Eaten Alive!(1980)
1980 · Umberto Lenzi · 93 min
A woman's search for her missing sister leads her to the jungles of New Guinea, where she and an expatriate guide encounter a cult leader and flesh-hungry natives.
Adventure · Horror
5.2140 votes
TMDB score
4/5
Intensity
5/5
Gore
3/5
Stays with you
How Eaten Alive! scares
Watching this feels grimy and uncomfortable rather than thrilling, like an exploitation shocker that wants to test how much you can stomach rather than build real dread. The pace is uneven, with slow stretches in the jungle setting broken up by sudden, ugly bursts of violence and cruelty. Its fear comes almost entirely from graphic physical harm and a menacing cult, not from mood or suggestion, and it leans hard into shock for shock's sake. This is one for viewers who specifically seek out old-school extreme cannibal or exploitation horror and know what they're signing up for.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, Eaten Alive! rates psychological 2/5, visceral 5/5, gore 5/5, lingering effect 3/5, and overall intensity 4/5.
- Psychological: 2 of 5
- Visceral: 5 of 5
- Gore: 5 of 5
- Lingering: 3 of 5
- Intensity: 4 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 30 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 90 of 100 — leans Real-world
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 80 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A slow jungle trek that steadily piles on unease before turning into a brutal, unrelenting gauntlet near the end.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 3.
How scary is Eaten Alive!?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, Eaten Alive! rates 4/5 — one of the more punishing watches in the catalog, building its fear through slow-burn dread rather than shocks. It attacks the body more than the mind — physical, in-your-face horror. Expect it to be heavy on gore and genuinely disturbing. Some of it will follow you to bed, but it lets go within a day or so.
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