It’s Alive

Directed by Larry Cohen, It’s Alive follows married couple Frank (John P. Ryan) and Lenore (Sharon Farrell) as they’re thrown into a whirlwind of controversy and violence after Lenore gives birth to a bloodthirsty mutant. There’s little doubt that It’s Alive is ultimately at its best in its slow-paced yet promising opening half hour, as Cohen does a fairly good job of establishing the affable central characters and, eventually, the frightening scenario in which they find themselves. (The scene wherein Lenore delivers the aforementioned bloodthirsty mutant is tense and creepy in ways the rest of the movie simply is not.) It’s clear, then, that the picture slowly-but-surely loses its grip on the viewer as it progresses into an often unbearably meandering midsection, with Cohen’s decision to emphasize the minutiae of several less-than-developed periphery figures certainly going a long way towards cultivating an exceedingly tedious atmosphere. (And it doesn’t help, surely, that Frank and Lenore’s increasingly illogical behavior makes it more and more difficult to sympathize with or work up any interest in their ongoing exploits.) By the time the hopelessly anticlimactic finale rolls around, It’s Alive has undoubtedly cemented its place as a terminally underwhelming endeavor that rarely, if ever, exploits its seemingly can’t-miss premise.

* out of ****