Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		2.0

Eaten Alive! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 17, 2018

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.

While there are some of the traditional tropes associated with cannibal films, Eaten Alive! also has a number of other weird elements, including a James Jones like cult (replete with followers “drinking the Kool-Aid”, as it were), and a woman named Sheila (Janet Agren) who, along with a guy named Mark (Robert Kerman), engages in a trek to the jungle in order to track down her missing sister, Diana (Paola Senatore). It turns out Diana has come under the sway of Jonas (Ivan Rassimov), that aforementioned cult leader. A number of fairly hideous events intervene, including several graphic rapes, along with the (expected?) dismemberments, decapitations and disembowelments that typically accompany such efforts. The results are genuinely unnerving, even given the "not ready for prime time" ambience of much of the film, which may result in some viewers wishing they had a little Kool-Aid to swig themselves by the time this curious entry comes to a rather peculiar happy ending.

Eaten Alive! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Welcome to the Jungle: Interview with Director Umberto Lenzi (1080p; 16:37) finds the typically locquacious Lenzi in fine form as he recounts his contributions to the cannibal genre and some production background on this particular film.


• Me Me Lai Bites Back: Feature Documentary on the Queen of the Cannibal Films (1080p; 1:19:55) is going to be "must see" material for fans of this particular subgenre, espeically since Ms. Lai deliberately went "underground" for so many years. This features wonderful background information and some unexpectedly charming interviews with its subject.


• The Sect of the Purification: Interview with Production Designer Antonello Geleng (1080p; 13:03) is another interesting piece, albeit kind of funny since so much of this film takes place outside in the jungle, where traditional "production design" may not be that much of a concern.


• Archive Interviews with Actors Ivan Rassimov and Robert Kerman (1080p; 12:21)


• 2013 Q & A with Umberto Lenzi from the Festival of Fantastic Films, UK (1080p; 23:43)


• Trailer (1080p; 3:06)

Eaten Alive! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.