It's Alive

A hideous mutant baby is born and escapes from the hospital, now it's scared and killing people. They learn that its on its way home, to find protection from its parents.

A pretty decent low-budget exploitation horror film by writer/director Larry Cohan (Q-The winged Serpent), this film takes the abortion issue to another level. A simple plot that's absurdly fun and silly to watch-but it's the cleverness of the script, that never has a dull moment.

The make-up effects and the baby puppet was designed and operated by Rick Baker (An American werewolf in London, Men in black, Ed Wood), the design looks decent enough for a low-budget film and one of his first major film designs, but because of Cohen's great direction we see through the eyes of the baby (in double vision) or it's hidden in the shadows and only small snippets of it are shown. We don't see it fully until the end, giving it a much more creepy feel to the film.

It centers more on the sound effects than the visuals, so there is more of a presence with it's nerve wracking crying and snarling. That actually helps give the atmosphere a dark and bleak feel of depression.

The performances are top notch from Sharon Farrell as the unstable mother Lenore Davies, James Dixon as Lieutenant Perkins and John Ryan as Frank Davis the cold-hearted father who wants his baby killed, his portrayal really does ground the film and brings an emotional element that sucks you in.

One the greatest music composers Bernard Herrmann (Citizen Kane, North by North West, Psycho, Taxi Driver, All that money cant buy) comes up with a superb score and a chilling main theme.

The cinematography is rather good towards to the feel of hysteria and tension, giving it a nauseating aura and good use of the baby's point of view. The film's pace is excellent and leads up to a fine climax.

It's no great feat of its genre, but it deserves merit. A very good film that's helped by it's excellent performances, script, direction and music score.

4/5

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!

Director Larry Cohen creates a thoughtful script about the effects of our environment on our reproductive systems in this thoroughly predictable yet immensely entertaining film. A father and a mother expecting rush to the hospital to have their second child. The only snag is that when the baby comes out of the womb it has razor-sharp fangs and claws with which it kills every doctor and nurse in its reach before fleeing the scene. The special effects are nothing too special, particularly by today's standards, but the film is full of insights and revelations as to what may be someday as we abuse our environment and use chemicals to sustain life. The father has a conversation in the waiting room with other expecting fathers. This conversation covers the ill-effects of pesticides, drugs, and other additives we use in our daily lives. The film uses the baby as a means to move action. With a distorted camera lens, we see things in the world through the eyes of this mutated infant. Initially the father wants to kill his beastly progeny. The police want to pump it full of lead. The doctors and drug companies want it destroyed to negate any possible backlash. A university professor wants the carcass for study when captured. Cohen shows us the underbelly of humanity. The people surrounding this infant are often no better than the child. All they want is gain...and it matters not at whose cost. John Ryan plays the introspective dad and does a fine job with this rather difficult role. He plays an ad executive who begins seeing the good in things and then slowly sees only the stark horror of his own life, his family life, his job, and his child. The other actors all do credible jobs. Cohen obviously likes horror as he names the wife Lenore and has the father talk at length about the novel Frankenstein. The production values and budget are minimal, but the film has a lot of heart where it counts.

Expectant parents Frank (John P. Ryan) and Lenore (Sharon Farrell) get the shock of their lives when their new baby turns out to be a hideous mutant, one that kills whenever it feels threatened. Fleeing the hospital, having massacred the entire delivery room staff only seconds after its birth, the savage infant roams Los Angeles, hunted by the police and its own father.

Although writer/director Cohen's script flirts with ecological/medical issues, briefly suggesting that either pollution or untested drugs may be the cause of the mutation and questioning the morality of abortion, these interesting plot points are quickly pushed aside in favour of Frank's growing psychological turmoil and the mounting police search for the monstrous child.

The former is handled pretty well, John P. Ryan giving a commendable performance as the initially belligerent father who ultimately tries to save his new son, but the pursuit of the creature is very tedious—unimaginative, repetitive, and lacking in general outrageousness and gore, with effects genius Rick Baker's mutant baby frustratingly kept hidden in the shadows for the majority of the film.

"It's Alive" is one of those cult horror films that I had heard a lot of great things about but didn't get around to seeing until just recently. I have to say that I was bored with it throughout most of the film, but started to catch on to its vibe as it got closer toward the end. I truly support what this movie has to say about the somewhat totalitarian world of medicine, and ended up liking "It's Alive" a lot more when I realized that it wasn't just some dumb movie with no real point or scares at all. I still have to admit that the movie didn't scare me at all, but it generated some good, healthy suspense, and the point is such a good one (and is so well done) that I do have to hand this movie some major support. It was more sad than anything else, but it wasn't too bad at all.