Die Wiege des Satans

Weak follow-up to the original cult classic It's Alive is virtually a remake of the first film, but with three babies this time around instead of one. Dull, boring, talky horror flick with a disappointing score and just about all the action and scares confined to the end, but by then it is too late. Rick Baker actually did the poor effects for this inept sequel.

Rated R; Violence & Profanity.

"The monster child returns - but now there are three!" Frank Davis (John P Ryan), father of the original "It", is back but this time he is in Tuscon, Arizona, to warn expectant couple Eugene and Jody Scott that their baby will be a murderous mutant, like his was. Led by Mallory (prolific actor John Marley), the cops want to kill their baby but Davis helps them to evade capture, their now-born creature joins two other mutants in a safe location but when they escape a fresh wave of killing begins. Unlike "It's Alive" (1974) the first half is quite uneventful, the baby isn't seen until 30 minutes in. Rick Baker once again provides the special effects and we do see more of the mutant babies, however there are fewer kills and less gore than in the original. Music once again comes from composer Bernard Herrmann, though he had died several years beforehand so it is just rehashed material. Overall this isn't a bad sequel, if you liked the original then it is worth watching, but given the good cast they do seem a little wasted. The ending hints at another sequel and sure enough it came, though not until 9 years later.

After the Davis baby is destroyed, others begin to appear around the country. The second film follows a renegade group of people (including Frank Davis from the first film) who are trying to prevent the government from killing the mutant babies. But at what price? Along with Frank, we now have the Scott family: Eugene Scott (played by Frederic Forrest, best known to me as the Nazi Surplus Store Owner from "Falling Down") and Jody Scott (played by the lovely and undercast Kathleen Lloyd). And the Scott family doesn't like it when you try to kill their baby! Oh, and the makeup effects of Oscar-winning Rick Baker again.

This film picks up pretty much where the other left off, give or take a few months. Where the first one pushed the message of chemicals affecting unborn babies, this is more of a family message: parents should love their children regardless of who or what they are. If your child is a criminal or autistic, they're still your child and you should defend and love them, not let the government exterminate them.

There's also a really subtle subplot about child molestation. Although never explicitly shown, there is good reason to believe molestation is occurring between an adult and a child family member. (I won't say who, but you should notice it as hints are dropped multiple times.)

This film is paced better than the first one, and the attacks are a bit more often and slightly more gruesome (though by no means graphic). Going from a PG rating to an R was a good move, though they didn't push the rating as much as I probably would have liked. And a really strange thing happens: Frank Davis becomes known as "Frank Davis". Not "Frank", not "Mr. Davis"... but "Frank Davis" every time he is mentioned. It seems unnatural, as if somehow he is a celebrity that needs to be highlighted, like TV's Patrick Duffy or something.

Although I liked this movie better than the first one, it relies heavily on the first one to understand it, so you're really stuck having to watch both if you want to "get it". The recurring characters and source of the mutants won't make sense unless you see the original. But by all means if you liked the first one, watch the second... and if you liked this one, watch the third.

After the first film It's Alive about a mutant baby that's a real killer fresh from the womb, it was decided a sequel was in order. The first must have made a few dollars, that is how these things are decided.

Returning from the first film is John P. Ryan the father who killed his own mutant and now has a mission in life, maybe to save others who are now showing up in the population. Which is why he visits Frederic Forrest and Kathleen Lloyd another expectant set of parents.

After that things get real silly as the all seeing government in the person of John Marley gets into the act. There's also an institute that wants to house and study the mutants that's headed by Andrew Duggan. All these plot elements combine for one bloody ending.

Not that the first film was a world beater, but it's Citizen Kane next to this.

I thought the first movie of this series was a pretty mediocre effort all around, so my hopes were not high when I sat down to watch this sequel. To my surprise, for quite a while I thought that this movie was shaping up to be much better than the original movie. The production values are a lot better, for one thing. Also, the first half of the movie, with the new and old characters, is surprisingly engaging. It was a new angle and not simply copying the first movie.

However, around the halfway point, the movie starts to fall apart and gets more tedious as it progresses. There's a lot less horror in this sequel than the first movie - in fact, the first real horror sequence only happens when more than half an hour of the running time has passed! The real problem is that the movie simply becomes boring and a tough slog to get through. Too bad, since writer/director Larry Cohen did have the stuff to make a better film.

One last thing: "It Lives Again" was rated "R", while the first movie got a "PG" rating. Which I don't understand, because "It Lives Again" has no nudity, no sex, no foul language, and far less blood and horror than the first film!