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'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.

While I don't think that Eaten Alive is particularly very good, it's an OK waste of time. If you're used to cannibal films like Cannibal Holocaust then this will seem tame in comparison. It's not a particularly interesting or original story and you don't care much for the characters. But there are a few nice gore touches and shocking rape sequences to keep you awake (if that's your sort of thing). There's also a few decent action and fight sequences. The best scene is probably when one girl is literally eaten alive and her skeleton turned inside out. There's not a lot of gore and it's rather amateur, but it's not too bad.

Since this isn't my sort of film, I wouldn't recommend seeking it out unless you're a die-hard fan of the cannibal horror genre.

(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.

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!!!

I wasnt expecting much when I put this in the VCR, and I definatly didnt _GET_ much either, but it certainly wasnt as bad as everyone says. Actually its rather humorous in a cheesy sort of way, and lenzi does manage to put in some decent atmosphere. The script is basically an excuse to re-use footage from other films though, and it doesnt make much sense anyways. Overall its still better than Slave of the Cannibal God and less boring than Cannibal Ferox. If you enjoyed Trap Them & Kill Them (Emanuelle & The Last Cannibals) you probably would enjoy Eaten Alive!