It's Alive (1974)

As I sat last night working on packaging some vintage Creepy Magazines for the upcoming New Jersey Zombie Walk and Zombicon, I decided to fill my mind with some classic 1970s horror. My choice for the evening was the hungry mutant baby minor classic It's Alive from 1974.

Plot/ Heavily pregnant Lenore Davis tells her husband, Frank, that she is in labor. They leave their eleven year-old son Chris with their friend Charley and they head to the Community Hospital. Lenore feels that something is wrong and delivers a monster that kills the team in the delivery room and escapes through a skylight. Lieutenant Perkins comes to the hospital to investigate the murder and the press divulges the identity of the parents. Frank discovers a dark secret about Lenore and the baby.

This was a pretty good low-budget exploitation horror flick that is A LOT better that the redux. While it features a simple idea and storyline, the execution of the film as an entirety is what sets it apart. The make-up effects (especially the mutant baby by Rick Baker), the creepy atmosphere that focused on sound effects and shadows vice straight gore, the pacing, and the solid acting performances come together perfectly and demonstrate how a small budget film can work if done properly. I will admit that I did not like the shaky double vision film work that came from the baby’s perspective, although the majority of the cinematography was top notch. While not a proverbial classic, this is a very entertaining horror flick that definitely deserves its due. This is definitely a movie that is a must see for fans of 1970s horror or horror in general.