Eaten Alive

Since the loss of Tobe Hooper a couple of weeks ago, I've been revisiting a lot of his films that I haven't seen in ages. Over the weekend I had the opportunity to rewatch his 1977 offering Eaten Alive. Here's my thoughts.

The plot is simple. A deranged motel owner, a very creepy Neville Brand, makes his guests a meal for his pet crocodile. That's basically it. But, with that being said, it's still quite an unnerving and suspenseful thriller.

Hooper is working in the same backwoods vein that worked so well for him with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And it works for him here as well. He is a master of the uneasy and he has assembled an oddball cast, that includes horror icons William Finley, from Phantom Of the Paradise, Chainsaw Massacre's Marilyn Burns, Halloween's Kyle Richards, and Freddy Krueger himself, Robert England, to elevate the sense of dread.

Eaten Alive is kind of like a mix of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Motel Hell with a crocdile thrown in for kicks. It's a tense little horror entry.

It's available on dvd and blu ray.