EATEN ALIVE (1976)

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What ye sow, so shall ye reap, or some shit like that. 

"Name's Buck. I'm rarin' to fuck."


So, when the first line spoken in a horror film is the above quote (spoken by a baby-faced Robert Englund) you'd be forgiven for double-checking to make sure that you hadn't rented a porn flick instead. After that, you really shouldn't be too surprised by the batshit lunacy that follows when you remind yourself that this is the second film made by director Tobe Hooper, creator of the legendary 'TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE', and it became one of the first films to be labeled a "video nasty" in the UK.

Scuzzy lunacy of the batshit variety is exactly what you get here. While 'Chainsaw' is definitely the more harrowing and grimier of the two, this one is definitely bloodier and sleazier than its predecessor, and just as bizarre.  

Part of that is down to the fact that this film is stage bound, which makes it feel rather artificial in a way that 'Chainsaw' wasn't but allows Hooper to play with some very Argentoesque lighting. To quote Matt Lynch over on Letterboxd, "Awash in primary color artificiality and sweat and smoke, this is some set-bound hothouse play, like Tennessee Williams reimagined as a grindhouse bloodbath..." and that description sums up the overall atmosphere well. 

Now, the real highlight of this flick is Neville Brand, who plays Judd, the psychotic proprietor of the ramshackle bog-adjacent Starlight Motel, and keeper of the man-eating crocodile that graces the poster-art. Brand absolutely owns the role of Judd, and steals pretty much every scene he's in. Brand himself was a highly decorated WW2 veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart and a Silver Star for his service in Europe, and he kicked off his acting career in the postwar era. His Wikipedia entry was a worthwhile read, and I definitely feel as if he was channeling a bit of his battlefield trauma over the course of this film. 

I don't really want to say much more, because this is one of those films that really has to be seen to be believed, and I almost wish I hadn't skipped over it every time I saw the box adorning a video-store shelf. It was a long overdue and very odd treat, kind of like a lint-covered butterscotch that you unearthed from the bottom of your Granny's purse when you were 5 and ate anyway. 


Three stars (***), worth a look for horror-sleaze aficionados.




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