Review of Eaten Alive (1976) by Tom M — 14 Oct 2011
How did Tobe Hooper retrogress so far as to go from 'Texas Chainsaw', my absolute favorite horror film to this sophomore effort which could rank as one of the worst? The gap is quality is astonishing as are the formulaic similarities.
Neville Brand is a rabid hotel owner, but he is not spine-tingling; he is just unkempt, shambling and tiresome doppelganger of Scott Glenn. The film is also extremely redundant with the same patterned structure: guests arrive and shortly after, Brand attacks them with a scythe.
On top of that, the assaults are ineptly directed (a struggle on the stairs is very clumsy) and the crocodile is rarely shown. The whole film looks like it was filmed on a horribly artificial soundstage with fog pumped in and lit with a distracting red gel.
In summary, 'Eaten Alive' is sluggish, shallow junk that is scored with a shrill, frequency-scrambling soundtrack and edited with anticlimactic crossfades. At least Robert Englund's scenery-chewing Bud character inspired Tarantino for 'Kill Bill'.
This review of Eaten Alive (1976) was written by Tom M on 14 Oct 2011.
Eaten Alive has generally received mixed reviews.
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