Eaten Alive

Tobe Hooper disappointingly follows-up "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"(1974) with this low-rent, frenzied exploitation/slasher, that never goes full-blown fever dream, nor really gets exactly campy. Although Neville Brand shines as the crazy "Judd," the film's overbearing score, atmosphere, and characters unfortunately, made the movie far more grating than unnerving. While some of Hooper's style may have come together in flashes, overall, this East Texas-"Psycho"(1960) never quite clicked for me.

Entire movie is lit by a red light district sex bulb.

By no means a great movie, but its studio set location, garish use of colour, oddball characters and relentless use of sound give it a certain quality - it's pretty exhausting to sit through. There's a nod to Psycho at the start, perhaps Hooper returning to the Gein-shaped well he'd profited from in the past, but there isn't much Hitchcockian craft on show here. Worth checking out, but lower your expectations.

Great, almost theatrical visuals. But everyone's a bit too much of a stark-raving lunatic. It comes together in an odd, imperfect way. But it's still fun in a dark, gritty manner. Doesn't give you the same feeling of needing a shower like Texas Chainsaw, but grim and seedy nonetheless.

Not your mainstream movie right here. Not by any account.

Eaten Alive tries to replicate the successful creepiness and terror of TCM but fails miserabel. It is over lit and obviously filmed at a sound-stage, diminishing the sleazy eerie atmosphere trough its artificialness. It's all made worse by a scattered unfocused plot without a clear protagonist, depriving the movie of any tension. Only thing that's left are some gruesome kills by an overacting murderer and his fake pet crocodile.

I love horror films like this. Where the aesthetics of the film(the deranged nightmarish south set with lush visuals, sexual deviants and off kilter country tunes all mashed together in a claustrophobic motel ) set the mood and play a bigger role in the mood than the writing or the characters developing really. But that's not to under value the performances especially the one by Neville Brand who is just as bananas as Leatherface to me. This is filmmaking without a budget.

It is a no budget exploitation film, and yet despite its obvious flaws and a giant plastic crocodile, it has an intensity to it that few horror films have. Whether its Neville Brand and his deranged mutterings or the freaky use of sound and music, combining anything from country music to screams for up to three layers of noise, it has a madness that makes it far better than it should be, just like with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and why that film is as good as it is.

Neville Brand stars as a crazy old coot who owns a shabby motel on the edge of a swamp, who has a nasty habit of attacking his guests with a scythe and feeding them to his pet crocodile. There's plenty of gore and Brand rambling incoherently for long takes, and Hooper concocts a strong feeling of insanity and creepiness with next to no budget. The man eating croc looks super fake, though. Bit part for Robert Englund as redneck stud/troublemaker Buck: "My name is Buck, and I'm here to fuck."

Shoot this a normal way, and it's just another Psycho ripoff about a guy who just wants to take care of his pet croc. So Hooper instead decides to shoot it on what looks like a low-budget sitcom set, with actors doing the wildest takes imaginable and not a single normal lightbulb anywhere. The result isn't so much a horror film as a weird, drunken dream - not quite a nightmare - about one.

The only real novelty this CHAINSAW/PSYCHO update offers is the placing of a young child in imminent danger of violent death for long stretches, perhaps to a greater and more gruesome degree than any American horror film to that point. Unfortunately, about all it amounts to is even more senseless shrieking. All the allusions and artifice and Hooper couldn't add some NIGHT OF THE HUNTER? Unless that was what he was going for with that awful score...

Worst soundtrack ever.

I was hoping for this to be a good bad movie, but instead it was a boring bad movie. Though the general story line worked, the beats dragged out for unjustified periods of time. I thought this may have been a Texas Chainsaw prototype and was befuddled to learn it was created as a follow up.

the aggressively synthetic, claustrophobic, sleazy yin to TCM's yang. a deranged, mumbling hotel clerk straight out of PSYCHO (although bates never had to multitask like this poor bastard), his purgatorial hick hotel in precarious disrepair atop a croc-infested abyss, suspended in a shroud of fog and dingy primary colors and assaultive, cacophonous sounds. lovemaking is harmonised with the screams of mother and child; for the reptile to feed, the mammal must suffer. william finley is next level.

A lot of people seem to really like this movie but I'm not sure why. The cinematography was bad, like a cheap Argento wannabe. The acting was terrible and maybe a lot of that was how idiotic the characters were written. I wanted the little girl to die so badly as she was really annoying. There some good kills and I could see some TCM like qualities shining through at time but ultimately I didn't enjoy this.

More redneck themed madness from Hooper, only this time the results are less tense than TCM, less overtly wild than TCM 2, and less stylish and imaginative than Funhouse, which is a far superior blend of frights and lunacy. E.A features his trademark lighting, but it's a full on exploitation film with chintzy sets (garishly lit in a way that calls attention to their cheapness) and a comically fake looking crocodile. How much of this was intentional is anyone's guess, but it has its moments.

It's not TCM, but it's a mad psychotic experience. Sometimes a bit over the top but still facinating.

An attempt to revive the sense of deranged frenzy Hooper achieved in TEXAS, with similarly cackling murderers and dissonant music and sound effects, but on a studio set that a generous interpretation might say was deliberately artificial. Mostly, however, the film comes across as a rough caricature of that earlier film and also of PSYCHO (so it amounts to a cross-pollination between two different treatments of the Ed Gein case, even though the inspiration is supposedly the legend of Joe Ball).

Extremely annoying, stupid, and pointless. I also thought that the opening credit of "music composed arranged, and conducted by" was pretty funny considering that the music is a bunch of random synthesizer noise and percussive racket.

So boring that makes me feel like i really want to be eaten alive.

Another redneck-themed horror flick from Tobe Hooper, it is quite disturbing but doesn't rank up with his best work.

This was Hooper's follow up to Texas Chainsaw Massacre and while it contains many of the same ingredients, it doesn't even come close to the quality. TCM worked so well as we were slowly introduced to the madness via relatable characters, while this one feels like nonstop sleazy madness from the start. Brand's character mumbles and repeats things over and over, the soundtrack is pure cacophony and none of the characters are interesting. The film is more irritating than suspenseful.

Should be rating this higher, but guess I wanted more of the rubber croc -- maybe that's why Dante's Piranha is my favorite Jaws ripoff. Anyway, it's just impressive how Hooper completely defies the "rules" of success after TCSM, embracing a hellish -- those orange or red lights --, 100% demented and nightmarish hixploitation featuring a texan hotel owner pitchforking guests, feeding them to his creature. Gotta love everyone in the cast and the shrieking climax. Mid section is a bit of a bore.

I liked the atmosphere at times and the beginning was fine, but then it just deteriorates into senseless screaming.

I like that Bayou thing. I like the atmosphere. I like the mood. But there's nothing else here. You know those 'empty calorie' sorts of snacks, this is that.

Take the setup to Psycho, set it in a swamp, swap the stuffed birds for a live alligator, and make everything grungey and nasty as hell. An exceptionally sleazy entry into the hixploitation subgenre

This movie has got the real 70's horror moods. It's got the weird lighting, the boobs, the sleaze, the rednecks, the isolated weirdo, and the law enforcement that seems to operate on a gray area. The mood is the key thing here and I think that is what I enjoyed most, as the plot is not that special, but the surroundings do make up for it. Also, I now know where that line from Buck in Kill Bill comes from.

Tobe Hooper decided to make a movie that is the equivalent of eating greasy fast food from some random backwoods diner in a town you'll never visit again.

Hooper's 70's efforts had the benefit of coming out in a much more conservative film era, sharing elements in common with exploitation films of the 70's, but what was shocking to audiences then is boring now. This one made nowhere near the splash that "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" did, it's more tame, less gory, and less deranged, and after adding the lense of time, it's hard to understate just how irrelevant it is now.

If you liked Texas Chainsaw, you'll probably enjoy this. Chances increase in case you also like Texas Chainsaw II.

Filmaço, a iluminação do filme lembra muito o que Bava fazia, e os personagens realmente insanos levam o conceito de slasher às últimas consequências. Prestem atenção na presença de Carolyn Jones que definitivamente não reconheci. Box Tobe Hooper Obras primas do Cinema

Obviously it ain't the greatness of TCSM, but it's still pretty good. Pure trashy cinema, lit like it's supposed to be a red light district.

Not too far removed from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, both in quality and execution

42.000

Weird nightmarish vibe through the whole thing, just like I like it.

the cinematic equivalent of an EYEHATEGOD album.

43.500

kinda stupid, but awesome effects.

Hooper's first post-_Texas Chainsaw Massacre_ effort, this has lots of stylized lighting and a truly offbeat cast -- everyone from Morticia Addams to Freddy Krueger -- but has trouble mixing its good ol' boy humor with horror and lacks the pounding ferocity of _Chainsaw Massacre_.

Okay, so three years prior to this, Tobe Hooper had directed one of the most effectively terrifying films ever in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. However, this is garbage, which brings to mind 50s horror films and even Manos: The Hands of Fate, and that is not a good thing. The crocodile element is extremely laughable, and really the only memorable thing about the film is Robert Englund and the fact Quentin Tarantino took his character's line and changed it a little for Kill Bill's Buck.

Crap.

"...will always be more of a curiosity piece than a truly satisfying movie in and of itself."

It looks good. The "red", dark atmosphere all over the place. But that what it's all about. "My name is Buck, and I'm here to fuck." Tarantino stole this quote to his Kill Bill flick.

quite tedious at times because lack of different shooting scenes