What's there to say about a 1977 grindhouse movie that makes no claim to any aspirations whatsoever? In one of the featurettes on this 2-disc DVD set, director Tobe ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre") Hooper basically admits to as much.

The movie is loosely based on the story of Joe Ball, a Texas legend who owned a bar with an alligator pit. Some women were apparently murdered and thus, we have a disgusting, vile movie exploiting it all in "Eaten Alive", which focuses on hotel owner Judd (Neville Brand) and his man-eating crocodile who, I correctly guessed, would eventually eat Judd.

As Tobe Hooper's films distinguish themselves as odd portraits of rural America, this one certainly fits right in. Take two steps off the main track in Texas and you're apparently surrounded by misfits and crazies and whore houses. And when you find your way off the Bush compound, things get even worse. Definitely, don't stay at any of these off-the-beaten path ramshackle hotels. Virtually everyone who tries to stay the night at Judd's place is tossed into the swamp and eaten by his crocodile.

The film does boast performances by Carolyn ("Invasion of the Body Snatchers") Jones, Robert Englund, and Mel ("Falcon Crest") Ferrar. The best I can say about this film is that it tips the scale of awfulness toward a level of weirdness that some people find appealing. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people.