Review of It's Alive (1974) by Edgar C — 28 Apr 2011

On the surface, It's Alive would seem like your average 'baby monster on the loose' opus. I sat down with this expecting cheesy fun something similar to that of 'The Blob'. I was quite surprised when I discovered that this movie didn't take the campy way at all and furthermore, embraced the characters' drama that came with having a mutant child.

I found this movie quite clever where it used a horror premise to raise some serious themes about people who give birth to incapacitated children. It also raises questions of drug usage during pregnancy and how far people will go in the name of science.

Are they that extreme that they'll even play around with unborn children? Sadly, yes, according to this flick. Larry Cohen did great with the opening (lots of panning) and ending (loved the crazy angles) and kept it straight forward during the middle block.

Overall, I enjoyed it. But the actors here were what made it. Without them, I don't think I would have liked this half as much as I did. John P. Ryan was outstanding. He really dove into the part and gave an intense and incredibly sympathetic performance.

I was blown away by his acting. Sharon Farrell is the second biggest gun here. She also took the role over and gave a sympathetic, very emotionally charged performance. The chemistry between Ryan and Farrell were perfect and it felt like they were married for years.

Andrew Duggan kept it grounded and I sided with the man for the majority of this run, especially during the end. On the downer, I will admit to the middle section maybe lagging a bit too long for me. I dwelled into the beginning and end of the movie so much that I do remember checking the clock once or twice during the middle.

I was also a tad annoyed by the soundtrack, doing the same piece over and over. It did change over time, which was good, but it started getting on my nerves in the first half. Some of the editing was a bit off where cuts felt really awkward and characters would change positions/lines in mid performance! I hope Cohen fired his editor after that.

.. Lastly, the creature effects of the baby itself were pretty bad. When they weren't extreme close ups on its face, all I could see were slight movements of a doll. Come on, you could have done better than that! But all in all, I really enjoyed this flick.

It asked some serious questions while sticking to the genre I love best. The middle does draw out and the effects aren't all that but if you dig on the idea, go ahead and give it a shot... the themes and acting alone should win you over.

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