Eaten Alive! (1980)

I've never been a huge fan of the cannibal movies that were made for some time by Italian directors in the 70s and 80s. My first exposure with them if I'm not mistaken was MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY and it didn't make a lasting impression on me. The fact I'm not sure if that was the first one I saw should show that. Later I saw the infamous CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST which again didn't impress me. It wasn't until I saw THE GREEN INFERNO that I found a cannibal movie I actually enjoyed and that's saying something since I'm not an Eli Roth fan. Having the chance now to see EATEN ALIVE I can now say I've seen two films in the genre I felt were good.The movie opens at Niagara Falls of all places as a native from Borneo kills a man with a blow dart. Move to New York and he does the same again, first killing one man and then getting hit by a truck after killing a second. The police investigating the deaths contact Shelia Morris (Janet Agren) when a roll of 16mm film is found on the Bornean. On the film is footage of her missing sister Diana (Paola Senatore). Professor Carter (Mel Ferrer), who she contacts for help, tells her that Diana appears to have run off to join a cult located in New Guinea. Of course she heads out to retrieve her sister.Hiring a local mercenary named Mark Butler (Robert Kerman) to help her save her sister she learns about the cult. Led by the charismatic Jonas (Ivan Rassimov) the cult is a pain worshipping cult who follows his every command. As the pair travel upriver they are attacked by a group of cannibals who capture their guide and cut him apart to feast on. Avoiding capture themselves they are captured by the cult and taken to their compound where they are welcomed. Diana pledges allegiance to Jonas but secretly wants to escape. Unfortunately Shelia falls under his spell and wants to stay. Even though she learns that the three men who we saw die in the beginning were ex-cult members who escaped she still feels that Jonas is a leader worth following. Whether Mark and Diana can convince her to leave or not, whether the military will come in to rescue cult members before they can commit mass suicide and whether or not the cannibals just outside the compound can satiate their hunger is left to be seen before the end of the film.Movies in this genre were known for two things. The overflowing amount of gore they put on display and the inclusion of numerous scenes of actual killings of animals interspersed throughout the films. The success of films like MONDO CANE (1962) that showed shocking scenes like these but milder piqued the curiosity of film goers at the time and their inclusion in these films drew the ire of censors and the dollars of movie goers. This film offers plenty of those moments. A battle between a mongoose and a cobra while bets are placed, a python grasping a dying monkey who tries to escape, the beheading and gutting of a live alligator are just some of the moments included here.The gore moments are memorable as well for fans of special effects and those gruesome moments. Breasts being sliced off and eaten, a penis sliced off, guttings and more are on display in glorious color with plenty of dripping red fake blood and meaty looking flesh left behind where incisions take place. The cannibals are seen eating their kills, pulling out guts in from their victims, scenes that would stun a few years later in DAWN OF THE DEAD but were clearly shot for films like this one. What sets this movie apart from many in the genre is the amount of storytelling going on here. Most have some scientists searching for some miraculous jungle cure or sociologists looking for lost tribes in these films. The combination of cannibal movie with a Jim Jones/Jonestown style story offers something different here. The depth of story is far from what you'd normally expect.In addition to that the sets look much better than most. It was money well spent, especially the village where the cult is set up. While not as elaborate it made me think back to the city Marlon Brando's Col. Kurtz was set up at in APOCALYPSE NOW. They did a great job here on those sets.But let's not that forget that deep down this is an exploitation movie. That means you'll not only see plenty of blood being spilled but a decent amount of exposed flesh as well. Ceremonies in the camp tend to have topless females walking about. Shelia at one point is painted in gold. When attacked by cannibals clothes are the first things to go. A woman whose husband is killed is raped by his brothers to determine who she marries next. And as punishment one woman is sodomized by the main bad guy guard, Karan. If you go by drive-in critic Joe Bob Brigg's staples of drive-in movies the film features all three necessary items: breasts, beasts and blood. The movie was directed by Umbert Lenzi, a famous director on the Italian scene who made a name for himself directing police dramas, horror films and at least three of the most famous cannibal films in the genre: THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER, this film and CANNIBAL FEROX. In an interview included in the extras he notes that many credit Ruggero Deodata as the inventor of the Italian cannibal film for his CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST this film was actually released before that one. I've been singing the praises of Severin for several films they've just released and I'll have to include this one as well. This is the first time the film has been remastered for hi-def and it shows it. The film looks much better than one would expect for what they had to begin with. In addition to that they've included plenty of extras that when combined run longer than the actual movie itself. Included are WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE the interview with Lenzo, ME ME LAI BITES BACK a documentary on the actress who was known as the Queen of Cannibal Moves, THE SECT OF PURIFICATION an interview with production designer Antonello Geleng, archive interviews with Ivan Rassimov and Robert Kerman and a 2013 Q&A with the late Lenzi at the Festival of Fantastic Films, UK. Lenzi fans will want to have this version of the film in their collection. Horror fans and cannibal movie fans should grab this one up as fast as possible. Those who are curious about the films would do well to start with this one as it not only offers up everything the genre had to offer but has plenty of story as well. It's not a movie that the squeamish will want to watch but if you love horror like this by all means give it a try.

If you think Cannibal Holocaust is a bad movie mainly because seven live animals died and women are treated badly, you ain't seen nothing yet. There is no movie that can make my blood boil like molten lava than Umberto Lenzi's Eaten Alive. Don't believe me? Let's take a good, long look at this movie....First of all, the acting. It's like the actors aren't putting any effort into their roles. It's also like Battlefield Earth minus the Klingon look-a-likes with dreadlocks. Second, like Cannibal Holocaust and presumably Jungle 2 Jungle, there are innocent live animals who died during the making of this piece of s---. An example of this is a grotesque scene where a crocodile is skinned alive.... or rather yet, stock footage of a crocodile getting skinned alive. But the worst is yet to come. I maybe no feminist, but there are no strong female characters in this movie at all. They are treated like slaves, beaten, slapped, raped, carved up, beheaded, and, hence the title of this movie, eaten alive.I watched the entire movie and I was absolutely furious by not only how cheesy or corny the acting is, but by how bad women are treated in this movie. I'm surprise feminist organizations didn't come after the director with pitchforks and torches! Can you imagine if they did the same thing to One Piece's female characters? I F------ CAN'T! Bottom Line: Terrible acting, generic music, live animals killed on camera, and negative stereotyping on women are the reasons why you should avoid Eaten Alive like the West Nile Virus. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and show this movie to a local feminist group.

I Thought that Eaten Alive! was a good film. It is one of the less gruesome cannibal films. In New York a mysterious person hunts down certain victims on the streets and kills them with darts dipped in Cobra venom. The killer is eventually killed himself, and it is found out that he was a member of a strange religious cult deep in the New Guinea jungle. A religious cult of cannibals. A woman from New York goes to search for the cult, and tries to find her sister who has gone missing in the jungle. There is a lot of gore and nudity in the film which can be strong. This was a great film which was directed by Umberto Lenzi.

In New York an assassin is knocking off targeted victims with a dart soaked in Cobra venom and while trying to escape, he gets killed in a car accident. This leads to a young lady who heads to New Guinea to find her older sister, after the police discover on the assassin an item that belonged to her missing sister. She and a fellow American guide she hires when she gets there, head out on a journey through the wild wilderness filled exotically dangerous animals and blood thirsty cannibals to reach a purification cult colony led by an sadistically influential and crazy leader. I'm basically a new comer to the sub-genre, which has caught my curiosity in more recent times. I've seen one or two cannibal films, but it has never really struck me until now. Umberto Lenzi's "Eaten Alive" was never really on my hit list either, but I was just craving something different and it just happened to be near by for a nice price. While, it might not be held up in high regards with "Cannibal Holocaust" and "Cannibal Ferox", I found it to be a mildly amusing and reasonable addition to the list. It starts off oddly enough, despite a slow beginning to proceedings and then it finally hits its straps in the closing half. Lenzi added something else to the rancid ingredients. The cannibal element of the story felt more like a supporting part to the religious cult of fanatics who believe in purification. These inserts of the cult group got very silly and tend to drag in the latter scenes. While, the exploitive cannibal feeding and mutilations is primly nasty and sick, it can get quite cheesy and uninspired in its repetitive actions, because its so over-the-top to take seriously. Must love the cannibals' wigs and ever-changing appearances. One question is that do they always happen to be hungry when they encounter someone. Although the animal violence was more often genuine footage. Every now and then it takes some time off the story to look at the animals. Cue in when animals attack by pitting them against each other! Is this suppose to desensitize us to what's about to come? As it seemed more like it was there to pad out the film. Lenzi stacks up some memorably sleazy scenes in very trashy doses. The camera-work has that hectic semi-documentary style that likes its close ups and a kicking soundtrack with a funky rhythm. The unexciting script provides a lot useless chatter and constant ringing of… $80,000. How much was it again? $80,000. Did get a bit on the annoying side. Although, not as much as the atrociously wretched dubbing. Awful it was! From this it's hard to grasp that of the performances, but I guess they were fair. The divine looking Janet Agren and Paola Senatore are acceptable as the two sisters. Robert Kerma makes a decent turn as the hired guide and Ivan Rassimov is strikingly good as the venomous cult leader. Mei Mei Lai appears and Mel Ferrer in a minor role. What's served up on the menu? A hammy cult coot with trashy cannibalistic entertainment slanted on the side.