It's Alive (1974)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Lee ?

  
  A mother gives birth to a violent mutant baby that goes on a rampage. It's a little silly but watchable comic horror. Most of the kills take place off camera annoyingly leaving you with just the bloody aftermath, but there's brief glimpses of gore now and then. I was also… More
  A mother gives birth to a violent mutant baby that goes on a rampage. It's a little silly but watchable comic horror. Most of the kills take place off camera annoyingly leaving you with just the bloody aftermath, but there's brief glimpses of gore now and then. I was also impressed with John P. Ryans performance as the father of the bloodthirsty mutant baby. Didn't like the film as much as I thought I would... dare I check out the remake?

• AJ V

  
  This movie is like a sequel to Rosemary's Baby combined with a bio-hazard type movie. I'm not sure whether or not it was a good idea, but it is creepy, and a pretty good horror movie, but it could be better.

• Jason O

  
  Wow, don't see many movies that are better liked critically than by users! I liked it a good bit. Not as scary as I'd always heard it was from my older brother. I'd heard from him for years about this film, how my biological and estranged mom made him and his older… More
  Wow, don't see many movies that are better liked critically than by users! I liked it a good bit. Not as scary as I'd always heard it was from my older brother. I'd heard from him for years about this film, how my biological and estranged mom made him and his older brother watch it and it scared the living piss out of him. I thought it had great atmosphere, but movies just don't scare me, cause I know they're only movies....then again, I saw it at a much older age than Greg did. Definitely a good start to the series, and I look forward to watching the rest of them.

• Dead A

  
  This was similar to "Grace". I did enjoyed at first but later it became quite boring.

• Kylie B

  
  The ending saved this from being unbearable.

• Lafe F

  
  It has its good moments, but gets murky when the police go hunting the monster-baby down in the sewers. They try to make it scarier by only offering brief glimpses of the creature. It's actually better than "Rosemary's Baby" in showing what a demon baby can do. It… More
  It has its good moments, but gets murky when the police go hunting the monster-baby down in the sewers. They try to make it scarier by only offering brief glimpses of the creature. It's actually better than "Rosemary's Baby" in showing what a demon baby can do. It has somewhat cheap production values, but there are some suspenseful sequences.

• Ryan M

  
  5.2/10 Larry Cohen must be the equivalent to God for fans of cheesy, B-movie horror. Here, he's made a suitably cheesy film that is meant to be scary, funny, and entertaining. It's got traits of all three things hidden beneath the surface, but mind you,… More
  5.2/10 Larry Cohen must be the equivalent to God for fans of cheesy, B-movie horror. Here, he's made a suitably cheesy film that is meant to be scary, funny, and entertaining. It's got traits of all three things hidden beneath the surface, but mind you, this film is rough. I won't say it's a bad film. In fact, for a movie like this, it's better than it needs to be. There are some funny moments, some scary moments, and yes, some entertaining moments. This film has all the necessary materials, but without the mind and intelligence to use them wisely. At best, I felt this was an entertaining, but completely forgettable slice of campy horror than does not do what it wants to do as well as it thinks. The film intends to be scary by preventing us from seeing much, which is smart. But where's the humor? Why isn't this movie scary AND funny? There's a charm to this movie, and it's waiting to charm and seduce me, but I just can't enjoy this flick when it can't even do half of what it wants to do. But...at least they tried. The film stylizes itself by not showing the film's villain so much. We see his little fangs, and his little disturbingly horrid face once in a while, but this film admittedly understands one of the rules of horror; don't show much unless you intend on showing something worthwhile. That very much applies to "It's Alive", but that does not make it good. The story opens with a couple awaiting the birth of their second child. The wife and the Husband leave their first-born at a friend's house, while they rush to the hospital to have the baby. After unusually hard labor, the child is born. But the babe isn't normal. In fact, the child is born hideous and deformed. When it pops out, it starts to kill people. We theorize that it may kill only when it's frightened, or perhaps this is only what (most) of the synopsis' suggest. So the murderous, mutant baby goes on a killing spree while his worried parents deal with the pressure of the press. They are surrounded by suspicion, caused by suspicious people. They don't understand what the couple understands. They don't know that this diaper-wearing little tyke is a demonic weapon of certain, (nigh) mass destruction. You see; this film consistently tries to balance relationship drama with something along the lines of a "horror-comedy". I appreciate what this movie is trying to do to murderous little babies, but it doesn't quite hit the funny or scary bone as it intends. The relationship is weak. The husband goes from loving his bundle of joy to detesting the thing to the point where he'd kill it. From there, the movie gets dark, cruel, and therefore, we get sad. They also could have made the movie touching, but no...they just end it on a note that TRIES to have a purpose and a message. Sadly, the ending shouts "sequel", and it's one that I don't think I'm going to watch. I heard by the third one, they've got an island full of these babies. Oh, wherever will they go next?

• John M

  
  The special effects were decent enough for a low-budget film. Fine performances and a chilling score. Not a bad flix but my problem with this movie is that it suffers from pacing issues and even at 90 minutes it feels too long.

• Lee K

  
  I remember seeing the trailers for this on t.v. as a child and they scared the living bleep out of me! Years later having finally viewed the film on v.h.s. i see how silly i was and how with the power of a good trailer can they lure you into the theatre to spend your hard earned cash… More
  I remember seeing the trailers for this on t.v. as a child and they scared the living bleep out of me! Years later having finally viewed the film on v.h.s. i see how silly i was and how with the power of a good trailer can they lure you into the theatre to spend your hard earned cash on their piece of rubbish.

Read all 9 featured audience ratings