I always though Larry Cohen was an interesting filmmaker. He's been around a long time, and worked in many genres. He's written a lot of big-budget action pictures (some of which are quite good, such as the recent thriller, Cellular ), while films he personally directs are schlocky, low-budget efforts. He's mostly known as the director of cheesy monster movies, and most of them aren't any good (he seems to have no sense of pacing and his pictures are often terribly edited), but the ones that work, such as Q - The Winged Serpent , show a writer/director who wants the film to be more than yet-another monster movie. Yeah, he knows he's making junk, but it's often really quirky, imaginative junk, with a subtly satiric script and cast better than the material usually deserves. His cult classic, It's Alive , is one of those.

The Davis' (John Ryan & Sharon Farrell) are expecting a second child, and when the moment arrives, they happily drive to the hospital for delivery. Frank Davis remains in the waiting room with other anxious fathers (back in the day before women insisted their spouses be present to witness every gory detail of labor), smoking cigarettes and socializing. But then an intern spills out of the delivery room and drops to the floor, his face torn to shreds. Frank runs into the room to find dead, mutilated hospital staff all over the floor, while his wife lay screaming in stirrups (the scene is actually pretty intense for a PG movie). It turns out the Davis' have given birth to a mutant monster, which has now escaped the hospital and is running loose in L.A. The hunt ensues. Police follow the trail of dead bodies in search of the monstrous infant, while the Davis' try to come-to-grips with everything; the media hounds them, Frank loses his job, Lenore Davis grows increasingly distraught - and eventually protective of this baby (yeah, it's a monster, but she's still its mother). An embittered Frank is initially as anxious as the police to kill the thing, especially when it appears to be trying to find its way home. I remember the TV spots for the movie when I was a kid...the camera panning around a cradle, slowly revealing a misshapen claw hanging out, with a voice-over intoning, "There's only one thing wrong with the Davis baby... it's alive . Don't see it alone...please." That spot is scarier than anything in the film, which is typical Cohen...low-budget, sometimes clumsily-shot, with no sense of pacing (the thing is atrociously edited). But, also like typical Cohen, there's more at-work in It's Alive than cheesy thrills. Cohen seems to have something he wants to say about the nature of parenthood, as well as the use of fertility drugs (though the latter isn't adequately explored). The movie is also supremely acted, especially by Ryan. I remember him best from Runaway Train , where he played a cruel, vicious prison warden. The guy has always looked to me like some sort of car salesman or shoe-sniffing pervert, even more so with the 70s-style leisure suits he's forced to wear in this film. His performance is appropriately low-key and burning with tension, and the moment when he confronts his "son" for the first time is surprisingly heartbreaking, and Ryan does a tremendous job simultaneously conveying both his disgust and remorse. As for the monster itself...we seldom get much of a look at it, which is probably a good thing; though we do occasionally get glimpses of make-up expert Rick Baker's creation, it isn't a very convincing monster, and the film works better when it uses sound effect to convey its presence.

The picture is rendered in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and looks surprisingly good for a 30 year old movie. There are some scenes which remain murky and grainy, but the colors are pretty sharp and black tones accurate. The soundtrack sort of sucks, though. It's only presented in its original mono track, and isn't very well balanced; Bernard Herrmann's terrific score sounds okay, but the dialogue track sounds kind of muddy.

Larry Cohen provides a fairly interesting full-length commentary. Aside from that , the only extras are theatrical trailers for all three films in the It's Alive franchise (neither of those movies are really worth checking out, by the way). Similar Movies: It Lives Again ; It's Alive III - Island Of The Alive ; Species ; Prophecy

It's Alive is another enjoyable Larry Cohen freak show. I still think Q is his best fusion of B-movie dreck and satiric fun, but despite the fact the movie hasn't aged all that well, It's Alive is good for what it is, and even has a few emotional surprises. This disc isn't huge on extras, and the sound sucks (I was continually adjusting my volume control to compensate), but it's got a picture that's probably as good as we can hope for. A great purchase for horror fans, a good rental for the curious.