It's Alive - Do Not See This While Pregnant

It's June, 1977. I'm 9 months pregnant and my birthday is June 4. I'm talking to my enormous belly and begging this kid to wait until after my birthday to appear cuz the last thing I wanted was to spend my birthday in a damn hospital. (yes this is relevant to the movie.. bear with me!)

My husband at the time was a real jerk, to put it mildly, and went out with his buddies on my birthday. So what's a gal to do? Sit home? Oh hell no! I took my little sister to a movie. What did she want to see? It's Alive! This was the exact wrong movie to see when you're ready to drop a kid. We saw it anyway.

The movie starts with a pregnant chick. She goes in to labor and for some reason this time it just feels different to her... nothing she can put her finger on, but this labor is somehow different than before. Nobody will listen to her.

So, the kid is born and immediately upon exiting the womb, kills everyone but it's mother. Awwww what a cute baby! The little rugrat then goes upside quite a few townsfolk's heads.

Now here's the thing, continuing the tie-in: As soon as I got home from this, I went into labor. I did! Can you see this coming? It's the middle of the night and I've seen this horrible, scary movie and this labor feels different than my first child! Luckily, mine let the doctor live... but that was one panic-filled 5 hours until birth, let me tell ya! So yeah... last warning, do NOT see this if you are ready to pop.

The special effects are pretty laughable today, but this was 25 years ago so you have to cut it some slack, yanno? Watch it in the context of when it was filmed. Lighting is a bit too dark in places and the effects of this are lessened on your TV compared to how it was back on the big screen... but the transfer is better than I really expected.

According to IMBD, this was a 1974 release, I'm guessing a European release because I know that kid was born on June 5, 1977 (I'm not that senile, I know my kid's DOBs) and it had just been released to theaters. It was also banned in Finland... which I find odd. I did not see anything worth banning about. The fright factor, really, I believe was tied to my own circumstances at the time. Now I find it hilarious to watch. The schlock value is priceless.

As far as acting goes, well.. nothing astounding here. Sharon Farrell (Night of the Comet) and John P. Ryan (Cotton Club) play the parents of this poor little baby. Hey it only kills when it's scared..so stop scaring it and you'll be fine. They do passable jobs, but like I said... watch it for the schlock value and you won't be disappointed.

Larry Cohen wrote and directed this. He did the same on the two sequels: It's Alive Again and It's Alive 3, Island of the Alive. Skip both of those. Trust me. But, remember the 60s series The Invaders? Cohen created that too.. he also wrote 2002's Phone Booth. All in all, It's Alive was pretty much by-the-book direction. No risks taken here, and I don't think he was out to release an Oscar winner. It's so-so, not too bad, not stunning.

This one runs 91 minutes and is rated PG13 in the US (yet banned in Finland?). It's a horror flick, there's gonna be scary parts. You decide. I say it's pretty much ok for any age as long as they aren't prone to nightmares.

So. My final recommendation. Well, that's a toughie. I'm going to say yes but bear in mind that this film does have personal significance to me, so I'm biased. You probably will not get the initial scare that I did, but you will most likely enjoy it in an Evil Dead kinda way.... and that ain't all bad.