It's Alive (1974)

You won't be disappointed!

Too much of everything

The Worst Film Ever

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

There are some interesting and even somewhat ambitious (for its genre) ideas buried in the screenplay for "It's Alive," a mutant killer baby movie from 1974, but everything about the film is so poorly executed that the ideas don't get a chance to go anywhere.Those ideas include the anxiety and loss of control that come with having a newborn baby; the disappointment parents can feel when their children don't live up to their own preconceived expectations; the rift that children can create between husbands and wives; and the general responsibility husbands and fathers feel to "fix" whatever is wrong with their families. The film reminded me a tiny bit of David Lynch's "Eraserhead": in both, a literal monster exists as a stand in for all of the psychological angst that comes with bringing a child into the world. But "It's Alive" is very poorly directed, so it's not at all scary, and, though it elicits a chuckle once in a while for how stupid it is, it's not really bad enough to land into "so bad it's good" territory either. Mostly, the audience spends its time trying to get a glimpse of this killer baby, which it never really sees in any detail (probably a wise decision on the part of the filmmakers).Grade: C-

All is happy in the Davis household as parents John P. Ryan and Sharon Farrell are expecting the arrival of a new baby. But after a difficult labor Farrell gives birth to something out of Alien. It kills the delivery team in the hospital leaving mother alive, but shattered beyond belief and not knowing really what's going on. A beautiful Bernard Hermann score is really wasted on a cheap horror exploitation flick that spawned to sequels itself. Although Farrell as the mother should by all accounts be the protective one even though this thing which we never quite see, it is Davis as the father who tries to save it in the end. Even though Davis is only the father in the sense that Joseph is the listed father on the birth certificate in the Nazareth Hall of Records. In fact we're never really sure what caused Farrell to bring this into the world.Fans of gory horror films will love It's Alive, not sure how others will take it.

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.

But, it's not the worst.This film is about a husband and wife who give birth to their second child. Unfortunately for them, the baby is a mutant, and they must do all they can to kill it.Simple enough, but there were enough elements in it that kept me interested. For example, throughout most of the film, the baby is kept mostly in the shadows, which I think is a very effective portrait of the baby. It works, and it makes the baby even more creepy when we do see it in full light.Unfortunately, there were some flaws, but the main one that I had was that the acting could have been much better. That being said, it is still better than most acting in horror movies today, where the hot females chicks only say stuff like "Oh my God! Ahhhhhhhhh!" So, it could have been better, but it could have been worse as well.All in all, a decent enough horror film. However, do not go in expecting something like A Nightmare on Elm Street or Jaws, because this is in no way as good as those two, or any other movies along that line. Just go in expecting to be thrilled, and leave your brain at the door. 7/10 for me.