Look, I really liked Ti West’s 1970s horror throwback X, but when you catch up with something like Tobe Hooper’s Eaten Alive (1976; also known as Death Trap), I couldn’t help but think a little less of X. No doubt Eaten Alive is an acknowledged influence, but when it comes to exploitation hicksville horror, there’s something about an original, bona fide B movie from the 1970s. It’s made on the cheap, it has no pretensions or slick marketing machine to back it up, and it serves up what horror freaks, at that time, no doubt wanted: gnarly kills, frequent nudity, and degenerate villains. And gives that to you in around 90 minutes and with more style to boot! Eaten Alive was Hooper’s follow-up film after Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and rather than the porous, blunt-force, documentary feel of that classic shocker, here, the director leans into the artificiality, as he was shooting everything on a studio backlot with a pool doubling as a swamp. A number of scenes are blasted with red lighting, as if the afternoon sundown was beamed from Mars, and the pet crocodile that demented Judd (Neville Brand) owns and feeds unsuspecting victims to, doesn’t look that real. The genius of Eaten Alive is that it doesn’t matter, everything is heightened and festering with chaotic energy. While the maniac of this movie, Judd is a ragged-looking dirt-bag who can’t help muttering to himself or killing anyone unlucky enough to stop by his dilapidated place, the Starlight Hotel, the atmosphere of this East Texas setting is that most other people seem to be off their rocker as well. Aside from the straight-arrow sheriff (Stuart Whitman) and the square father and daughter duo (Mel Ferrer and Crystin Sinclaire) searching for their missing daughter/sister (Roberta Collins), there are some absolute weirdos including the sleazy young Buck (a young Robert Englund), the grey pancake-faced brothel madam Miss Hattie (Carolyn Jones from The Addams Family!), and the tightly wound husband (William Finley from Phantom Of The Paradise). You’ve also got scream queen legend Marilyn Burns from Texas Chainsaw Massacre giving another bravura meltdown performance, and a young Kyle Richards as the young kid in danger from the scythe-wielding Judd and his pet crocodile. If you want what Eaten Alive is cooking up, you’ll be partaking in a grimy, bloody, messed-up stew, with helpings of visual flair and southern fried atmosphere (despite it being shot in a Hollywood backlot). Much better than I was expecting and another gem in Hooper’s back catalogue. Available to stream on Tubi in Australia. Also, Wayne Bell and Hooper’s sound design style score is quite underrated. Recommended.
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