Novel Review: EATEN ALIVE! ITALIAN CANNIBAL AND ZOMBIE MOVIES by Jay Slater

I love zombie films and it seems so does Jay Slater whose book Eaten Alive! Italian Cannibal and Zombie Movies is for lovers of Italian cannibal and zombie films. Slater has put together one of the most comprehensive collection of articles on cannibal & zombie films that I’ve ever seen. Good, bad, horrible – it doesn’t matter Slater covers them all. The Italian film industry is a mixed bag because the industry always seemed to just latch on to whatever genre or fad was popular at any given time which is why the Italian cannibal and zombie genres came and went so fast.

Slater’s book touches on all the watermark films such as the Lucio Fulci zombie trilogy and “Cannibal Holocaust” and includes many co-productions such as George A. Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead” up to “Flesh for Frankenstein.” Slater organizes the book by year starting off with “War of the Zombies” (1964) and concluding with Michele Soavi’s “Dellamorte Dellamore” (1994). Although all the required viewing films are on hand it are the lesser known films that are truly worth taking a look at. Although I am very familiar with Italian zombie films many of the Italian cannibal films I’ve never seen (and thankfully for Slater’s review I won’t have to). Slater is very well versed in the genre giving each and every film not only a brief overview but adequate outlook on how they fit into the history of the genre. The Italian cannibal film was big during the ‘70s and ‘80s (which is apparent by all the entries in the genre) while their zombie films have time and time again popped up very varying degrees of popularity.

Also of interest to readers will be the interviews that Slater puts into the book of not only actors but crew members as well who recount both in loving detail (and sometimes disgust) at the filming of some of these films. Slater also brings in several guest writers to give their outlook on particular films such as Beatrice Ring, Donato Totaro, Benjamin Halligan, Kim Newman, Ramsey Campbell, to name a few. Slater has put together a very talented team that craft an otherwise unmatchable tome on the Italian film industry, at least in regards to cannibal and zombie films.

Be forewarned that this book is for die-hard fans of the genre (even though the occasional and curious fan are also welcomed) since it plays up to some of the genre’s most celebrated titles such as “The Beyond,” “Demons,” The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue,” “Dawn of the Dead,” “Zombie,” “City of the Living Dead,” Eaten Alive!” and “Voices from Beyond,” to name a few.

After Dark Films Presents TOOTH & NAIL

As part of the 2007 After Dark Horror Fest I can forgive the pitfalls of this post-apocalyptic tail TOOTH & NAIL for all its short comings. Written & directed by Mark Young (and almost exclusively in one location) TOOTH & NAIL tells the story of a world in which the absence of oil and gasoline has caused the world to become plunged into total chaos. In the film, a idealistic man Darwin (played by an exceptionally well casted Robert Carradine) has banded together a group of survivors who have refused to move south like the rest of the population but have instead taken a large hospital as there new paradise from which to rebuild society for a new age.

There world is torn apart when they decide to rescue a woman from being abducted but cannibal survivors and who subsequently follow them back to their paradise. From then one, each night the survivors within the hospital are preyed upon by the cannibals who only kill one of them each night in order to prolong their food supply. As the number of survivors in the hospital dwindle each night they must decide what to do in order to survive or escape the cannibals into the unknown outside world.

TOOTH & NAIL is an interesting concept that doesn’t go the distance when it comes to the execution. This is mainly because they have Michael Madsen and Vinnie Jones as two of the main cannibals who do absolutely nothing for the film. The film could’ve worked better without the “star” names attached and if it had stayed closed with the characters within the hospital and made it a tense and disturbing psychological horror film similar to that of HIGH TENSION or THE HILLS HAVE EYES (either version), in which we know little about the killers but instead stay with the characters plight.

As directed by Young, the film has no cinematic flare or style which is needed in a film that takes place all within one location. It’s a lamentable attempt at best but it suffers because of its predictability and pedestrian treatment of the script. Carradine does a great job in his limited role but so does supporting actors Nicole DuPort, Rider Strong (much better here then in his other After Dark Film BORDERLAND), and Rachel Miner, while all the other characters are simply throw away characters in which you don’t really care when they die.

Although the death scenes are plentiful (mostly towards the end) they are practically goreless and sub-par for most horror fans of these types of films. TOOTH & NAIL is just a simple film that chooses not to go the distance, which is a shame because it could have been so much better.