Alongside political videos, Brewis also produces media reviews and video essays on a number of topics, including television series and videogames—such as Sherlock, Braid, Fallout 3, and Bloodborne—and aspects of gaming culture like speedrunning.[1][2][3]
In general, Brewis does not run YouTube ads on his channel, instead opting to use the crowdfunding website Patreon. According to Brewis, this is so that he is beholden to his audience and not to advertisers, which allows him to maintain creative control over his videos.[4]
References
- ^ Inderst, Rudolf (2021). ""Here Comes a New Challenger" Will Video Game Essays be the New Champion of Game Criticism?". In Beil, Benjamin; Freyermuth, Gundolf S.; Schmidt, Hans Christian (eds.). Paratextualizing Games. Transcript Verlag. pp. 257–278. doi:10.1515/9783839454213-011. ISBN 978-3-8376-5421-9.
- ^ Moosa, Tauriq (2019-01-25). "'Success would've been three grand': meet the gamer who raised $340,000 for a trans charity". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
- ^ Alter, Rebecca (2023-12-22). "Hbomberguy Didn't Want to Make That 4-Hour Plagiarism Video". Vulture. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
- ^ Sylvia, J. J.; Moody, Kyle (2022). "BreadTube Rising: How Modern Creators Use Cultural Formats to Spread Countercultural Ideology". CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture. 24 (1). doi:10.7771/1481-4374.4291. ISSN 1481-4374.
Production
editFollowing the success of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Hooper hoped to film a non-horror movie to avoid being typecast as a director.[citation needed] Alongside The Texas Chain Saw Massacre co-writer Kim Henkel, he worked on scripts for the murder mystery Bleeding Hearts and another project titled Dead and Alive. However, neither came to materialize and Hooper was approached by Psychic Killer producer Mardi Rustam to direct Eaten Alive [Muir, Jaworzyn]. The film's budget was mainly gathered on Hooper's name alone and is reported to have been $600,000 [Muir].
The concept came from Rustam and Alvin Fast but the screenplay was written by Henkel and Hooper [Muir]. The plot was very loosely based on the story of Joe Ball (also known as the Alligator Man or The Butcher of Elmendorf) who owned a bar with a live alligator attraction during the 1930s in Elmendorf, Texas. During this time, Ball murdered several women. Legend has it that he disposed of his victims' bodies by feeding them to his pet alligators, but this was never proven.[1][also cite Tafoya]
Working under the title Death Trap, Eaten Alive was filmed entirely on the sound stages of Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, California, which had a large-scale pool that could double as a swamp.[2][Check if a better source is appropriate here] Shooting on a sound stage instead of a practical location contributed to the atmosphere of the film, which director Tobe Hooper described as a "surrealistic, twilight world."[3][Check if a better source is appropriate] [Southern Gothic design of the set] [Lighting and camerawork from Caramico]
In April 1978, when Eaten Alive was halfway through filming, Hooper called the movie a "commercial film that I feel good about" in an interview with Variety [Variety, also in Jaworzyn]. The film eventually proved to be problematic for the director, though, who left the set shortly before production ended, due to a dispute with the producers. Rustam reportedly pushed for increased nudity, which Hooper was unhappy with, and the two apparently had different views on the film's tone [Muir, Jaworzyn]. It was rumoured that Hooper handed over directing to either Caramico or Jones, and additional scenes were shot without his involvement [Muir, Tafoya]. [also mentioned in interview with Englund in Fangoria #47]
Next bit is questionable and needs rewriting or better sourcing Hooper's good relationship with his actors remained intact, though. The director later recalled how he worked with actor Neville Brand to fully develop the character of Judd, declaring, "He understood what he was doing exactly.”[4]
Similarly to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the film was scored by Wayne Bell and Hooper. The score, which consisted of synthesizer music
[This section also needs details on the soundtrack by Wayne Bell]
Release
editBelow may need better citing or rewriting - check over
Initially released in 1976 under the title Starlight Slaughter by Virgo International, then re-released as Eaten Alive by New World Pictures in 1978,[5] the film was a commercial flop.[citation needed] In an attempt to recover losses from the project, Eaten Alive was re-released a number of times under a variety of different names.[Muir] [AFI has details of the film classification in the US]
It was released uncut in the UK with the title Death Trap in 1978 [Mammoth Book of Slasher Movies]. With an uncensored version released on home video by VIPCO in 1982, the film became one of the first so-called "video nasties" to be prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act 1959.[6][3] [The Mammoth Book of Slasher Movies has some good details]
Its gratuitous violence became the focal point of many social critics in the UK, including vocal conservative activist Mary Whitehouse, and consequently all video copies were removed from retail stores.
The film was removed from the list of banned video nasties in 1985 and was eventually re-released on VHS in 1992, although 25 seconds were removed from the original cut by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).[7] An uncut version was released on DVD in 2000, and a Blu-ray was distributed by Arrow Films in 2015.
Themes
editCritic Mike Thorn has argued that the overlaying of human screams, radio music and animal sounds implies an equivalence between humans and non-human animals, contributing to the theme throughout the movie that the human characters are driven by base, animalistic impulses.
Sexism
Dark comedy
Artificiality
Use of violence maybe
Madness/normality
- ^ Hawkes, Rebecca (2015-05-04). "Eaten Alive: the bizarre true story behind Tobe Hooper's alligator horror movie". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2024-08-24.
- ^ Patterson, Cleaver (15 October 2015). "Eaten Alive: Film Review". SCREAM Magazine. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
- ^ a b Brown, Ford Maddox. "Eaten Alive". www.starburstmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
- ^ Balun, Chas., ed. (1989). The deep red horror handbook. Albany, N.Y.: Fantaco Enterprises. ISBN 0938782126.
- ^ Bartholomew, David (1978). "Eaten Alive". Cinefantastique. Vol. 8, no. 1. p. 19.
- ^ Waddell, Terrie (2003). Cultural Expressions of Evil and Wickedness: Wrath, Sex, Crime. Rodopi. p. 114. ISBN 9042010150. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- ^ Martin, John Wiley (2007). Seduction of the Gullible: The Truth Behind the Video Nasty Scandal. Stray Cat. p. 156. ISBN 9780953326181. Retrieved 21 May 2017.