235) It's Alive (1974)

"I think this little guy's trying to kill me."

Director

Larry Cohen

Cast
John P. Ryan - Frank Davis

Sharon Farrell - Lenore Davis
Daniel Holzman - Chris Davis

Andrew Duggan - the Professor
Guy Stockwell - Bob Clayton

James Dixon - Lt. Perkins
William Wellman Jr. - Charley

When it comes to horror, is anything sacred? Well, today, probably not. But when Larry Cohen's "It's Alive" made its way to theaters back in 1974, some things were surely still untouchable as far as horror goes. 

This was the era when realism was intruding into the horror scene. Horror movies involving a child antagonist, or rather, child monsters had appeared in movies prior to 1974 - "Village of the Damned," "The Bad Seed," "Kill Baby...Kill!" and the creepy kid movie of all creepy kid movies, "The Exorcist." 

But they involved older children. "It's Alive" is about a killer infant. When it came to evil newborns, well there is "Rosemary's Baby" from 1968 (a movie I particularly don't care for) but her baby wasn't a killer monster. Not right away, at least.

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about the movie "It's Alive." On the one hand, it feels like a satirical creature feature attempting to cross a line, and possibly succeeding. The satire does keep things a bit on a leash, though. On the other hand, I have the impression there's some social commentary I wasn't sure I was understanding well enough. 

The movie centers on Frank Davis (John P. Ryan) and his wife, Lenore (Sharon Farrell) who are expecting their second child. 

When Lenore goes into labor, she delivers some kind of mutated fanged baby monster that immediately kills the doctor and nurses in the delivery room. 

The baby, a boy, escapes the hospital before anyone can stop him or even knows what's going on. And poor dad is in the waiting room with the other nervous dads completely unaware of what his poor wife just went through. He finds out soon enough when he goes to check on her in the delivery room and sees the dead nurses and doctors laying on the floor bleeding out. 

When the medical staff start joining the patient list, it’s a sign the birthing process didn’t go according to the maternity ward's happy delivery plan.

With the killer baby monster on the loose in the streets of Los Angeles, police detectives, and even the media are trying to find it by following its trail of death. 

Frank is horrified at the situation, though he certainly tries not to act so. But we know he is. He's just good at hiding it. Anyways, Frank refuses to believe that this monster child is his son and agrees to kill it or have it killed - whichever comes first. 

John P. Ryan as Frank Davis in "It's Alive." 

Lenore's motherly instincts kick in right away and she's not so eager to see it die no matter what it has done. It's just a baby, afterall.  

Authorities and scientists think the baby's deformities and dangerous behavior may be the result of experimental drugs or environmental toxins. 

Whatever the case might be, the kid needs to be found and if the authorities have their way, destroyed once and for all. 

Overall, watching this felt uncomfortable. Even though the movie hides the gruesome parts, leaving things up to the imagination, it's jarring to watch a movie about a ravenous killing newborn child.

Honestly, kids before their teen years are innocent enough, generally speaking. Newborns are the most tender and innocent of all of us. Still, audiences don't cringe as much should a teenager be the killer antagonist in a movie. 

There's an interesting subplot with Frank clearly attempting to ignore his own emotions and give permission for authorities to end the life of his son. Despite all that, I grew somewhat bored with "It's Alive" halfway through it. 

It tries to have shock value but even with its jarring premise, it proceeds cautiously with its premise otherwise previously considered too shocking even for horror. 

Going back to my mixed feelings, as I said I couldn't tell if this movie is trying to make some sort of social commentary, or what commentary it's trying to make. Is it trying to make a pro-abortion stance, or is it a commentary on the anxiety that comes with parenting? Is it anti-child? Is it anti-parent? Is it both? Then again, there is that satirical element. Subtle, but present. 

Well, according to the 2018 article "Killer Babies, Winged Serpents, and the Hammer: The Guerrilla Genius of B-Movie Maestro Larry Cohen" published on theringer.com, while "It's Alive" was released the year after the Roe v. Wade decision, Cohen denied the suggestion that the movie is inspired by the abortion debate as well as the thalidomide deaths of the 1950s and 1960s. 

The article quotes Cohen as saying, “I wasn’t thinking about that. I was thinking about articles that I saw where parents kill their kids because they were so drugged up and so violent and so intimidating that they were terrifying the parents. Suddenly, these people found out that the little boy that they had in their home had suddenly turned into some kind of monster that they feared. In several cases they actually kill their own kid. So I said, what about if it’s a baby, and nothing more angry than a frustrated baby, so I just decided to make the movie.”

Aside from all that, "It's Alive" has definitely aged into a typical creature-feature flick truly straight from its era. 

Cohen uses a lot of fast cut-aways, quick glimpses, fish-eye lenses and low point-of-view angles, along with typical gore (mild, but present) to sell the scare to the audience and give it a period feeling. Plus, it even manages to have a bit of emotion. I mean, despite all that hasn't aged well within this movie, the premise of two parents wrapping themselves around the shock that their newborn is a fanged terror cannot-not be an emotional story to some degree when the parents are concerned.

Cohen has directed other movies with plots that contain social commentary and satire to some degree or another. 

His 1972 dark comedy "Bone" certainly satirizes racism and class divides as well as wealthy suburban life. 

His well-known film, "The Stuff" which I commented on back in 2021 is one big horror satire on consumerism, capitalism, and America's love of junk food. "Can't get enough of 'The Stuff'!" So, it's no surprise "It's Alive" would be satirical, too.

This movie did spawn two sequels, It Lives Again (1978) and It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987). It also has a 2009 remake with Bijou Philips, James Murray and directed by Josef Rusnak
"It's Alive" dabbles in territory often deemed too disturbing for horror, yet it earns recognition for portraying a father who discovers humanity within his monstrous child while an impulsive society fails to do the same. Cohen deserves applause for concluding the film on such a poignant note.