I like that Eaten Alive makes the audience squirm a bit. It's a deeply uncomfortable film, not in that obnoxious way that someone like Eli Roth makes uncomfortable films, but something so unapologetically bizarre that it takes you right out of any rational comfort zone. Also one of the best ambient soundtracks in a horror film, which was Hooper's unsung genius, with its tinny country radio interlaced with psychotic peels and pings and cackling crickets. And ol' Judd is quite funny after you get past any kind of sympathetic reflex. It's a shame that the only quote from the film on IMDb is from Buck. It's the dumbest line in the film. Does Buck even hambone, bro? I doubt it.
Except with the Buck line, which I think introduces his character quite perfectly (and obviously made an impression on the man-child, Tarantino, as well).
And, dammit, I meant to talk about the music and I forgot. It's really just so effective. Hooper was some kind of genius. I'm not sure what kind, but some kind.