My review of the film:

I love this film! It's one of Hooper's best if you ask me - bizarre, surreal and always intense. It's very compulsive viewing.

Here's a section; full review is below:

It's strange how overlooked this film is. It didn't open to too much critical fanfare back in its original release and pretty much fell off the map shortly after that. I'd say it's only been in the past decade or so that the film has risen to its current (very well deserved) status of cult classic. And what's not to like about a film that features a psycho World War II veteran trapping people at his rundown roadside motel and feeding them to the crocodile he keeps on the property? If that plot doesn't sound appealing to you, then this isn't the film for you. But if that sounds even remotely interesting, then I assure you, you've stumbled upon a magnificent gem.

The film was destined to fail for two main reasons: because of its release in the wake of the massive hype after the release of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, with people around the globe eagerly awaiting the release of the director's next film and because of the fact that it's not at all that well made. It's a cheap production, even cheaper than its predecessor--and that's saying a lot. But if you ask me, the film definitely benefits from its shoestring budget: The acting may not be all that great (though Neville Brand is fantastically over the top as the hotel's crazed proprietor) but the film more than makes up for this in both imagery and in atmosphere.

The film looks very dark, even ugly and is rather poorly shot and it is because of this that it lends itself a certain type of atmosphere. This atmosphere is one that is surprisingly bleak for a film with a premise that many can't seem to take all that seriously; if you want the best example of this atmosphere in action, one need only take a look at all the shots of the glowing moon which hangs over the sinister motel like a death omen and that barely lights up the slimy Louisiana bayou where this little establishment is located. Would you want to be lost in a place like that? And would you really want to run into the local freak who likes to hack people into bits with a GIGANTIC scythe before feeding you to his beloved reptile friend? I reckon the overwhelming majority of you wouldn't. Eaten Alive exploits the very real fears of running into...well, the very last person you'd want to run into. It understands that many of us don't ever want to be stuck on a lonely backroad in the middle of God's nowhere and that many of us do not feel comfortable stopping for the night at a motel that looks like it's about to collapse into itself. Places like these naturally creep us the hell out; we want lighting, we want a comfortable bed without the fear of bedbugs and we certainly don't want to know that the man who rang us in at the front desk has a thirst for blood... The rundown motel itself is a symbol of decaying Americana--the characters may as well be in a time loop. The motel looks like it was once the site of a prosperous Southern plantation. It certainly looks scary at night...but do we even give a damn about it? No, we just want to get the hell out of there. (And we feel bad for those characters that don't get out fast enough.)