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Eaten Alive! – Severin Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1980
Director: Umberto Lenzi
Writer: Umberto Lenzi
Cast: Robert Kerman, Janet Agren, Ivan Rassimov, Paola Senatore, Me Me Lai, Mel Ferrer

Release Date: February 20th, 2018
Approximate Running Time: 92 Minutes 28 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian, DTS-HD Mono English, DTS-HD Mono Spanish
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.98

"Insane assemblage of flesh-ripping mayhem, depraved sexual brutality, and even the Jonestown massacre." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.75/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "now presented uncut, uncensored and fully remastered in HD for the first time ever."

Eaten Alive! comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 42.5 GB

Feature: 22 GB

Print-related damage is minimal and never intrusive. The grain often looks thick, the image generally looks crisp, and the colors fare well. When compared to previous home video releases for this film, this transfer is a marked improvement over all previous releases. Most notably, in regards to image clarity and color saturation.

Audio: 4/5 (DTS-HD Mono English), 3.75/5 (DTS-HD Mono Italian, DTS-HD Mono Spanish)

This release comes with three audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in English, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian, and a DTS-HD mono mix in Spanish. All of the audio mixes sound good, are clear, and are balanced. The strongest of these three audio mixes is the English track. There are removable English subtitles for the Italian language track and removable English SDH subtitles for the English language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include reversible cover art, a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 6 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a 2013 Q & A with director Umberto Lenzi from the Festival of Fantastic Films, UK (23 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian and English with non-removable English subtitles), an archival interview with actors Ivan Rassimov and Robert Kerman (12 minutes 21 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian and English with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with production designer Antonello Geleng titled The Sect Of The Purification (13 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with Umberto Lenzi titled Welcome To The Jungle (16 minutes 37 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with non-removable English subtitles) and a documentary titled Me Me Lai Bites Back (79 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles).

Summary:

With Eaten Alive!, Umberto Lenzi would return to familiar ground. Eight years earlier, he had directed The Man from Deep River, a film that is widely credited as the starting point of the cannibal film cycle. And though Eaten Alive! would feature many of the ingredients that were integral to The Man from Deep River’s success, the end result is two films that couldn’t be further apart in regards to their tone. Eaten Alive! takes on a much darker tone than its predecessor. That said, Eaten Alive! is terrifying for all of its ferocity, especially in its goriest moments. It is a film that never reaches the level of depravity of Umberto Lenzi’s most notorious cannibal film, Cannibal Ferox.

Content-wise, the cannibals in Eaten Alive! play a minor role. They are not the main focal point. With the main focal point being a religious cult leader who has brought his disciples to this remote area in the jungle, the premise is superbly realized, and the well-constructed narrative ensures that there is never a dull moment. Visually Eaten Alive! takes full advantage of its scenic locations, and the scenes where the cannibals attack are overflowing with gore.

The performances are best described as serviceable. With the most memorable performance being Ivan Rassimov (Spasmo) in the role of a megalomaniac cult leader named Jonas Melvin. Other notable cast members include Robert Kerman (Cannibal Holocaust) in the role of an adventurer named Mark Butler, Janet Agren (City of the Living Dead) in the role of Sheila Morris, the woman who goes into the jungle looking for her missing sister, Mel Ferrer (The Suspicious Death of a Minor) in the role of Professor Carter, and Me Me Lai (Jungle Holocaust). Ultimately, though Eaten Alive! is not one of Italian cannibal cinema’s stronger films, it is a film that fans of this sub-genre are sure to enjoy.

Eaten Alive! gets a first-rate release from Severin Films that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and a wealth of extras. Recommended.