the superior of the two I know exist and the only widescreen transfer in existence. The first disc was released by Digital Video Disc Limited. The film runs for around an hour and a half and the film is broken down into ten chapters. The chapters are listed on the rear of the keepcase and there is no insert to be found.

"Eaten Alive" was the first part of my Elite Entertainment film festival. I have watched "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" a couple of times and even though I find the film to be a comedy, I do admire the filmmaking. I expected similar craft with "Eaten Alive" and for the most part, I was not disappointed. It was clear that both films came from the same stable, and though "Massacre" is easily the more classic piece in my collection, "Eaten Alive" may be the more entertaining film. I do not feel that this film has the capability to scare the viewer, but there is one scene that did cause me to jump a bit. Of course, if I had watched the trailer, that scene would have been spoiled. The film looks pretty good and is full of enough breast shots and cheesy moments to keep me interested.

Elite has done a commendable job with the disc. The source materials that were used to master the DVD were very apparently old and in need of restoration. The disc looks above average for a film of the social standing and age of "Eaten Alive." More supplements could have been included, especially a Tobe Hooper and Robert Englund commentary. The country music and shrieking original score can get a bit annoying after a while. The acting was entertaining. There is not much fault to be found, except to say the story and effects are just a notch or two below what an above average film would have. There is much worse and there is much better.