Crocodiles Make Fine Pets (Eaten Alive, 1976)

Tobe Hooper followed up his classic horror the Texas Chainsaw Massacre by traversing similar ground but in a different way. Set in rural Texas, Judd runs the local Starlight Hotel.  It is a remote location, with its own swamp.  And in that swamp? Judd keeps a giant crocodile.  And guess what he feeds it?

Judd is your standard movie religious psychotic redneck.  He kills prostitutes, he kills johns, he kills people who might expose him for killing prostitutes and so on.

Everything about this film feels like a sub-par take on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  Both were made with obvious low budgets, yet here it just makes the film look cheap.  In place of any tension, the film feels sleazy and generally unpleasant.

Probably the most interesting thing about the film is the cast.  It features a young Robert Englund, and several familiar faces, such as Mel Ferrer and Neville Brand.  And yes, the woman running the brothel is Morticia Addams, Carolyn Jones.

This was ultimately a disappointing follow-up to a classic.