"Eaten Alive" review

Eaten alive (1980)
AKA Mangiati vivi

Directed by Umberto Lenzi
Writing credits Umberto Lenzi

Robert Kerman .... Mark Butler
Janet Agren .... Sheila Morris
Ivan Rassimov .... Jonas Melvyn
Paola Senatore .... Diana Morris
Me Me Lai .... Mowara

"Eaten Alive" is about people getting eaten alive. It's a nice gut munching cannibal flick. Who could ever get enough of these cinematic gems? A hot blonde goes into the jungle to look for her wayward sister. Apparently she's joined some weird "purification" cult. So with the help of a drunken arm wrestler, she will venture into the bowels of New Guinea to bring her family back together. They have two big problems. One, the cult doesn't want to let anyone go. Two, even if they did leave, there is a tribe of cannibals waiting to pounce on them and chow down on their entrails. Let the munching begin.

"Eaten Alive" is another gory Italian cannibal flick. If there's one thing Italian horror does well, its show people eating other people. "Eaten Alive" does not disappoint. Another disturbing aspect of this movie is the amount of animal killing. I don't think any of these were special effects.

*ANIMAL KILLING SPOILERS*

A small crocodile gets gutted by the natives. You can see the blood bubbling up from the knife wound. Yuck-o. They even have a cobra and mongoose going at it. Go Rikki Tikki! The mongoose shows the cobra who the real king is.

*END SPOILERS*

Various other beasts are also killed in the name of entertainment. Are all of the animal killings authentic jungle scenes or is it just shameless exploitation? A little of both perhaps? I'm not sure. Sometimes it just felt like they were thrown in there when the movie was at a slow spot.

The cannibal scenes kick in near the end. I won't ruin the graphic details but let's just say that the natives have a good feast.

There are also plenty of topless women as the cult hates to have their females wear bras. There's also a cool scene where the hot blonde's body is painted gold. Why she gets painted gold is a mystery although it looks good to me. Maybe that was the reason. So if you're into cannibal flicks, you'll like this one. It's worth a look.

SCORE: 2.5 out of 4 human smorgasbords