Cover Art

Credits

Director: Umberto Lenzi Starring: Robert Kerman, Janet Agren, Ivan Rassimov and Paola Senatore Screenplay: Umberto Lenzi Music: Carlo Maria Cordio and Maria Fiamma Maglione Tagline: They have a never-ending hunger for human flesh! Country: Italy AKA: Mangiati vivi; Doomed to Die; Eaten Alive by the Cannibals; Emerald Jungle; Mangiati vivi dai cannibali

Eaten Alive is Umberto Lenzi's second entry in the sub-genre of the cannibal film. It ups the ante, in terms of violence and sleaze, from his 1972 film, The Man From Deep River/Deep River Savages (which played more like A Man Called Horse in the jungle), but is nowhere near as brutal or vicious as Cannibal Ferox which followed. For Eaten Alive, Lenzi borrows heavily from the Reverend Jim Jones scandal, and throws in some cannibals for good measure.

The rather flimsy plot begins with a guy (who looked like an Eskimo to me, though I'm sure he's meant to be Polynesian) assassinating three people; one at Niagara Falls and two in New York. Whilst fleeing the scene of the last murder in New York he is struck down dead by an oncoming truck. The police discover on his body an 8mm reel of film, which is addressed to a woman named Diana Morris. Morris had been involved with a religious fanatic named Jonas and who had since mysteriously disappeared. In order to try and solve the puzzle, they contact her sister, Sheila (Janet Agren), who then takes the film to Professor Carter (Mel Ferrer), an anthropologist; in order to get some clues as to the whereabouts of her missing sister.

After some investigation and quizzing of some of her sister's former associates, she discovers that her sister went to New Guinea with Jonas to found a religious community. Sheila jets off to New Guinea and once there is introduced to Mark Butler (Robert Kerman), who we first see decked out in a yellow headband in a scene reminiscent of The Deer Hunter (in a Lenzi kind of way). Mark initially refuses to help, until a sizeable amount of money is offered for his assistance. And so our intrepid pair set off into the jungles to locate Diana, but also find Jonas (Ivan Rassimov) and his community.

Jonas turns out to be quite a perverse character, who rules with fear and brutality. It is up to our heroes to rescue Diana from the clutches of this madman, as well as having to contend with the local cannibals whilst making their escape.

The irony, however, is that having travelled all this way, Diana is eventually caught and devoured by cannibals whilst Jonas evades capture following his encouragement for all his followers to commit suicide. So, all in all, it was a pretty disastrous mission with Mark and Sheila failing on all counts. Perhaps they should have planned this expedition with a little more care and attention to detail.

This is not a good film by any means, and probably the most inept of all the Italian cannibal outings. And, as with most cannibal films, it contains the obligatory animal violence, which many find offensive. But, if you're a tolerant film viewer, this can also be good, cheesy fun. The film is full of appalling dialogue, excessive gore and bad acting, with some gratuitous nudity added to the heady mix. As I say, not a good film, but hugely enjoyable if you like this sort of thing.

However, don't try and apply any reason or logic to the film, as the plot holes are just too big to be patched up effectively. As ever, Robert Kerman is on fine form, Janet Agren is pleasant eye-candy and Mel Ferrer just looks embarrassed.

A film I would recommend highly for sheer cheese value - but with reservations. If situations of sexual violence (handled badly) and animal cruelty upset you, then steer well clear. There's no shame in admitting distaste at such material. I guess I'm just more tolerant than most, because I really enjoyed this potent cocktail of sex, violence and men in bad wigs!