Horror Movie That Was Banned In The UK For Over A Decade Is Now Streaming

Amazon Prime is now streaming a movie that was once banned in the UK for being too gory. 

The movie is called Eaten Alive, and as you can tell, it’s not exactly PG. 

The synopsis reads: “Deep in the swamps of Louisiana, disfigured psychotic Judd (Neville Brand) manages a sleazy, decaying motel. 

“Upon learning that one of his guests is a prostitute, he promptly impales her with a pitchfork and tosses her to the crocodile that stalks the nearby waters. 

“This is just the first in a series of slayings, and, as the croc’s belly begins to bulge with victims, people grow suspicious. Outsiders begin to poke around the motel, but Judd simply sees them as more treats for his pet.”

The movie was made by Tobe Hooper, the director of the first, critically panned Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and features a variety of shockingly brutal scenes and dark themes.

The British censors found it to be excessively gory and outrageous, so much so, it was actually removed from stores for breaking the Obscene Publications Act of 1959. A shortened version of the film was then released in 1992, before the full version came back out in 2000.

It was created in 1977 and recounts the tale of a hotel owner who goes insane and begins plotting to kill his hotel guests so he can feed them to his pet crocodile.

There have long been rumours that the movie is based on the actual account of murderer Joe Ball, who in the 1930s operated an alligator-themed attraction. He was a suspected serial killer, at times referred to as the “Alligator Man”, the “Butcher of Elmendorf” and the “Bluebeard of South Texas”. It is rumoured that he killed upwards of twenty women in his lifetime.  

Since its re-release, the movie has received a very mixed response from modern audiences, one viewer wrote: “I saw this movie first run, and never forgotten it–  I DID NOT recognize Neville Brand until a close up a few minutes into the movie! Agreed, the most underappreciated character actor! Remember Robert Englund as the first would-be john for the young runaway prost*tute, his first line, “I’m Buck, and I like to —-” (rhyming word).”

While another commented: “Tobe Hooper’s worst film hands down. If you were expecting a truly frightening horror movie with the exquisite technical detail of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) this is not it. At all.

“I would call Eaten Alive an experimental film. Maybe Hooper was tired after making Chainsaw but even The Funhouse (1981) is better than this campy slasher/animal horror.

“I’m still giving this effort three stars for individual elements of Eaten Alive, which you’ll appreciate if you’re a big Hooper fan – the setting, the costume choices, a few very specific scenes particularly towards the beginning of the film.”

“Eaten Alive (1977) is one of the most overlooked and under-appreciated films. Maybe the critics and fans were disenchanted with it because they were probably expecting a film in the vein of first film Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE. In many retrospects the films are similar. They both feature dying, old ways of life (privately owned slaughter houses, roadside motels with sideshow exhibits),” a third wrote.

Will you be watching?


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