It's Alive

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It's Alive

PG

Released Apr 26, 1974

1h 31m

Horror

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

65%

Tomatometer

23 Reviews

41%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

Leaving their son, Chris (Daniel Holzman), with a family friend (William Wellman Jr.), Frank (John P. Ryan) and Lenore Davis (Sharon Farrell) head to the hospital for the birth of their second child -- which turns out to be a mutant who kills many doctors and nurses as it escapes. Convinced his monstrous son must be destroyed, Frank ignores Lenore and Chris' pleas and tries to destroy the freakish progeny, unaware that the infant may be the blameless product of an experimental drug gone wrong.

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Critics Consensus

Tough and unpleasant, It's Alive throttles the viewer with its bizarre mutant baby theatrics.

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David Robinson

Times (UK)

The film is too crudely cobbled together to make much of anything -- even a score by Bernard Herrman.

Jun 27, 2023

Full Review

Kim Newman

Empire Magazine

Larry Cohen's horror thriller is at once a great suspense/monster film and a darkly comic soap opera about strained parent-child relationships.

Rated: 4/5

May 24, 2019

Full Review

Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

A deeply terrifying portrait of child-parent relationships and intolerant fears of "otherness" defined as much by its sociological sharpness as its gore.

Rated: A

Jan 26, 2006

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

It skews on the amateurish side, with an intriguing premise compromised by bland characters, awkward dialogue, and lurching scenes.

Rated: 2/4

Aug 29, 2021

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

It's Alive goes from foreboding conversations about pollution to full tilt nightmare rather quickly.

Rated: 3.5/5

Aug 25, 2020

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...the picture slowly-but-surely loses its grip on the viewer as it progresses into an often unbearably meandering midsection...

Rated: 1/4

Aug 11, 2020

Full Review

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acsdoug D

So bad it's good? Nope, not in my book, just a bad 70s horror movie with an incredibly intrusive score. John P. Ryan, who was so good in Runaway Train, is about as emotive as a log in this one.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/24

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Jay H

Neat premise, but this movie gets old real fast. A lot of the editing is very poorly done.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/18/24

Full Review

Steve D

Too ridiculous and self serious to be taken seriously.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/08/23

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deborah b

I thought it was kind of cheesey this being the 2nd time I watched it. I guess at the time it was made it was good. U think that people should make their own opinions on this movie bot mine

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/26/23

Full Review

desmond b

There are lots of movies about kids that grow up bad (e.g. The Omen) or get taken over by something bad (e.g. The Exorcist) but Cohen had the revolutionary idea to make a film about a newborn baby who was bad from birth. Straight from the womb to the killing fields. We all have a savage, cannibalistic baby buried in our unconscious. This is why we're scared of small things – mice, grasshoppers, cockroaches. And Cohen's genius was to take the smallest, most innocent being we know, a tiny baby, and make him the monster from our id. My complete review is at https://thecannibalguy.com/2022/05/22/cannibal-baby-its-alive-larry-cohen-1974/

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

Solidly weird, sometimes suspenseful and a great score. 70s schlocky horror fun

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/22

Full Review

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Larry Cohen

Director

John P. Ryan

Frank Davies

Sharon Farrell

Lenore Davies

Andrew Duggan

The Professor

Guy Stockwell

Bob Clayton

James Dixon

Lieutenant Perkins

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Synopsis

Leaving their son, Chris (Daniel Holzman), with a family friend (William Wellman Jr.), Frank (John P. Ryan) and Lenore Davis (Sharon Farrell) head to the hospital for the birth of their second child -- which turns out to be a mutant who kills many doctors and nurses as it escapes. Convinced his monstrous son must be destroyed, Frank ignores Lenore and Chris' pleas and tries to destroy the freakish progeny, unaware that the infant may be the blameless product of an experimental drug gone wrong.

Director: Larry Cohen
Producer: Larry Cohen
Screenwriter: Larry Cohen
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Warner Brothers
Rating: PG
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 26, 1974, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 19, 2016
Runtime: 1h 31m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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