Eaten Alive (1976)

(In French, On Cable TV, December 2022) Conventional Wisdom is that writer-director Tobe Hooper was great until a certain point, after which he was a terrible filmmaker. That’s not quite true, though… with Eaten Alive being an example of an earlier not-so-good film. It’s a bit early in the chronology of the horror genre to call it a real slasher, but it feels very much like a slasher: psychotic killer with an unusual weapon (a scythe and crocodiles), a structure that murders a character every few minutes, a dark and foggy atmosphere… sure, there are a few final survivors rather than just one, but the spirit is there. (Plus, Hooper was familiar with such tropes from 1974’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre.)  The result isn’t quite bad, but it’s not as good as you may expect at that stage of his career. Add it to the list of “last stops for classic Hollywood stars” horror movies, with none other than Mel Ferrer as a father tracking down his missing daughter. Still, the film has an atmosphere of sorts, some mildly effective moments and a rather disarming low-budget approach. It ends up being something not really worth seeking out (unless you’re piecing together Hooper’s filmography), but not necessarily something to shut off if your expectations are accordingly low. But it’s nothing like the movies Hooper did before or immediately after.