Thursday, October 31, 2019

Forgotten Horror: Tobe Hooper's Eaten Alive

The curse of hitting it big with something is the inevitable need to top it.  Tobe Hooper made alot of great and/or interesting Films in his life.  Many of them- like this- were attempts to replicate his first success.  Today's Film is Eaten Alive, not to be confused with an Italian Horror Film of the same name.  That one combined the Cannibal Peril Film with the Topical Horror Film, combining elements of a Jim Jones-like Cult.  This Film does not do that, but does riff on an actual real-life case.  Say, didn't that other Movie do that too.  In this case, it's Joe Ball, who was accused of killing Waitresses at his Restaurant and then feeding them to the Alligators.  Sadly, Phoenix Wright wasn't there to question said animals on the stand.  When Ball was confronted with the claims, he pulled out a gun and killed himself dead.  Is that a confession?  In lieu of that, the Film takes the basic idea as premise and then just goes a bit bonkers with it.  It is full of Character Actors- I'll try to cover as many as possible- and what you'd expect from an early Hooper Film.  Is it original?  No.  Is it good?  Let's see...
A woman working at a Brothel leaves when she gets fired for turning down a freaky guy.
To be fair, it was Robert Englund.
She ends up with this guy, who eventually makes the same moves on her and she freaks out.  He kills her.

This sets the stage for what most of the Film is going to be- screaming and killing.
More guests arrive and it's a Couple with arguably-worse luck than the one in Manos.  FYI they also have a kid and a Dog.  Thankfully, their kid isn't dubbed by a middle-aged woman.

The woman is Marilyn Burns- adding to the TCM comparisons- and the husband is William Finley, most famous for his work in DePalma Films like Sisters or The Phantom of the Paradise.

Fun Fact: The Actress that plays the little girl is the longest-lasting Cast Member on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.  No, really.
They both act like a bunch of psychopaths, leading to the Husband trying to shoot the Crocodile and being killed.

Honestly, am I supposed to root for this guy over them?
An older man and his Daughter come looking for the woman from earlier, but get the run-around from the people like Sheriff Stuart Whitman (fresh off killing giant rabbits) and...
Morticia Adams (from the original Show)?!?

I'm sure alot of that is make-up, but...wow.  I'm having flashbacks to the lady who I could have sworn was a Mannequin.
This leads to more death (including the Dad), some nudity, lots of screaming, a kid being locked in a cage while screaming and a climax where, of course, the Crocodile eats the bad guy.   The End.
A trashy, pretty one-note affair.  Not to insult the dead- which includes 96% of the Cast- but I was hoping for more from this.  Instead of a Film full of good Characters escaping an evil psycho, I got one and a bunch of creeps.  Do I care if the rape-inclined Englund is killed?  Do I care if the awful Husband dies?  No.  This is one of those Films where it is hard to root for anyone.  The Dad and the Daughter are probably the best Characters here.  Sadly, one of them eats it and then has his death slightly-undermined by the reveal that he was dying anyhow.  The other gets to be good...until the Film has to fulfill a nudity quote and she strips down at the Hotel.  Why would you even do that?  Aside from the guy being creepy and the placing looking weird (it was shot on an artificial Sound Stage), I'm pretty sure just looking at the bed would give you tetanus!  Seriously though, this Film is like 50% screaming.  People scream while running.  People scream while hiding (makes sense!).  People scream while a guy runs at them with a scythe.  People scream just because.  I feel for anyone who was trying to watch another Movie in an adjacent Theater to this back in the day.  After putting off the Film for a Decade, I was letdown.  It is what it is and nothing more- I wanted more.  Speaking of more, it had a number of random Titles on both Video and in Theaters.  For instance, this odd one...
Next time, I celebrate a Master of Horror with his most recent work.  Will I be calling on him for one more Film or to stop while he's behind?  Stay tuned...

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