3/5 ...and it's HUNGRY.
  by Robert P. Beveridge (Cleveland, OH)
It's Alive (Larry Cohen, 1973)

What is there to say about It's Alive that hasn't already been said? Cohen (Air Force One: The Final Mission)'s fourth film is one of the most popular and enduring cult films of all time. It's a touching story about the bond between a father and his psychotic, murderous infant.

Frank (The Postman Always Rings Twice's John Ryan) and Lenore (Night of the Comet's Sharon Farrell) Davies are expecting their first child, and as we open, the blessed event is about to take place. When Lenore gives birth, however, the child is deformed. And hungry. And has a thing for human blood. The rest of the film concerns Frank and the police trying to track the infant as it leaves a trail of bodies through suburban Los Angeles.

With a Bernard Hermann score and Rick Baker effects, you know this ain't Rosemary's Baby. Cohen was going for the gut from moment one, as usual, and everyone involved in the production was right on board with that idea. This is melodrama with just enough gore to keep seventies-era gorehounds happy. These days, the big plot twist at the end is going to look like a cliché, but it wasn't all that normal back in the day. (It does, however, reference an obvious film that had been released a few years back; which one will be obvious if you go back and re-read this review so far.) It's all in good fun, and quite enjoyable if one isn't expecting too much. ***


2/5 Dullsville
  by GameraRocks (Gillsville, GA USA)
I was really disappointed in this movie. I have heard so much about it, but it was just a let down. "It's Alive" is so unrealistic, I would have actually liked it better if the baby was normal and running around with a knife! It's funny to watch the mother just casually say "it's time" when she goes into labor. I have been around women when it starts and there is some screaming and stress involved. People wish leaving for the hospital was that pleasant. You barely get to see the monster and the movie itself is dull. I almost went to sleep watching. Needless to say, the box of the movie with the cradle as the picture is way scarier than the film

3/5 A fun look at the '70s...but not a very scary film.
  by RMurray847 (Albuquerque, NM United States)
In "celebration" of the Halloween spirit, my wife and I watched a couple of old horror flicks in recent days. As a lark, one of our selections was Larry Cohen's IT'S ALIVE. I had not seen the film in about 20 years, and I knew perfectly well it was not exactly a class act. But I was looking for modest, guilty-pleasure diversion.

It was a diversion, but not altogether a pleasure. Made in 1973/74, it absolutely REEKS of the sensibilities of that fashion-challenged time. Everyone smokes...everywhere. Bosses still played "grab a**" with their secretaries. Fabrics, carpets, cars and curtains were all shades of brown ("earth tones"). Everyone drank hard liquor. If the TV series MAD MEN slavishly recreates the feel of the early `60s...IT'S ALIVE actually gives a somewhat convincing idea of what the early `70s were like. Because not only was it made at that time, but everything was done on such a low budget that little concern was given to making things look nice or glamorous. It almost feels like the cast was just asked to wear their everyday clothes...and it feels like they just pulled up to some random house in the LA suburbs and asked if they could film there. It feels decidedly "TV movie" in scale...but now, with 35 years of history between the film and today...it also feels authentic in its way.

This cultural fascination aside, the film also offers a perfectly simple and silly story. Frank & Lenore Davis (John Ryan and Sharon Farrell) are a near middle-age, middle class couple with a 12 year old son. The film literally begins with a pregnant Lenore waking up in the middle of the night to announce "it's time." The couple get up, get dressed, make arrangements for their son, and head to the hospital. Lenore remarks a couple of times that things "don't feel the same this time" in reference to her pregnancy. Otherwise, the first 15 minutes of the film is almost irredeemably mundane. We see Frank pacing around in the father's waiting room. We see Lenore wheeled into delivery. Just as your eyelids begin to droop, a scream breaks out from down the hall.

A "baby" of some sort has been born, but this is a baby capable of killing the 5 doctors & nurses who attended its birth. It's also capable of escaping the hospital on its own. Throughout the film, we get only the briefest glimpse of this little monster, just before it leaps onto the throat of an unsuspecting person.

But much of the film is really about the reaction of the parents to their monster. It is assumed by the authorities that the beast will simply be killed. Frank is all for this idea...he constantly insists that this baby "isn't mine." Lenore, who understandably is a little nuts at this point from the sedatives and her own dismay at giving birth to a serial killer, mostly wanders around her house in a nightgown, saying weird things to her husband, such as suggesting they "try again" to have a baby.
Eventually, the baby finds its way home, and the dynamics of the movie actually take on a few surprising twists that I won't reveal. It's not exactly earth-shaking stuff...but it does show that creator Cohen was actually interested in making some sort of psychological or sociological point.

Early in the film, one of the waiting fathers talks about how the smog in LA is so bad, and how many bad things are in the air. Later, Frank tells a detective that he and his wife had considered an abortion early on, and he says "Doesn't everyone talk about it these days?" And Frank also has to deal with a hostile press and a smarmy boss who shows sympathy on one hand, yet maneuvers Frank out of his job on another. I say all this as my way of stating that Cohen appeared to be making an attempt to comment on the baby/creature as an non-surprising "offspring" of our society.
In no way is the point made successfully, but I have to reluctantly give the movie some credit for trying to inject some brains into what is mostly a laughably simplistic horror tale.

Most of the performances are substandard. No one is particularly horrible, but no one convinces either. The lead detective feels nothing like a cop. A researcher does not come across like a scientist at all. Frank's boss is a playboy wanna-be who doesn't feel like a guy who has ever spent a single day in an office. Etc. etc. (Particularly laughable are all the extras playing uniformed policeman...walking around slowly in stony silence, shining flashlights everywhere without actually looking at what the light beams reveal.)

In the midst of all this is the performance of John Ryan. He was a character actor that showed up a lot in cheapie flicks like this in the 70s and `80s. (He was actually quite effective as the insane warden in RUNAWAY TRAIN.) This part was a rare lead role for him. And he clearly relished it, and he gives a performance that sort of dances to its own tune, if you will. He infuses Frank with anguished subtext that is never quite coherent. You can FEEL Ryan working to give a great performance, even though his skills as an actor were not up to the task. There are flashes of total conviction, followed by scenes in which he mostly stares off into the distance with bug eyes. His Frank seems to be teetering on insanity...but honestly, it almost feels that way BEFORE the baby is born.

This movie is actually rated PG (I guess it would have been "GP" back in the day)...and the violence is quite mild by today's standards. Heck, even the blood is a totally unconvincing light red. There is not one single genuine moment of fright...but there are a few modestly creepy moments. And there are just enough surprises, and just enough fascination with the look of 1974 to make IT'S ALIVE worth a look. Kids and teens of today will be bored right out of their minds...but if you lived during this time and have clear memories of it, I think you might actually be passingly amused. 2.5 stars


5/5 I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN PAMPERS!
  by CLINT BRONSON (las vegas,NV.)
IT'S ALIVE! This movie put Larry Cohen on the map(well,the HORROR
map that is) this is about the birth of a killer mutant infant
who terrorizes Los Angeles. The storyline is handled with commendably
straight faces and John Ryan does give it his all! This has GREAT
music by none other then Bernard Herrmann who did PSYCHO and
Brian DePalma's SISTERS. Also the It's Alive baby is done by Rick
american werewolf Baker. Please give this 74 movie a try on which
I quote Tarantino...This movie is hilariously wicked! Trust me
this is the HORROR movie to powder your bottoms right.
p.s.also recommend BASKET CASE!

5/5 A 70's horror classic!
  by John Lindsey (Socorro, New Mexico USA.)
The Davies (John P. Ryan and Sharon Farrel) are expecting a baby but as soon as they arrive in the hospital, something goes wrong in the living room as the wife gives birth to a sharp toothed, red-eyed, clawed mutant infant monster that kills anyone that gets in it's way. The cops are urged to kill the mutant freak before it kills more and the father is determined to find out the mystery behind what caused the mutant and must destroy it.

One of the most influential horror movies of the 1970's and one of Larry Cohen's best movies! spawning two sequels with a remake coming out sometime and some rip-offs. This gory thriller gives us the chilling possiblities of what radioation or a deadly drug can effect a developing fetus, Rick Baker's creature and make-up effects are excellent for it's day and the acting is good. It's a shocking and startling movie with ideas and one of the most original screen monsters there is, a must see for fans of old school horror.

The DVD contains a good widescreen transfer with good sound and the only extras are a audio commentary by writer-director Larry Cohen and trailers for all three movies.


Also recommended: "Basket Case", "Re-Animator", "The Toxic Avenger", "C.H.U.D", "Bride of Re-Animator", "Beyond Re-Animator", "Q: The Winged Serpent", "It Lives Again", "It's Alive III: Island of the Alive", "The Brood", "Halloween", "Class of Nuke'Em High", "The Fly (1986)", "Scanners", "Bloody Birthday", "An American Werewolf in London", "God Told Me To", "Brain Damage", "Frankenhooker", "Pet Semetary", "The Children", "Slugs", "Baby Blood", "The Stuff", "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie", "28 Days Later", "28 Weeks Later", "The Crazies", and "Dawn of the Dead (1978 and 2004)".