Mangiati vivi! (1980)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Umberto Lenzi

Writer:

Umberto Lenzi (story)

Release Date:

20 March 1980 (Italy)

Genre:

Adventure | Horror

Tagline:

They didn't have a chance!

Plot:

A young woman teams up with an adventurer to find her missing sister in the jungles of New Guinea and they stumble upon a religious cult led by a deranged preacher whom has located his commune in an area inhabited by cannibals.

Plot Keywords:

Cannibal | Jungle | New Guinea | New York | Suicide

Cast

Robert Kerman	...	Mark Butler
Janet Agren	...	Sheila Morris
Ivan Rassimov	...	Jonas Melvyn
Paola Senatore	...	Diana Morris
Me Me Lai	...	Mowara
Fiamma Maglione	...	Alma (as Mag Fleming)
Franco Fantasia	...	Brother Reeves
Franco Coduti	...	Karan (as Gianfranco Coduti)
Alfred Joseph Berry
Michele Schmiegelm	...	Native girl
Mel Ferrer	...	Professor Carter

Also Known As:

Doomed to Die (USA)
Eaten Alive by the Cannibals! (Europe: English title)
Eaten Alive! (International: English title)
Eaten Alive: Mangiati vivi! (USA) (DVD box title)
Mangiati vivi dai cannibali (Italy)
The Emerald Jungle (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

92 min | UK:85 min (heavily cut)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | UK:18 (re-rating: 1987) (heavily cut) | UK:X (original rating: 1981) (heavily cut) | Italy:VM14 | Germany:18 | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Ireland:18 (cut UK version) | Norway:(Banned) | South Korea:18 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:(Banned) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Italy

Trivia:

Scenes originally from the movies Il paese del sesso selvaggio (1972), Ultimo mondo cannibale (1977), and La montagna del dio cannibale (1978), were edited into this movie.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Obvious stunt double when Butler is fighting Karan.

Quotes:

Jonas Melvyn: Their idea of lunch is fresh, hot entrails soaked in blood.

Movie Connections:

References Goldfinger (1964)

Soundtrack:

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Lenzi cannibalises the work of others to produce this sleazy shocker.

If you've never seen an Italian cannibal flick before, Umberto Lenzi's Eaten Alive might seem like the perfect slice of bloody exploitation, packed as it is with lashings of gore, sex and general nastiness. However, anyone au fait with the genre will identify many of the film's gory highlights as being stolen from earlier movies by Lenzi's contemporaries Ruggero Deodato and Sergio Martino. This is a shame, since the story has loads of potential and could have been developed nicely without resorting to pilfering footage.

Sheila, a rich young heiress from Alabama, is searching for her sister Diana, who has gone missing. When she discovers that Diana has been brainwashed by Jonas, a Jim Jones-style cult leader, and is living in a compound in the jungles of New Guinea, she enlists the help of Vietnam veteran Mark and ventures into the New Guinea wilderness on a rescue mission. But freeing Diana is a tougher job than it at first seems: the cultists will not let her go without a fight and the surrounding area is inhabited by cannibals. Only with the help of native woman Mowara can they hope to escape.

In addition to the gore, Lenzi packs his film with plenty of nudity from his female stars and includes some entertaining and gratuitous sex scenes: Mowara (Me Me Lai) is gang-banged amidst her recently deceased husband's ashes and spends most of her time topless; Janet Agren, who plays Sheila, is defiled by Jonas wielding a blood coated dildo; and Diana (Paola Senatore) gets it doggy-style from a randy cannibal.

Eaten Alive is a glorious exercise in bad taste and exploitation that would have got a higher rating from me had all of the footage been original.