Eaten Alive misses the opportunity to be a worthwhile monster movie because it rarely displays its puppet-operated creature. My enjoyment of cult horror films varies considerably; sometimes I understand and appreciate why people love a film that has aged well, even if it’s over-the-top and gory. Other times, I simply can't grasp the enthusiasm behind it. The work director Hooper did after his excellent slasher ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ often falls into that latter category. It feels unnecessarily sleazy, with underdeveloped character motivations and poor choices, which turns this swampy hotel setting into a stagnant mess—though the results are surprisingly funny. A prostitute is thrown out of town and ends up checking in to the rundown Starlight Hotel, run by a maniac wielding a scythe and his pet Nile crocodile. People meet gruesome ends: slashed, stabbed, submerged in water, and ultimately eaten alive. Despite this repetitive narrative structure, which lacks depth regarding the manager’s reasons for being evil (aside from him being insane), there's very little that holds it together. Characters make incredibly foolish decisions, choosing to stay at a dilapidated hotel while an unusual red light shines, disrobe to expose their breasts, and then encounter “Mr. Croc” (or Judd, I believe his name was...), who moans suggestively as he walks onto the porch to feed his pet puppet...I mean crocodile. The audience simply watches his bizarre behavior for entertainment because there’s no real substance to anything he does. The problem is, it's rarely enjoyable when the characters are just disposable victims. Even the oddly shaped dog was immediately expendable! Hooper borrowed elements from his previous films. Characters frantically run through foliage while being chased by a knife-wielding killer, only to be rescued by a passing car. There are infrequent deaths with cheap but entertaining gore—if you’re into that sort of thing—that adds to the horror atmosphere. But this film is overshadowed by ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ and Eaten Alive seems unable to escape its shadow. Again, it's because the characters lack development. For instance, a couple arguing arrives, with the husband acting stranger than the psychotic manager himself. Their young daughter then hides in the hotel’s crawlspace for the entire movie, screaming at anything that moves but making no effort to escape, even though she knows the manager is busy with other guests. The sheriff shows up and seems completely unconcerned by the bloody scene on the porch, casually asking “are you okay?”. Seriously? She just got thrown over a railing and attacked multiple times! Do those look like tears of joy to you? Englund, without his Freddy Krueger makeup, romances a woman by stealing keys and ignoring the cries of a little girl under the floorboards. I'm finished with these characters. The production design clearly shows it was made on a low budget; the hotel walls looked as though they would crumble at any moment. However, Hooper’s score was surprisingly effective and gave this cult horror film some edgy flavor despite the bizarre noises. And the crocodile moving through the crawlspace? It seemed incredibly lifelike, I must admit. Still, that doesn't excuse a creature feature that doesn't prominently feature its creature. Sometimes less is more, but nothing is simply nothing. While it’s masochistically sleazy and naturally campy, it failed to reach its full potential by withholding any real substance from the plot.

Source on TMDB