Die Wiege des Bösen

"It's Alive!" were the famous words of Dr. Frankenstein when he brought his monster to life. There was a Frankenstein reference in the movie as well. In fact, the main character, Frank (John Ryan), made reference to the fact that everyone confuses the monster with being Frankenstein when in fact the scientist was Frankenstein. Now, Frank, as the father of a miniature killer, may be confused with the monstrosity that's running around killing people because he sired it.

"It's Alive" is so creepy but flawed. Deeply flawed. I think many horror movies are riddled with flaws. In this horror a carnivorous baby that's more akin to a vicious predator is on the loose in southern California. Right out of the womb it began its killing spree. Apparently it has been born with the full capabilities to kill, hunt, and escape. Oh yeah, it's stealthy, can open doors, and is about as fast as a cheetah. How about that for a newborn.

The pregnant Lenore Davis (Sharon Farrell) tells her husband Frank Davis (John Ryan) that she is in labor to have the baby. They leave their eleven year-old son Chris (Daniel Holzman) with their friend Charley (William Wellman Jr.) and they head to the Community Hospital. Lenore feels that something is wrong and delivers a monster that kills the team in the delivery room and escapes through a skylight. Lieutenant Perkins (James Dixon) comes to the hospital to investigate the murder and the press divulges the identity of the parents of the monster. Frank loses her job of executive in public relationship and accepts the offer of a university that wants to research the corpse of the baby to discover the reason for the mutation. Meanwhile the baby continues to kill people in town. Out of the blue, Frank discovers a dark secret about Lenore and the baby.

A couple of days ago I saw the awful remake of "It's Alive" and I decided to watch again the 1974 B-movie of Larry Cohen to reevaluate it in the present days. The original film is better and better than the lame remake of 2010. The analogy of Frank with Dr. Frankenstein is one of the good dialogs of this film. The madness process of Lenore Davis is more plausible than the ridiculous behavior of Lenore Harker of the new version. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Nasce um Monstro" ("A Monster is Born")

Note: On 25 March 2016, I saw this film again.

Yes, this movie features a baby of a different kind...the kind that crawls and kills!!! Yes, a killer baby that for some reason me and my family watched quite a few times when I was a kid. Somewhat creepy and somewhat cheesy at the same time as parts of it are easily made fun of. The movie has a couple of kills in it, but it really is not all that gory compared to an Italian horror movie. The story is okay and it does not try to explain things to much, unlike the later "It's Alive" movies would do. The movie ends in a rather different fashion too as it is somewhat surprising what the man does at the end. Still, the thought of a killer baby is kind of creepy and kind of funny and that is why this movie somewhat works. More gore and such would have made it better and more sewer scenes too, for some reason I find the sewer to be a very good horror backdrop that is used somewhat in movies, but not not enough for my tastes. All in all though this movie is not boring and somewhat fun to watch and in some parts make fun of.

Larry Cohen has made a name for himself for producing offbeat horror movies, and this story of a killer deformed baby certainly belongs in his filmography. It's Alive is a huge highlight of the horror genre, and one that doesn't get the praise that it deserves. The film is notable amongst other films of similar plotting because of the way that it fully explores it's premise. Rather than focusing on the monster and the murders, Cohen sees fit to show the audience the effect that the birth of a murderous monster has on the family at the centre of the story, the government, the family friends and various other entities; all of which helps to aid the film in it's bid to be a complete horror thriller. Of course, the film is too silly to be truly touching, but the idea of trying to get the audience to empathise with the characters in this sort of movie is nice, and it adds to kitsch campness of the movie, which does it no end of favours in this kitsch fan's opinion.

The acting adheres to the typical, and much loved, B-movie styling and that is another plus point to add to this movie's resume. John P. Ryan in particular is superb as the upset father, and we see him go through a range of emotions in response to the birth of his 'son', which is a treat indeed. The script isn't the greatest work of art ever to be brought to the screen, but it's always inventive enough to ensure that the action stays interesting and It's Alive hardly suffers from becoming trite and boring. The creature effects aren't the best ever seen, but Larry Cohen hides this fact by never completely showing the creature. This hampers the movie in a way, as it will no doubt get on many viewers' nerves as seeing the monster is normally a highlight of this type of movie; but on the other hand, seeing the monster usually results in disappointment - so at least Cohen's film stays away from that! On the whole, while this film will do nothing for fans of serious art movies; horror fans, particularly very B-horror fans, will be in heaven. Highly recommended!

IT'S ALIVE (1974) ** John Ryan, Sharon Farrell, James Dixon, William Wellman, Jr., Daniel Holzman, Guy Stockwell, Michael Ansara. Cult horror classic conceived by filmmaker Larry Cohen with his signature low-budget aplomb probes many fears (pregnancy, parenthood, chemically enhanced polutions et al) when a loving family's latest offspring turns out to be a murderous monstrosity. Subjective camera angles and quick interspersed cuts of the 'infant' (created by a young Rick Baker, Future Oscar-winning MonsterMaker!) give a few good chills in this fairly middling, tongue-in-cheek genre flick.