Plot: What’s it about?
“Eaten Alive” is director Tobe Hooper’s follow-up to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” His second feature is just as good as his first one and is bloodier. The story is about a crazed hotel owner named Judd (Neville Brand) who murders his guests and feeds them to his alligator. There are good performances from the entire cast, especially Robert (Freddy Krueger) Englund who is funny as a redneck & Marilyn Burns (Texas Chainsaw). The alligator effects are O.K. and not as bad as others have said considering the fact that this was a low budget movie made in 1976 before CGI effects.
Video: How does it look?
Is presented in a 1.85:1 ratio that is non-anamorphic. The transfer is clear and colors are good with the exception of some print damage such as lines,specks and a scene where the picture gets dark and distorted for a second. I found these things to be minor distractions but overall the transfer is good and is much better than the dark fullscreen video copy that I had from Prism Home Video. The widescreen DVD has much more picture information on the left and right side of the screen and a little more on the bottom versus the video tape.
Audio: How does it sound?
The audio is presented in mono which is available on front right & left speakers. It is pretty clear most of the time with the exception of some scenes where the dialogue is a little low and I had to turn the volume up.
Supplements: What are the extras?
There is only a theatrical trailer which is presented in 1.85:1 and is good looking. I wish there was a little more but it’s good to at least see this in a widescreen transfer on DVD.
