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Next to "Cannibal Holocaust" and "Make Them Die Slowly" Umberto Lenzi´s "Eaten Alive" is one of the greatest cannibal-movies ever brought on the screen! The film itself is a nice mixture between jungle-adventure and gut-wrenching horror, although the man-eaters are only a minor matter this time. Nevertheless director Umberto Lenzi has featured once more a dozen scenes of gore and brutal rape! The genre-typical animal-snuff is also not missing, however the killing has got a more documentary-character and is not as disgusting as it was in "Cannibal Holocaust". The cast: Robert Kerman and Me Me Lai seem to appear in every decent cannibal-flick, Swedish Janet Agren is marvelous and her acting isn´t as bad as often said (I even liked her better than in Fulci´s "City of the Living Dead"..!). Hollywood-star Mel Ferrer, who also had a stunning appearance in Lenzi´s "Nightmare City" is in, Paolo Senatore ("Emanuelle in America") plays the role of the lost sister, but the greatest part goes to Ivan Rassimov who´s giving a hilarious performance as perverted sect-guru! With "Mangiati Vivi" another well-made exploitation-flick was done, which is still an undisputed classic for its genre!!!

The film begins in Canada and New York, with an Asian hitman killing his victims by blowing poisoned darts at them. He is then run over by a truck and killed. The police find some film on him, and wouldn't you know, the film contains scenes of a cannibal ritual, which includes a woman named Sheila's(Janet Agren) missing sister. A professor tells Sheila that the ritual is from a tribe in New Guinea, so she travels there and finds Vietnam war veteran Mark Butler (cannibal film regular Robert Kerman) and pays him to find her sister.

The film then goes off into the usual cannibal film thing. The odd animal is killed, they find parts of bodies etc. It turns out that her missing sister is part of a religious community in the jungle lead by a character named Jonas. He brainwashes all his followers, and has strict rules, like no drinking of alcohol. The version I watched was sadly cut, and some gory scenes that were about to be shown then quickly jumped to another scene. The music deserves mention too, a catchy tune plays during the opening credits. The other music during the film is ok. It's not nearly as good as Cannibal Holocaust, or even Lenzi's other cannibal flick Ferox, but if you like cannibal films it's worth checking out.

Eaten Alive (by the cannibals) is the least known of the three major Italian gut-munching cannibal movies, the other two being Rugero Deodato's "Cannibal Holocaust" and Lenzi's own "Cannibal Ferox". I use the words 'least famous' carefully because this film is still highly popular among cult collectors and a definite must see for exploitation fanatics. Even though Cannibal Ferox is more notorious, it's actually Eaten Alive that tells the most intriguing story! The feared cannibals of the New Guinean jungle are secondary to the story of a mad purification sect, of which the leader – Jonas – holds a wealthy American girl captive. Her younger sister goes on an expedition to rescue her, accompanied by a nihilist desperado who deserted during the Vietnam War. Eaten Alive (by the Cannibals) features loads of nudity, repulsive gore and inhuman cruelty and it is, of course, better not viewed by the faint-hearted and/or easily offended people. Even those with the strongest stomachs will have a hard time sitting through some of the nauseating sickness featuring! I can only say: Well done Mr. Lenzi!! But, if you do love this type of extraordinary film-making, you'll be impressed by the beauty and style Umberto Lenzi brings to the screen. The anthropology aspects as well as the stunning locations and images of wildlife are some of the most intriguing shots ever featuring in controversial cinema land. And then of course, there's the score! These films are actually worth watching for the music alone. The mesmerizing tunes that guide this atmospheric jungle adventure are almost too beautiful for words. Ignorant opponents of the horror genre will most likely disagree but I think "Eaten Alive" is essential viewing for the fans of extreme shock-cinema. Just make sure you watch a fully uncut version.

'Eaten Alive' is a profoundly stupid movie, but despite that, or more accurately, BECAUSE of that it's extremely entertaining trash. It rehashes plot elements (and even footage) from previous Italian cannibal movies and adds a Jim Jones-ish death cult in for good measure. Italian exploitation star Ivan Rassimov plays Jonas, the cult leader, Janet Agren (Fulci's 'City Of The Living Dead') the sister of a missing woman, and Robert Kerman (Deodato's infamous 'Cannibal Holocaust') the man hired to find her. The cast also includes Paola Senatore and Mei Mei Lai, both favourites with cult/sleaze buffs. The version of 'Eaten Alive' I watched was the British cut which has most of the more infamous scenes censored or completely removed. I really don't know if this was a good or a bad thing. I believe most of this stuff was recycled from earlier Lenzi films or "borrowed" from my fave cannibal movie 'Mountain Of The Cannibal God', so if you're familiar with this genre you've probably seen it all before already. Anyway, most people run away screaming from this kinda stuff, but if you're into movies like this you'll find much to enjoy here. Neither the best nor the worst cannibal movie, but definitely worth a look.

(aka: EATEN ALIVE)

This is the second of three cannibal films directed by Lenzi (filmed in Sir Lanka) with CANNIBAL FEROX (1981) being the third. To be honest with you, I saw both of these films one right after the other and I can truly say that they are both about the same. One isn't any more gross or gory than the other, imo.

Film starts in Niagara Falls where a policeman is killed by an asian fellow blowing poison darts. Then the movie cuts to NYC where the same guy kills two more people using poison darts before he is run over by a truck and killed. It's all a part of an ecological cult that Janet Agren is investigating in regards to the disappearance of her sister.

Her search takes her to 'New Guinea' where she hires a Viet-Nam deserter (porn star R. Bolla) to guide her to the village where her sister was last seen. On the way there, we get to watch snakes eating animals, natives gutting and skinning crocodiles and our two heroes being chased by cannibals.

They finally reach the village and meet the cult leader (Ivan Rassimov) who has absolute control over everybody. He's an obvious copy of Jim Jones.

Gross food scenes include:

Cannibals eating native girl's arm and left breast. Not bad...

Then we see three native guys screw another native girl in a ritualistic soft-porn scene. One goes down on top of her, right after the other.

Janet Agren, naked, covered in gold paint getting a snake blood covered dildo inserted into her. It doesn't actually show it, but it's implied by the pain shown on her face.

A native guy who has betrayed the cult, getting his dick cut off before he is gored to death with a stick. Cool !!

Another native girl and Algren's sister being eaten by cannibals after they escape from Rassimov's camp. They are first disemboweled and then their organs are eaten before they are hacked and gored to death with spears. You know it's all fake because the bodies look like full-size rubber latex mannequins. It's still a cool scene, anyway.

The Shriek DVD is taken from an excellent wide-screen print with a few film extras such as an interviews with Lenzi, Bolla and Rassimov. Lenzi says that his next film, CANNIBAL FEROX did better at the box office, but he equates both of these films as being of the same quality. So do I.

In these politically-correct times, films like these wouldn't get made today. It get's a 6 out of 10 for being interesting and un-PC misogynistic at the same time.