Video Nasty #3 : Eaten Alive AKA Death Trap

Death Trap opens with Buck, a young pre-Krueger Robert Englund, taking liberties with a newly recruited prostitute ('My name is Buck and I'm here to fuck'). The girl is fired for not indulging in Buck's rear-end shinanigans and is advised to stay the night at Judd's. Before leaving she's warned not to let Judd know she worked at Miss Hattie's, he doesn't take kindly to sinners!

Judd's motel is seemingly located on a smokey low rent sound stage. As if the constant country music and ramshackled rooms weren't enough of an attraction, Judd's hotel has a zoo comprising of a dead monkey and huge man eating african crocodile. Before you can say 'rubber reptile' Buck has beaten the ex-whore to death with a rake and thrown her to his pet crocodile. The film then follows a parade of guests inexplicably renting a room at Buck's and most of them meeting a grissly end, before the inevitable and predictable demise of Buck.

In 2010 i'm attempting to watch and review all of the films on the DPP Video Nasty list.Click here for an explanation.

Eaten Alive is a gory exploitation movie and for the most part good sleazy fun. It's a perfect example of the style Rodrigeuz and Tarantino were trying to capture in their ridiculously expensive homage to exploitation cinema, 'Grindhouse'. In fact, Tarantino quotes the first line of Eaten Alive in Kill Bill (the aforementioned chat up line from Buck). Eaten Alive has an aesthetic that thankfully wasn't ruined by the supposed digital mastering; the scratches on the film are still clearly visible, constantly breaking the blood splattered fourth wall. One could easily imagine a drive through full of teens in the 80's screaming and cheering when the unfortunate guests are fed to the croc. I like to think that in a cinema full of like minded people, I'd be cheering too.


The hotelier Judd is the star of the film, in terms of appeal and screen time. He's a protagonist you really love to hate. We were both shouting 'kill him' at the TV when ever the opportunity arose, which has to be the mark of good bad guy. Basically, Buck is your run of the mill hollywood pyschopathic extreme rightwing nazi christian. He despises prostitutes and spends a lot of his time grumbling whilst using a magnifying glass to read porn magazines on his swastika adorned arm chair. I think the original intention of the film was to try and expand on the Judd character, but on a production fraught with problems something was lot in process (The film had a total of six producers and director Tobe Hooper eventually walked off the set). The Judd character was inspired by the serial killer Joe Ball, a bar owner who also had five pet alligators. When confronted about several missing women, Ball shot himself.

The gore is silly and good fun, but what else would you expect from a movie where the main murder weapon is a ten foot 'invincible' crocodile? The Croc is put to good usage, ripping heads off and even eating a girl's cute furry dog. Judd does his best with his trusty sythe, jamming it in people's necks and dragging them into the pool. Realistic, this is not.


The movie was directed by Tobe Hooper, whos previous film was the the seminal Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM). Coincidently, although TCM was banned, it never appeared on the video nasty list itself. Apart from being in the same genre, TCM and Eaten alive have very little it common. TCM was and is still a visceral and intense movie, leaving a lasting imprint on the viewer. It is a masterpiece of suggestion; how else could a film with hardly any blood, no swearing and no nudity receive an 18 certificate when finally released on DVD? Eaten Alive on the other hand is a big dumb gore-fest, where nothing is left to the imagination. One has to wonder if Hooper only made TCM so sparse of gore for budgetary reasons. Although I think it's more likely that Hooper originally expected TCM to receive a PG certificate (this is true).

Maybe I'm being too kind to Eaten Alive because it's the first movie i've watched on this stupid endurance test that's actually been as I expected, not that it was a particularly memorable film. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but if you like a bit of silly violence and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it's probably worth checking out just to see what Hooper did next. There's no reason this film should ever of been banned, but I can understand how it got caught up in the Video Nasty fiasco far more than Unhinged due to the sheer amount of gore. Regardless, it's far too silly to be taken seriously.