This 23-minute documentary sheds some interesting and illuminating light on the notorious Joseph D. Ball, who reportedly murdered a bunch of women in or around the small Texas town of Elmendorf and fed the bodies to his pet alligators. Well, it turns out Bell only a few ladies and probably never fed their corpses to his pet gators, although local campfire stories and pulp magazines exaggerated Bell's lurid exploits to the point where he's become an infamous local legend. Bell's nephew Richard Bell does a good job of setting the record straight about his uncle and what exactly he did. Worth a watch for true crime fans.
2 Reviews
Good Look at the Real "Eaten Alive"
Michael_Elliott7 February 2012
The Butcher of Elmendorf: The Legend of Joe Ball (2007)
*** (out of 4)
Most people aren't overly familiar with Tobe Hooper's EATEN ALIVE so they don't realize that it was based on a real person just like the director's previous film THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE was influenced by Ed Gein. Gein has become a legend over the years but Joe Ball has pretty much been forgotten. This documentary features his nephew Richard "Bucky" Bell telling the story of what really happened. The myth surrounding Joe is that he killed people and fed them to the alligators that he kept behind his tavern but this has never been proved. There aren't any great details shared but it was interesting hearing from his family member about what the myth has done to the town and their family. He shares everything he was told and even shares a few personal memories that he still has about his uncle. He talks about what it has done to the city and how various pulp magazines blew the story up and made up things just to sell copies. The only bad thing is that there's a lot of text on the screen used to tell the story and often times the white letters blend in with stuff in the background and this makes it hard to read.
*** (out of 4)
Most people aren't overly familiar with Tobe Hooper's EATEN ALIVE so they don't realize that it was based on a real person just like the director's previous film THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE was influenced by Ed Gein. Gein has become a legend over the years but Joe Ball has pretty much been forgotten. This documentary features his nephew Richard "Bucky" Bell telling the story of what really happened. The myth surrounding Joe is that he killed people and fed them to the alligators that he kept behind his tavern but this has never been proved. There aren't any great details shared but it was interesting hearing from his family member about what the myth has done to the town and their family. He shares everything he was told and even shares a few personal memories that he still has about his uncle. He talks about what it has done to the city and how various pulp magazines blew the story up and made up things just to sell copies. The only bad thing is that there's a lot of text on the screen used to tell the story and often times the white letters blend in with stuff in the background and this makes it hard to read.
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