|
EATEN ALIVE
Plot Outline of Original-
Judd is the rambling, one legged, bible-thumping owner/operator of the Starlite Hotel, a run down roadside motel in the American deep south. In the swamp behind his hotel, Judd keeps a large African Crocodile.
A local hooker, Clara, rejects a customer, Buck, request to do her in the pooper and gets herself kicked out of her brothel. She seeks shelter for the night at the Starlite Hotel, where Judd takes exception to her line of work. He mutilates her with his pitchfork then feeds her, still alive, to his pet crocodile out back.
A family of three checks in with their dog. The dog quickly becomes Croc food. The family bickers amongst themselves, apparently trying to top Judd in the “crazy” department. The father, Roy, is killed with a scythe and tossed to the Croc. Judd then focuses his attention on the mother, Faye, but before he can finish her off, he’s distracted by the little girl, Angie, screaming. Judd takes a break on assaulting Faye long enough to chase Angie around until she ends up ditching him by hiding underneath the hotel. Judd goes back inside where he binds and gags Faye.
Clara’s father, Harvey, and sister, Libby, show up looking for Clara with the local Sheriff & the brothel Madame. Libby wanders off by herself to look for her sister while Judd launches a scythe attack on the others before tossing them to his Croc.
Buck, who got rejected by Clara the hooker at the start of the film, picks up a woman at a local bar and brings her to the Starlite Hotel for some sex. Judd ends up tossing Buck in the swamp to his Croc, but Buck’s woman takes off, and ultimately flags down a car and escapes.
Libby stumbles upon Faye, who is still bound and gagged and unties her. Just as the two women are about to flee the room, Judd appears and quarrels with Faye as Libby retrieves Angie from beneath the hotel.
As Judd battles with Faye, the Croc decides to help himself to some more chow, but mistakenly bites the hand, or should I say head, that feeds and drags Judd in to the swamp for a midnight snack. His wooden peg leg floats to the surface and that’s the last we see of him. Faye, Libby and Angie escape. The end.
Plot changes in the Remake-
Since Crocodiles are not found in the Louisiana Bayou, my first change would be switching the location of the film to the southern tip of Florida, in the Everglades where Crocodiles are found naturally. This location switch would lend credibility to the premise and realism to the film.
Since I’m switching the location, I’d do away with the sound stage settings they used in the original and shoot this film on location, which could ultimately lead to a different name for the hotel as well depending on what the location scouts can find.
For the most part, the characters were great and I wouldn’t change much there with the exception of the family that checks in and actually seems to be just as crazy as Judd. I think I’d normalize them a bit to make them more identifiable for the viewers, especially the father. I’d probably do away with Judd’s peg leg to give more credibility to the chase scenes. And the only other character change would be that I’d raise the age of Angie from 8-9 to about 15-16.
Instead of just one Crocodile in the swamp, I’d want to the remake to have several, maybe up to a half dozen or so. Since they are native to southern Florida, this would not be far fetched but would allow for a more terrifying experience for the viewers and victims alike, never knowing where the next attack might come from. Not to mention that it’d be gruesomely cool to see the Croc’s ripping their victims apart as they fight for a chunk of meat.
The other major plot point I’d change would be letting Judd survive at the end of the film. This would open the door for sequels and also enhance the creepiness factor as viewers consider the possibility that this guy could possibly be out there somewhere, still operating some backwater motel and feeding his patrons to the Croc’s out back.
The other main opportunities I see for improving this film are in the areas of plot and Special FX. I’d certainly get someone to rewrite the script so there’s more depth to the story and bring in someone with a lot of experience with creature FX to enhance the realism of the crocodile and the kills scenes. I would steer clear of CGI except in very small doses here or there. While the general plot would remain the same, I do believe that better writing with attentiveness to subplots could really help. I’d also have the rewrite focus on giving us a little bit more of Judd’s backstory since we know so little about this fascinatingly warped character. (More on the FX artist and writer selections can be found in the Crew section of my answer.)
Casting-
Judd (Hotel Owner)- Bill Moseley (I think he’s perfectly capable of filling the creepy southern redneck with murderous tendencies role.)
Roy (Family Father)- Nicky Katt (Under-rated actor that would fit superbly in to the role of a well meaning father that mistakenly leads his tourist family in to the middle of nowhere.)
Faye (Family Mother)- Gabrielle Anwar (Solid actress, sexy, believable in positions of vulnerability.)
Angie (Family Child)- Natalia Dyer (An unknown actress, but she looks the part. I think a teen in distress is less predictable than a younger child so I upped the age of this character a bit)
Libby (Hooker’s Sister)- Michelle Rodriguez (Strong, smart, and looks enough like Jessica Lucas that they would be believable as sisters.)
Clara (The Hooker)- Jessica Lucas (Young, sexy, vulnerable. A perfect first victim.)
Harvey (Hooker’s Father)- David Zayas (Good actor, has the “regular joe” look, Latino so he’d be believable as the father of Clara & Libby.)
Sheriff Martin- Cheech Marin (He’s been in some cool roles lately and think he’d fit in well here as a Hispanic sheriff that lends a little comedic relief to the film before he gets offed.)
Miss Hattie (Brothel Madame)- Sharon Stone (A fine actress, fully capable of playing the sultry, sexy, middle aged woman role)
Buck (Southern Sleaze ball)- Robert Englund (I’d bring him back to let him reprise his role from the original. There’s no reason Buck needs to be a young man and since he played the part so well in the first one, I see no reason to replace him in the remake. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”)
Crew-
Director – Eli Roth
Writer – Eli Roth, Steve Niles
Special FX – Tom Savini (for the gore), Roy Arbogast (for creature FX), Connie Brink (for any CGI)
All other Crew positions are of less importance than those mentioned above and I’d feel comfortable leaving them in the hands of the fully capable director. Music, editing, set decoration, cinematography, etc… were not poor in the original so as long as someone could be found to replicate or update what is in the original, those areas would be fine.
Marketing-
Posters – I’d go with a series of posters…
1 - Depicting a creepy, rundown motel surrounded by dark swampland on a desolate road with a ‘Vacancy’ sign with one of the letters burned out.
2 - Depicting a dark swamp with the eyes of a crocodile barely visible above the surface of the water.
3 - Depicting Bill Moseley as Judd behind the check-in counter of a run down motel wearing a creepy grin.
Print Ads – The print ads would mimic the poster campaign.
TV – I’d want the trailers to sell the cast, specifically Judd since he’s the central character here, but also Buck, the hooker, the unwitting tourist family and the crocodiles. I’d like to see a lot of fast editing of chases scenes, crocodile attacks and Judd, to let the viewers know it’ll be a fast paced gorefest. I’d also insert a one-liner or two from Judd or Buck to let them know they’ll be in for just a hint of comedy mixed in to their terror.
Viral –
1 - Mock missing persons news reports from the south Florida area, including interviews with proprietor of a local motel named Judd who claims he doesn’t know anything about the missing folks, but cautions viewers that the swamp can be a dangerous place, especially at night.
2 – Mock news reports interviewing families with loved ones that have seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth.
In regards to luring in old school horror fans, I’d make sure all the marketing pointed out that this is a remake of Tobe Hooper “video nasty” cult classic and also make sure the ads all inform that the films stars Robert Englund and Bill Moseley, both considered modern day horror icons. I’d also be sure to advertise the fact that Tom Savini is heading up the FX department and that Eli Roth is directing. Those are 4 big names in the horror world and when you add in the fact that we’re remaking a video nasty and giving it a modern spin, I think that be enough to tempt the diehard horror fans in to coming out and seeing it.
|