6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.3 |
A young woman teams up with an adventurer to find her missing sister in the jungles of New Guinea and they stumble upon a religious cult led by a deranged preacher whom has located his commune in an area inhabited by cannibals.
Starring: Robert Kerman, Janet Agren, Ivan Rassimov, Paola Senatore, Me Me LaiHorror | 100% |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English, English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
The whole patently bizarre “cannibal boom” that lasted from the early seventies until the mid-eighties is a study in genre specifics that may appeal to sociologists and others interested in what makes people by tickets to any given film, but it’s also a study in caveat emptor, since many of these films feature outright (and “real life”) acts of brutality, including some really gut wrenching scenes of animals being killed. Both the many cannibal films and their progenitor, the so-called “mondo” films of the early sixties and beyond, are therefore obviously not going to be everyone’s cup of tea (and/or blood, as the case may be), but in terms of lurid presentational aspects, Eaten Alive! is actually relatively tame, which is not to suggest it is completely devoid of shocking imagery.
Eaten Alive! is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. The back cover of this release states the film is "presented uncut, uncenscored and fully remastered in HD for the first time ever," while never specifying what exactly was used as source material for the transfer. Unfortunately, the element utilized is in pretty bad shape, with quite a few scratches (some of them oddly colored, as in the orange-brown vertical one seen in screenshot 1), flecks, specks, and hairs in the gate (see screenshot 13). The palette is at least decently rendered, but tends to look faded and fairly tired, with the jungle greens never popping and some flesh tones skewing toward the brown side of things. The amped up reds in the gore scenes do look quite vivid, however. Clarity is variable, some of which can be attributed to the use of stock footage, but even in the "contemporary" sequences there are variances on display. Grain structure and compression also tend to vary at times as well. All of this said, I'm sure fans of this film will find this presentation at least acceptable, and maybe even more than that, and for some the age related wear and tear will only add to whatever "charm" this viewing experience can conjure.
Eaten Alive! features three different language dubs, all delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono, and all of them display pretty loose sync, something that tends to make this an even more surreal experience at times. The music in this film is on the bombastic side of things, and encounters some distortion when cues get especially energetic. The English language track sounds the brightest overall, and has somewhat more forceful amplitude than the other two. The Italian language track is kind of oddly the most muffled sounding, and the Spanish language track has an annoying low end electronic sounding hum at times.
Eaten Alive! is simply not one of the kinds of film I tend to gravitate toward, and so my low score for the feature itself should probably be seen within that context. That said, the major supplement here featuring an interview with and retrospective of Me Me Lai is absolutely fascinating and well worth watching, even if one (like this particular reviewer) doesn't care one whit for the whole cannibal subgenre. Technical merits here are on the spotty side at times for those considering a purchase, but my hunch is fans who may indeed be considering a purchase will find this disc probably more than meets their expectations.
1981
1980
Emanuelle e gli ultimi cannibali
1977
Il paese del sesso selvaggio / Man From Deep River / Deep River Savages
1972
The Last Survivor / Last Cannibal World / Ultimo mondo cannibale
1977
The Mountain of the Cannibal God / La montagna del dio cannibale
1978
Nudo e selvaggio | Standard Edition
1985
Collector's Edition
2013
Primitif | Savage Terror | Standard Edition
1980
2015
1980
Kino Cult #8 / Apocalypse domani / Cannibals in the Streets
1980
Limited Edition of 3000 | Zombi 4 | Oltre la morte
1989
Also Includes = I Eat Your Skin and Blue Sextet
1970
Buio Omega
1979
El caníbal
1980
Kung Fu Cannibals
1982
Rosso Sangue
1981
2012
1980