It's Alive (1974/I)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Larry Cohen

Writer:

Larry Cohen (written by)

Release Date:

October 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Tagline:

Whatever it is, it's alive and deadly.

Plot:

The Davies expect a baby, which turns out to be a monster with a nasty habit of killing when it's scared. And it's easily scared. |

Plot Keywords:

Baby | Monster | Hospital | Homicidal Baby | Throat Ripping

Awards:

1 win

Cast

John P. Ryan	...	Frank Davies (as John Ryan)
Sharon Farrell	...	Lenore Davies
James Dixon	...	Lieutenant Perkins
William Wellman Jr.	...	Charley
Shamus Locke	...	The Doctor
Andrew Duggan	...	The Professor
Guy Stockwell	...	Bob Clayton
Daniel Holzman	...	Chris Davies
Michael Ansara	...	The Captain
Robert Emhardt	...	The Executive
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nancy Burnett	...	Nurse (as Mary Nancy Burnett)

Also Known As:

Baby Killer (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1984) | UK:15 (video re-rating) | Portugal:M/16 | Netherlands:16 (DVD rating) | West Germany:18 | Norway:16 (video premiere) | Argentina:16 (re-rating) | Argentina:X (original rating) | Australia:R | Finland:(Banned) (1975) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:PG | Iceland:16 | Norway:(Banned) (1975-2003) (cinema release)

Company:

Larco Productions

Trivia:

Bernard Herrmann titled the music cue where the milkman meets his demise "The Milkman Goeth."

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At the end, when Frank is holding the baby in his arms, the cover accidentally reveals a patch of hair, revealing it to be a dog.

Quotes:

Lieutenant Perkins: Hunting and killing babies doesn't seem to be my specialty.

Movie Connections:

Remade as It's Alive (2008)

Cult Classic

It's Alive (1974)

*** (out of 4)

Popular film has a family rushed to the hospital where the mom delivers their second child but this one turns out to be a deformed monster. The monster breaks from from the hospital and soon bodies start to pile up. Only the 70s could feature a film where a baby goes around killing. Nine times out of ten the film would have been a disaster but Larry Cohen is a talented man who works wonders with the story. Sure, it's pretty silly and how the baby becomes a monster is silly but these things just add some charm to the movie. There are a lot of underlined messages, which are handled quite well but for the most part I've always seen this as a cult item, which makes for great viewing at midnight.