Review by Tim-O
Dir. by Joseph Rusnak
Starring: Bijou Phillips, James Murray
Let me start by making a confession; I'm a complete remake snob. In general, I can't stand them. Most of the time, I end up sitting through junk like The Fog remake and wonder if I have grounds to bring a lawsuit against the filmmakers for the time and money I spent being tortured by the abomination I’ve just suffered through. Sometimes, they can end up being decent films but really only thematically similar to the original. This brings me to the latest remake to grace the TimO. Home theater screen, ”It’s Alive”.
Based on Larry Cohen’s 1973 cult hit, “It’s Alive” is a pretty far-fetched movie; after ordering some kind of abortion drug off of a website (!), expecting grad student Lenore (Bijou Phillips) takes the drug and becomes violently ill but the drug doesn’t abort the fetus. Soon after, Lenore’s fetus grows at an alarming rate and she is given a C Section. After the baby is delivered, it kills everyone in the delivery room, except Lenore. Instead of escaping the hospital and terrorizing the suburban countryside like in the original, the baby is found nuzzled up to mommy Lenore completely covered in gore. Lenore and the baby are rushed to safety. The police seem baffled and assume someone snuck into the delivery room, killed everyone (except baby and Lenore), and escaped undetected. The consistently oblivious father (James Murray) watches all of this and proceeds to bring mommy and baby home located in the middle of nowhere. There’s also a wheelchair-bound brother who lives with the couple and does absolutely nothing to add to the movie at all. Daddy then goes to work and mommy slowly goes more insane while baby kills animals and the occasional visitor who stops by. Mommy tries to cover up for baby and daddy stays oblivious until the finale.
Sound silly? You bet it is, but like the original, “It’s Alive” is played so straight by the actors that the absurdity of it all really shines through in a fun way. The movie is paced pretty slowly and some may find it a bit boring in parts. I wasn’t bothered by this .Mostly because the boring parts were still ridiculous and characters were so stupid I actually found them to be pretty funny. The best parts, not surprisingly, are when the baby kills. I could try to explain it but you really need to see it for yourself. The movie has great production values and some genuinely creepy moments, too. The baby’s POV shots from the floor are a nice touch. I also really like the fact you never really see the baby until the end. It really adds to the atmosphere. The gore is plenty and pretty clever, too.
“It’s Alive” is a remake I admit to being conflicted by. I just can’t hate it. It’s too straight faced goofy and that’s what’s great about the original. The remake is clearly a more well produced movie than the original but they both seem to occupy the same purpose in the annuls of wacky cult horror movies, with respect to the eras they were both released in. They both also go well with a cold one and a “smoke”. I’d recommend giving ”It’s Alive” a rent. 7/10