As mentioned, the scenery and sets of "Eaten Alive" are nicely done. The DVD does bring them to life and the quality is much better than VCR quality for the most part. The costumes are nicely done as well, when they are wearing costumes. From watching the film, it can be guessed that Tobe Hooper did not have much of a budget, but it seems that he did a great job with what dollars he had to spend. Without a full-blown, Criterion quality restoration, this is probably as good as it gets for "Eaten Alive," and it is certainly better than others would have done.
Audio :
The quickest way to tell that this film is around twenty-five years old is to close your eyes and listen. The film is mastered in glorious Dolby Digital 1.0 mono. Simply put, sound will come out of the center channel and nowhere else. The soundtrack is mastered a bit low and requires some additional volume to be clear. The soundtrack is never completely clear, as Neville Brand is hard to understand with his psychotic-cajun speech. The soundtrack lacks any depth of bass and the highs sound harsh and somewhat distorted. The sound is clean of any major faults, it just does not do anything to impress. The film is, and does sound… old.
Extras :
As mentioned, Elite is capable of doing some wonderful special editions. Tobe Hooper has done work before on special editions, as seen by Pioneer´s very nice "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" disc. Special editions always help Eaten Alive and other genre pieces. Unfortunately, Elite has chosen to remaster the film in widescreen and present it with only a theatrical trailer. I personally found the trailer funny, especially when suggesting this film was the cinematic successor to "Jaws." The menus are decently done and they have taken care to master the disc. There are just no supplements.
Summary :
My experiences with Elite Entertainment have always been excellent. The first disc I purchased from them was the excellent "A Nightmare On Elm Street" LaserDisc. Even after purchasing the New Line box set of "Elm Street" films, I still own that Laser. The DVDs I have purchased are their nicely done "Night of the Living Dead," "The Evil Dead" and "Re-Animator" discs. All discs are chocked full of content. Elite does more than just groovy special editions; they bring horror classics back to life in movie-only form. "Eaten Alive," "Horror Hospital" and "Tower of Evil" is a group of films I have received to review.
Elite has done a good job packaging "Eaten Alive" and from my knowledge, this is the second DVD released of the title. It is the superior of the two I know exist and the only widescreen transfer in existence. The first disc was released by Digital Video Disc Limited. The film runs for around an hour and a half and the film is broken down into ten chapters. The chapters are listed on the rear of the keepcase and there is no insert to be found.
"Eaten Alive" was the first part of my Elite Entertainment film festival. I have watched "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" a couple of times and even though I find the film to be a comedy, I do admire the filmmaking. I expected similar craft with "Eaten Alive" and for the most part, I was not disappointed. It was clear that both films came from the same stable, and though "Massacre" is easily the more classic piece in my collection, "Eaten Alive" may be the more entertaining film. I do not feel that this film has the capability to scare the viewer, but there is one scene that did cause me to jump a bit. Of course, if I had watched the trailer, that scene would have been spoiled. The film looks pretty good and is full of enough breast shots and cheesy moments to keep me interested.
Elite has done a commendable job with the disc. The source materials that were used to master the DVD were very apparently old and in need of restoration. The disc looks above average for a film of the social standing and age of "Eaten Alive." More supplements could have been included, especially a Tobe Hooper and Robert Englund commentary. The country music and shrieking original score can get a bit annoying after a while. The acting was entertaining. There is not much fault to be found, except to say the story and effects are just a notch or two below what an above average film would have. There is much worse and there is much better.
Audio :
The quickest way to tell that this film is around twenty-five years old is to close your eyes and listen. The film is mastered in glorious Dolby Digital 1.0 mono. Simply put, sound will come out of the center channel and nowhere else. The soundtrack is mastered a bit low and requires some additional volume to be clear. The soundtrack is never completely clear, as Neville Brand is hard to understand with his psychotic-cajun speech. The soundtrack lacks any depth of bass and the highs sound harsh and somewhat distorted. The sound is clean of any major faults, it just does not do anything to impress. The film is, and does sound… old.
Extras :
As mentioned, Elite is capable of doing some wonderful special editions. Tobe Hooper has done work before on special editions, as seen by Pioneer´s very nice "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" disc. Special editions always help Eaten Alive and other genre pieces. Unfortunately, Elite has chosen to remaster the film in widescreen and present it with only a theatrical trailer. I personally found the trailer funny, especially when suggesting this film was the cinematic successor to "Jaws." The menus are decently done and they have taken care to master the disc. There are just no supplements.
Summary :
My experiences with Elite Entertainment have always been excellent. The first disc I purchased from them was the excellent "A Nightmare On Elm Street" LaserDisc. Even after purchasing the New Line box set of "Elm Street" films, I still own that Laser. The DVDs I have purchased are their nicely done "Night of the Living Dead," "The Evil Dead" and "Re-Animator" discs. All discs are chocked full of content. Elite does more than just groovy special editions; they bring horror classics back to life in movie-only form. "Eaten Alive," "Horror Hospital" and "Tower of Evil" is a group of films I have received to review.
Elite has done a good job packaging "Eaten Alive" and from my knowledge, this is the second DVD released of the title. It is the superior of the two I know exist and the only widescreen transfer in existence. The first disc was released by Digital Video Disc Limited. The film runs for around an hour and a half and the film is broken down into ten chapters. The chapters are listed on the rear of the keepcase and there is no insert to be found.
"Eaten Alive" was the first part of my Elite Entertainment film festival. I have watched "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" a couple of times and even though I find the film to be a comedy, I do admire the filmmaking. I expected similar craft with "Eaten Alive" and for the most part, I was not disappointed. It was clear that both films came from the same stable, and though "Massacre" is easily the more classic piece in my collection, "Eaten Alive" may be the more entertaining film. I do not feel that this film has the capability to scare the viewer, but there is one scene that did cause me to jump a bit. Of course, if I had watched the trailer, that scene would have been spoiled. The film looks pretty good and is full of enough breast shots and cheesy moments to keep me interested.
Elite has done a commendable job with the disc. The source materials that were used to master the DVD were very apparently old and in need of restoration. The disc looks above average for a film of the social standing and age of "Eaten Alive." More supplements could have been included, especially a Tobe Hooper and Robert Englund commentary. The country music and shrieking original score can get a bit annoying after a while. The acting was entertaining. There is not much fault to be found, except to say the story and effects are just a notch or two below what an above average film would have. There is much worse and there is much better.
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[release]3324[/release]