Virgo International Pictures AC/AL/N 1977 91m ENGLISH RP/SV CAST: Neville Brand, Mel Ferrer, Carolyn Jones, Marilyn Burns, WIlliam Finley, Stuart Whitman, Roberta Collins, Robert Englund, Crystin Sinclaire & Janus Blythe CREDITS: Director: Tobe Hooper; Screenwriters: Kim Henkel/Alvin L. Fast/Mardi Rustam; Producer: Mardi Rustam; Director of Photography: Robert Caramico; Production Designer: Marshall Reed; Editor: Michael Brown; Music: Wayne Bell/Tobe Hooper THE SYNOPSIS Old Judd (Brand) is a seedy, cantankerous geezer who runs the dilapidated Starlight Motel deep in the Louisiana Bayou. He also happens to keep a big crocodile in a pond next to the hotel. You see, Judd has a continual bad habit of stabbing clients with a large, pointy scythe and then throwing them into the pond next door—where his large pet can enjoy a nice meal of Terrified Patron (au jus, of course). Anyway, nice girl Clara (Collins) is thrown out of the local bordello for not putting out by mean Miss Hattie (Jones) and—lo and behold—ends up at the Starlight Motel. Judd kills her and serves her up as crocbait. Later that evening, her father Mr. Wood (Ferrer) and sister Libby (Sinclaire) show up looking for Clara. They go to see hick Sheriff Martin (Whitman) for answers. Meanwhile, a dysfunctional family stops at the motel to use the restroom, and their cute little dog is eaten. So long, Scraps! The father, Roy (Finley), gets his rifle and goes to kill the croc when Judd stabs him with a huge sickle. He ties the mother, Faye (Burns) up in a room and goes to kill their little daughter Angie (Richards)—but she's craftier than all of the adults and hides under the motel. Mr. Wood returns to the motel, and he gets iced. The town stud, Buck (Englund), shows up with townie Lynette (Blythe), all ready for some booty time. No such luck for Buck, as he is eaten as well. Luckily, a frantic Lynette manages to escape. The Sheriff drops Libby off--who immediately discovers that Faye is all tied up. She frees her, they save the kid and both women push old Judd into the pond, where his ingrate pet subsequently eats him. THE CRITIQUE Following the success of his 1974 horror-piece The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, director Tobe Hooper turned his sights away from Texas and down to the Louisiana Bayou for his bizarro schlock-a-thon classic EATEN ALIVE (aka various other titles like Horror Hotel, Death Trap, Murder On The Bayou and Starlight Saughter around the world). The rehashed screenplay (co-written by fellow "Chainsaw" scribe Kim Henkel) concerning the misdeeds at a remote, dilapidated motel run by a homicidal kook has some serious allusions to that other motel-massacre movie, Psycho (1960). However, in that masterpiece, the horror is more suspenseful and precise—whereas here, it feels sleazy, lazy and pedestrian. It was loosely based on some real murders committed down in Texas back in the 1930s, by WWI veteran, bootlegger and shady saloon proprietor Joe Ball—who liked to murder his victims by feeding them to his pond full of alligators. Feel free to read about this charmer over here. I certainly cannot say that EATEN ALIVE is a genre masterpiece. I cannot even (in good conscience) declare this one a decent one either. It is just so bad that the B-movie propels itself into the stratosphere of sleazy cult cinema and subsequently blossoms into a visual paean of Midnight Moviedom. At least the cast is game… The old-timer Judd is histrionically portrayed by the late Neville Brand, who was best known as Al Capone on TV's "The Untouchables." Though you wouldn’t know it from his eerie, seedy and quite over-the-top performance as the homicidal innkeeper, Brand was (in real life) a highly-decorated WWII hero—but was so modest, that he downplayed his heroic achievements in battle throughout the rest of his life. I guess that having fine character actors like Mel Ferrer (resembling a more dashing version of the late, great sepulchral actor John Carradine), heavy side-burned Stuart Whitman and the late Carolyn Jones (forever remembered as Morticia Addams on TV’s The Addams Family) on board glosses up the production a wee bit. Marilyn Burns, the only survivor from TCM, stars in Hooper’s follow-up, as does a young Robert Englund...yes, the future Freddy Krueger. Englund (a classically-trained actor) practically steals the movie—utilizing his cocksure swagger and redneck ethos to full hilt. In fact, his character has the first & best line in the movie (“My name is Buck and I’m here to f…”)—so good in fact, that years later, Quentin Tarantino reuses it in one of his own movies, Kill Bill, Vol. I (2003). Other genre actors here include Brian De Palma regular William Finley (The Black Dahlia/Phantom Of The Paradise), Robert Collins (Death Race 2000), Janus Blythe (1977’s The Hills Have Eyes) and Kyle Richards (young Lindsay Wallace in Halloween & Halloween II). And the hungry, hungry crocodile? Alas, it was only a mechanical facsimile created by the legendary Bob Mattey—better known as the builder and spiritual father of the gigantic squid in Disney’s classic 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954) and the mechanical “Bruce The Shark” in both Jaws & Jaws 2. And while muddy at times, at least the cinematography by the late Robert Caramico (a veteran B-movie & TV lenser), elevates EATEN ALIVE to a “barely-watchable” status. The use of various color gels actually adds some life into this muddled affair. Best aspect of the production, all told. The set designs are appropriately cheesy—and obviously shot on sound stages. Working with TCM composer Wayne Bell, Hooper create a metallic-sounding score that immediately dates itself. Clearly, director Tobe Hooper is on familiar ground here, but what was he thinking? As if! EATEN ALIVE certainly plays out like a sleazy, mysoginistic nightmare—with rampant T&A throughout—but believe me, it is so corny that the viewer cannot possibly take it all in any serious fashion. Besides, I like T&A—just like any other red-blooded dude! One more selling point? It was released in May, 1977--the very same month that a scrappy little science-fiction movie called Star Wars appeared on screens... On a more amusing note, old Judd feeds enough people to his pet in the pond that he might have to build a lagoon! It makes you wonder if Jack Nicholson watched this flick as preparation for his role as Jack Torrance in Kubrick’s The Shining. Maybe yes. maybe no. But thanks to Old Judd, the body count’s bit higher. Hell, I should start a drinking game where Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust” plays every time Judd feeds someone to the crocodile. I’ll call it “Crocodile Rock!” Just a thought... THE BOTTOM LINE EATEN ALIVE is not the greatest horror film (hell, it isn’t even a good horror film), but I sort-of enjoyed its Velveeta quotient. While the movie is a step down for horrormeister Tobe Hooper, it's definitely earned a place in Joe Bob Briggs territory (as he would say, there's plenty of alligator-fu and sickle-fu in this flick). Add some T&A and cheesy dialogue and you have a bad movie queued up for a good time! tcm1974.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_directorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenplayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenwritinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenwriterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Ballhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_moviehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_movietcm1974.htmlblackdahlia.htmlhalloween.htmlhalloweenII.htmljaws.htmljaws2.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Televisionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_gelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmmaking#Productionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_stagetcm1974.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_scorehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Bob_Briggsshapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3shapeimage_2_link_4shapeimage_2_link_5shapeimage_2_link_6shapeimage_2_link_7shapeimage_2_link_8shapeimage_2_link_9shapeimage_2_link_10shapeimage_2_link_11shapeimage_2_link_12shapeimage_2_link_13shapeimage_2_link_14shapeimage_2_link_15shapeimage_2_link_16shapeimage_2_link_17shapeimage_2_link_18shapeimage_2_link_19shapeimage_2_link_20shapeimage_2_link_21shapeimage_2_link_22shapeimage_2_link_23shapeimage_2_link_24