It’s Alive (1974)
A Killer What?
A baby. Cinema has no shortage of killer babies but It’s Alive is really the film to see of the genre. The Davies baby is a fluke of nature, both preternaturally strong and smart for a newborn, deformed and extremely dangerous.
Is It Any Good?
Yes. Though the concept may seem laughable and the puppet baby looks ridiculous, It’s Alive taps into the very real of a new parent that their progeny will come out wrong. Particularly coming out of the thalidomide tragedies of the 50s and 60s, the fear that a child would come out horrible deformed was a concern.
Larry Cohen takes this anxiety to its illogical conclusion with two new parents whose baby is born extremely mutated and violent. The haunting scene of Mrs. Davis laying on a table screaming for her missing baby as the bloody remains of the delivery room staff lay strewn all about her.
But while It’s Alive does tap into fear of giving birth to a real monster it does make a case that regardless of what’s wrong with the baby it’s still your baby. The Davis Baby refuses to hurt its parents and its violent streak is based on fear. It’s a commentary on how people tend to think of babies born with physical deformities or mental issues to be inhuman rather than just differently abled which is a pretty salient message for a ‘70s exploitation film.
Even without the social commentary the movie has genuinely chilling moments. This is one of the more professional looking Larry Cohen movies and the work that went into the movie shows in the viewing. Even when this movie becomes goofy, which is a lot less frequently than you’d think, it doesn’t detract from the movie as a whole.
Watch, Toss, or Buy?
Buy it, the entire trilogy was recently released on Blu-Ray from Scream Factory.