Le monstre est vivant

"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.

A fantastically focused and engaged socio-horror film from the last golden age of the 1970s. Anchored around a most committed and persuasive performance from John Ryan and Larry Cohen's empathetic and savvy direction, It's Alive might display some raggedness and lapses in style, but it more than makes up for this with searing intelligence, sharp and sad gallows humour and a beating heart on the side of the ostracized and ridiculed. A fine example of what genre movies can really do.

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!" 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.

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.