EATEN ALIVE (1980)

Another one from the vault of politically incorrect over the top exploitation flicks from the late 70s/early 80's. Directed by Italian director Umberto Lenzi, also responsible for Man from Deep River (widely regarded as responsible for starting up the Cannibal film genre and featuring a few of the same actors as this film) and Cannibal Ferox after this film

Basically this one follows the story of a wealthy cotton farm heiress, Sheila who is investigating the disappearance of her older sister suspecting that she may have become involved in a strange religious cult in jungles of Asia (New Guinea). She then heads off to find out what has become of her sister. Along the way she partners up with Mark, an ex Vietnam vet for protection before making her journey through the savage and cruel jungle. After an eventful run through the jungles she finds her sister in a settlement/commune type set up run by cult leader Jonas, which is of course surrounded by cannibals and dangerous animals.

The usual assortment of gore, animal killings, ritual sacrifice, nudity, primitive and violet rituals and of course cannibalism one would hope to see when watching a film like this are present to make this a pretty confronting but entertaining watch. Shot in the same grizzly reality style as other films in the genre,  it does not have quite the same feel as Cannibal Holocaust, but this will pretty much appeal to anyone  who liked that film. Probably not quite at the same level of extremity but not far off either, it holds it own in terms of gore thats for sure. Probably not recommended for the easily offended or those new to the horror genre. This is some pretty full on stuff, its sleazy and filled with atrocity after atrocity and would have been one of the most extreme movies ever committed to film at the time. Either way its a solid watch and defs worth the time to watch it.

This is the second time I've watched this and was able to absorb it a little better than the first time I watched and reviewed this film a few years back. One detail I missed the first time round was the amount of animal deaths, ie: animals eating and preying on each other. It really paints the jungle as a violent place and sets the tone for the violence of humans to not seem out of place in the jungle.

I've managed to find a version on you tube that looks reasonably sharp if you want to check it out for yourself

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