Synopsis
Robert Englund plays an extremely obnoxious guy named Buck, who has a really funny line at the beginning of the movie. When he talks about the unlucky prostitute Clara Wood played by Roberta Collins. He says, “I’m Buck and I’m ready to fuck,” to Clara, the would-be hooker.
Buck tries to have anal sex with Clara, but she refuses and turns him down. She is then kicked out of the brothel by the lady, Miss Hattie, played by Carolyn Jones (Morticia in the old TV series: The Addams Family).
Clara heads to the dilapidated hotel and runs into the local town oddball, Judd (Neville Brand), who, for some reason not explained in the Eaten Alive movie, doesn’t like prostitutes. Realizing that she is one of them, she goes on a violent rant. Judd kills Clara by stabbing her several times with her pitchfork and feeds it to her pet Nile crocodile.
Soon after, a couple who have been arguing with each other, Faye (Marilyn Burns) and the disturbed Roy (William Finley) arrive at Judd’s shitty hotel surrounded by a swamp along with their young daughter Angie (Kyle Richards).
I really hate this part of the Eaten Alive movie, because after Judd’s crocodile eats his daughter’s dog, Angie, the youngest daughter, almost ruins the movie with her extremely upset crying. The pair take Angie back to the room they checked into the hotel and try to calm her down. The couple argues with each other again.
Eaten Alive cuts to the scene with Harvey Wood played by Mel Ferrer and his daughter Libby looking for information on the whereabouts of his other daughter, the now deceased Clara. Judd offers them no information on Clara’s whereabouts, so they leave their hotel.
Harvey and Libby head to the brothel to see if Clara is there. Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Roy decides to shoot the crocodile and then Judd stabs it several times with his scythe and feeds it to his crocodile.
Faye puts Angie to sleep and then goes to take a shower. She is then beaten and tied to the bed by Judd. Little Angie runs away from Judd and hides under the hotel. Harvey Wood and his daughter Libby along with Sheriff Martin (Stuart Whitman) return to Miss Hattie’s brothel and ask about Clara. Madam Hattie denies ever seeing Clara.
Libby leaves her father Harvey and heads to the local hot spot, the bar with Sheriff Martin. Harvey is later killed by Judd when he returns to the hotel after hearing Angie’s crying. He is then eaten by Judd’s crocodile while Sheriff Martin and Libby are at the local bar.
Buck “The Alpha Male” is also there with his girlfriend and is harassing other guys. Buck is confronted and thrown out by Sheriff Martin. Buck and his girlfriend trash go to Judd’s hotel. Buck was already warned not to go back there earlier in the movie by Judd. Judd doesn’t like Buck for unexplained reasons.
While Buck is in his room with his girlfriend, he hears some crying nearby. Buck goes to investigate and is attacked by Judd. He is pushed into the swamp and eaten by the crocodile. Libby returns to the hotel to find Faye tied up. She unties Faye from the bed. Judd opens the gate to the swamp to allow his crocodile free access to eat young Angie. Faye and Libby try to leave.
Judd chases after them and hits Faye with his Scythe. Libby escapes and helps Angie free herself from her and get out of the swamp. She struggles to reach Libby and Angie, who are on top of the fence that forms the crocodile swamp cage enclosure. Judd falls off the side of the crocodile cage and is eaten by his crocodile. The Sheriff arrives and the movie ends with some more of Angie’s horrible, annoying crying. Judd’s artificial leg appears above the bloody water.
The revision
Overall, I thought this movie was very entertaining. I feel like it should have garnered the same respect that Tobe Hooper’s previous movie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, received. Neville Brand went on a rampage as Judd. I love the weird and funny facial expressions he makes throughout Eaten Alive.
Neville Brand is a great character actor and with the movie Eaten Alive he is very believable as a local town nut. The scene where he’s sitting on the bed and singing slurred to tune into these lyrics: “I don’t have a ticket, I don’t have a bag.” Simple scenes like these and when he is talking or ranting to himself are highlights of him in the movie Eaten Alive.
I also like his surprised reactions when people ask him something, “Oh! Oh!” he replies. He makes the Eaten Alive movie cheesy and entertaining with his great ability to get into character.
Neville Brand looks so lost in his own world and crazy in those scenes and throughout the Eaten Alive movie. Robert Englund is very memorable in this film and you can see the raw talent he had back then as he would soon become a horror and B-movie icon.
I don’t recognize the actress Roberta Collins who played Clara, but she certainly did an excellent job of seeming genuinely scared and looking very uncomfortable before Judd killed off her character.
I own the 2 disc special edition of Eaten Alive, it’s restored and remastered a bit. The Eaten Alive movie is so grainy and the filming process so primitive that it appears on screen very dark and lacking in detail.
Due to these harsh conditions in which Eaten Alive was filmed, I doubt it will look much better on Blu-ray, as long as it is released in that format. The second disc has several features, including interviews with Robert Englund, director Tobe Hooper, and Mariyln Burns about their experience filming Eaten Alive.
