It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987)

Too much of everything

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

After requests from Warner Bros. to do another sequel to his landmark thriller "It's Alive", Larry Cohen responded with this tale set several years after the events of the first two movies.Only five of the murderous mutant babies remain, and after Stephen Jarvis (frequent Cohen star Michael Moriarty), a failed actor and father to one of them, makes a case for the kids to be spared, they are taken to a deserted tropical isle. There they will be left to their own devices, and won't be a danger to "normal" humans.Four years later, the judge (Macdonald Carey, 'Days of Our Lives') who presided over the trial passes away. Then an expedition is launched to the isle to make note of whatever progress the monster children have made. Stephen is asked to tag along.Kudos to Cohen for not keeping this *completely* predictable (not that much time is actually spent on the island), and for using this opportunity to make some pointed commentary on things like abortion, the AIDS epidemic, and the way that people will heartlessly exploit human interest stories for the sake of a few bucks. Cohens' script is frequently intriguing, and effective in a darkly comic way. (Gone is the very serious tone of the first two movies.) It allows Moriarty to once again be goofy and eccentric, albeit not quite to the extent that the actor giddily hammed it up in "Q". Also, "Island of the Alive" possesses one thing that some genre movies just don't have: an ability to make an emotional connection to the characters.The performances are better than you might ordinarily see in such fare. Co-starring are Karen Black ('Trilogy of Terror') as Stephens' ex-wife, James Dixon (another Cohen repertory player again reprising his role of Lt. Perkins), Gerrit Graham ("Used Cars") as a grandstanding attorney, Patch Mackenzie ("Graduation Day") as his opposing counsel, the incredibly sexy Laurene Landon ("Maniac Cop") as a prostitute, film director Neal Isreal ("Bachelor Party") and Art Lund ("Black Caesar") as scientists, and William Watson ("The Mack") as the head of a pharmaceutical company.The haunting musical theme by Bernard Herrmann ("Psycho") is once again utilized, with good new music by Laurie Johnson ("Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter"). Daniel Pearl ("The Texas Chain Saw Massacre") handles cinematography duties, and it's a real change of pace to see Cohen tackling a production that actually looks like it had a decent budget. Some viewers may be disappointed with the effects, but Cohen never holds on these shots for too, too long, and he does serve up some pretty entertaining gore.Overall, a nice conclusion to this initial trilogy, and followed in 2008 by a remake of the original movie.Seven out of 10.

Starring: Michael Moriarty and Karen Black.A TV actor is plagued with a mutant baby that he wants to live. The mutant babies are sent to an uninhibited island. 5 years later the washed up actor is a shoe salesman because no one will hire him, and he decides to find his baby, and make a trip to the island. Once on the island, he learns that the babies have grown up, and the baby wants to meet it's mother (a waitress played by Karen Black). Before the trip to the island this film is quite entertaining, and once on the island it becomes extremely stupid. I was entertained enough through the movie, but it gets stupider than any of the other films. It seems as though the gore and language were amped up a level. Overall it was stupid, but it's entertainment value made it on the same level as the other 2 films.My rating: ** out of ****. 94 mins. R for Language, Violence, and some Sex.

An island of mutant babies! Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, in Larry Cohen's hands, it's more amusing than great, although the island setting is quite evocative. The real pity once again is Cohen's direction. Is the guy making a black comedy or a serious horror pic? I don't think he's sure. He's definitely taking every opportunity to lather in his trademark social commentary, and I don't have a problem with that, but he abuses his own premise here with sheer silliness.The babies look like Garbage Pail Kids crossed with Party Beach monsters. They're big and they're greasy and they wear hand-me-down rags that don't fit. They still kill and they're still sympathetic tragics, but they've lost their mystery, their awe.It's a shame the great artwork didn't reflect the movie.

Yes, this movie has some laughable plot implications, some over-the-top special effects, and some less than stellar acting, but all in all I found it quite enjoyable and interesting. Director/writer Larry Cohen opens with a scene in a a cab where a woman is about to have a baby. We know what is going to happen from the onset, but Cohen paces the opening scene very nicely. This sets the atmosphere of a society still being intruded on by these mutant, deadly infants that were both the subject of It's Alive! and It Lives Again!. Next, we are taken into a court room and presented with the facts of Michael Moriarity's fight to keep his baby alive despite a large group that want to see it obliterated. This scene is done quite effectively, even though Moriarity gives one of his usual, yet convincing, performances of a man that seems not to care but does(?) Anyway, I have always had problems figuring out Moriarity's motivation at times, but I think he and Cohen were going for more of a black comedy approach to this material. Thus it has dark edges to it, yet is really lighter weight material. Anyway, Moriarity convinces the court and in particular the judge, played nicely by MacDonald Carey, to come up with some alternative living accommodations for these infants - thus comes the Island of the Alive. Well, from there things go kind of down hill in terms of plot. The babies grow rapidly and we turn to five years later: Moriarity, James Dixon(again as the Lt.), and a host of scientists set off to monitor the rate of growth, etc... of the babies for government reasons. You can guess what happens from there on. The end gets very implausible but is fun and never takes itself very seriously(like the first two movies). We see a lot more of the babies here and are even given an explanation for why they are mutants. I enjoyed this one more than the second but think all three make for one of the very rare treats in horror - a horror trilogy. I also liked the whole Cuba interlude but would have loved even more a reverse of who landed on Cuba and what happened after the landing. Now that would have been a real hoot!