The Starlight Hotel isn't exactly the kind of place people set out to find. More often than not it is stumbled upon by accident, mostly due to its remote location out in the Texas bayous. Judd (Neville Brand), a strange old fella, runs the hotel and with his pet croc hanging about the property business seems to be falling off... that is until one night when everything changes.
As the night sky fills with an eerie gloom, the hotel is visited by a prostitute whose on the run (Roberta Collins), a young couple (Marilyn Burns and William Finley) and their child (Kyle Richards), a dying father (Mel Ferrer) and his daughter (Crystin Sinclaire) and Buck (Robert Englund), the local hooligan and ladies man. Soon they will all find themselves at the mercy of Judd and his pet croc as this night will be a night of sheer terror that only a few will survive.
A lot of people have voiced their displeasure with this film, stating that it's sick, twisted, pointless, boring and even being so blunt as to say that it's just plain stupid. It is the opinion of this reviewer that those who feel this way need to revisit the film in order to see just how wrong they are. Much like Hooper's The Funhouse, Eaten Alive is vastly underrated and is full of some genuinely terrifying moments that will have you covering your eyes.
Making the film so terrifying is actor Neville Brand. He gives quite the memorable performance as the owner of the Starlight. One minute he is very polite, using his southern charm and hospitality, the next he is chasing after some half dressed woman with a scythe. Breaking into unusual conversations with himself, Brand's character is one of the great overlooked characters in horror cinema. Brand - who passed away some time ago - was known for his heavy drinking and it's easy to see why this character would be appeal to him.
Giving a fine performance in his own right is Robert Englund, a very young Robert Englund at that. Playing the sex-obsessed Buck, a frequent visitor to the local whorehouse, he delivers a truly unforgettable opening line: "Name's Buck. I'm rarin' to f*ck." We all know him best as Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street, but he does a fine job here and supplies a nice bit of humor to liven things up. Also doing a great job is one of the great scream queens - Marilyn Burns. We watched her escape the horrors of Leatherface and his cannibalistic family in TCM, after being subjected to quite a bit of mayhem. Now, she is once again getting thrown around, slapped and sliced that results in her screaming her lungs out. Earplugs may be required.
One of the great things about this film is that when it's not focused on the nutty hotel owner as he kills off his tenants, it looks to the man-eating crocodile that is quite happy to have new visitors stopping by his owner's establishment. The croc, itself, looks absolutely ridiculous. It almost appears to be made of papier-m¿ch¿. Lucky for us we don't get to see it a whole lot. It does supply, however, loads of goopy violence that will surely have the gore fans happy. Not to be outdone, Judd (Brand) does his share of contributing to the violence by hacking away at some unlucky ladies and a few gentlemen.
Like any other Hooper film, Eaten Alive has a fantastic look to it. There is a lot of atmosphere here that is made possible by a great color scheme, beautiful mist/fog effects, and fantastic lighting. Even if you aren't a fan of the film you can't deny that it has tremendous style and originality.
Eaten Alive isn't the classic that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is, but it's certainly a job well done. It's an insanely unique horror picture and if you give it a chance you will see yet another example of Tobe Hooper's masterful talents.
Score: 7 out of 10
Video and Presentation
If I may break into first person here for a moment (I rarely do this but I feel this DVD calls for it), I am not a big fan of HD DVD or Blu-ray discs. I feel as though movies were not meant to have that flawless look to it; that near perfect image quality. Then again I don't want to spend twenty-five bucks on a film that I could get for $14 and still have the picture quality be just as good. To me, when I see a film on either one of those new formats I feel as though they have a lot, if not all of their personality removed. Older films, especially, lose A LOT of their charm.
Having said that, Eaten Alive is presented in an anamorphic (1.85:1) widescreen transfer that is full of scratches, debris, grain, awful contrast and more. It all culminates to an incredibly effective viewing experience. If this film had been cleaned up to the point where all of the aforementioned problems were erased, the creepiness factor of the film and it's distinct visual look would have been totally lost. It is because of this that the image quality is stellar compared to its previous VHS and DVD releases. This is by far the best Eaten Alive has ever looked.
Score: 8 out of 10
Languages and Audio
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mix given is pretty damn good. Dialogue is understandable, the music is appropriately odd and sound effects are treated well. There is the occasional hissing that will make itself known every now and then but unless you are really listening for it, you won't find it to be a recurring problem. English-only subtitles are also provided along with Spanish and French dubs.
Score: 6 out of 10
Packaging and Extras
Dark Sky Films has done it again! This 2-disc special edition DVD is a triumph, delivering some truly fine bonus materials that will have both fans and collectors alike jumping for joy. Check out what is included on the two discs:
- Audio Commentary with Producer Mardi Rustam, Actors Roberta Collins, William Finley and Kyle Richards, & Make-Up Artist Craig Reardon
- "The Gator Creator: Tobe Hooper" Featurette
- "My Name is Buck: Robert Englund" Featurette
- "The Butcher of Elmendorf: The Legend of Joe Ball" Featurette
- "5ive Minutes with Marilyn Burns" Featurette
- Theatrical Trailers, TV and Radio Spots
- Behind the Scenes Slideshow
- Alternate Credits and Title Sequences
- Still Gallery
- Comment Cards
The commentary is a bit all over the place because those who participate in said commentary record their portions at different times and then all of them are strung together via a moderator who announces who will be talking next. Because of this the audio quality changes quite frequently and you aren't as engaged in what the people are saying due to a lack of continuity. "The Gator Creator" featurette, thankfully, is quite good and has the great Tobe Hooper talking for a good half an hour about the film. It's an interesting discussion and very informative.
"My Name is Buck" - aka the Robert Englund interview - starts out quite the ego massage where Englund talks about how he knows this person and that person, arrogantly mentioning how he always got the big parts (the leads) when he was starting out, yadda, yadda, yadda. After this passes he gets on to talking about the film and it all winds up being very interesting. The other featurettes are just as interesting, especially "The Butcher of Elmendorf", which is a fine documentary that takes a look at a real life killer from the 1930's, in Texas, who killed a bunch of women, mainly ex-wives. It goes on to tell how through a series of rumors people began to think that the killer fed his female victims to alligators. The whole 2-disc package is terrific and will definitely call upon repeated viewings.
Score: 8 out of 10
The Bottom Line
Eaten Alive is a very underrated horror flick that has received new life on an awesome 2-disc DVD set, which you should pick up right away if you are a fan of either Tobe Hooper or bizarre horror movies.
