Eaten Alive

After the success of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hooper delivers a sleazy DUD

The 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 Hoopers 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 theres ...

Eaten Alive devours its chance of being a credible creature feature by rarely showing its toothy puppetry. Cult horror is typically hit or miss with my taste in cinema. Quite often, Ill appreciate and/or understand the adoration for a flick that ages finer that a campy bloody drag act. Conversely, my mind is baffled in the reasoning behind such fondness at the best of times. Hoopers subsequent work after the impeccable slasher The Texas Chainsaw Massacre falls into the latter. Unnecessarily sleazy, underdeveloped maniac-syndrome and useless character choices forces this swampy hotel to be nothing more than a stagnated mess, with surprisingly laughable results. A prostitute is evicted from the town brothel and subsequently finds herself chec...

Yikes, what was Mel Ferrer thinking when accepted the, admittedly brief, part in this nonsense? Neville Brand plays well, though, as the eccentric old-timer "Judd" who keeps a ramshackle old motel right beside a creek in which lives his caged-in pet alligator. Despite being in the back of beyond, this little establishment receives it's fair share of visitors and well, yes - you can guess the rest. Meantime, Ferrer - the wealthy "Wood" is out searching for his daughter whom he thinks ended up on the game working for the star of the film - "Miss Hattie" (Carolyn Jones) who runs the local house of ill-repute. At times this is quite an entertainingly silly romp and I frequently wondered if Jack Elam would have been better in the lead role. Ther...