[It's Alive]
Plot:Remake of the 1974 horror movie where a couples new baby turns out to be a monster with a nasty habit of killing when it's scared.

Cast: Bijou Phillips, James Murray, Raphael Coleman.

My Thoughts:Better than "Grace".

Review:It seems that the fall of 2009, has become fertile ground for killer baby movies. We had Paul Solet's "Grace" released to DVD on 9/15, and now, on 10/6, the remake of "It's Alive" is coming to DVD. While I found "Grace" to be boring, and unable to fulfill it's very high expectations, I thought "It's Alive" far surpassed it's expectations, which considering it was a remake, and a straight to DVD release which saw no theater time unlike "Grace", were very low.

"It's Alive" is a remake of the old horror film from 74' where a killer baby terrorizes a family. In the remake, Bijou Phillips plays Lenore, a college student who is close to finishing school. However, she ends up pregnant, and has to make a decision on whether to abort the child, or keep it. But this is all interrupted when she ends up going into labor, which leads to a cesarean session-birth. A birth which has it's darkest moment come once the umbilical cord is cut, in what is one of the movies weirdest scenes.

Lenore Harker, and her boyfriend Frank then decide to move in together now that she's had the baby, and Lenore decides also to postpone school for awhile. But her problems mount when as I stated above, the births "dark moment" leads police to begin questioning her in a murder investigation involving a group of doctors who mysteriously died during the birthing of Lenore's child. And to make matters worse, Lenore's baby Daniel keeps killing people who he deems as a threat to him.

Soon, Lenore is faced with a question, how much does she love her killer baby? Does she love him enough to keep him despite his..."deadly" appetite? What separates "It's Alive" from "Grace" is that unlike in "Grace" where the baby craved blood to survive, in this film, baby Daniel seems to just be murderous, and his craving for blood is secondary to his homicidal nature. But "It's Alive" works better because it mixes a decent and workable story, in with some black humor moments.

No, this film doesn't purposely indulge in humorous moments, or try and force comedy on the viewer, but it's so out there you can't help but laugh. You have a tiny infant who is viciously attacking and killing adults in some comically-set-up scenes. One of which being when a man gets into his car after leaving Lenore's house, and upon hearing a growling noise, turns around, and is immediately pounced upon and killed very bloody-like by the murderous little tyke.

The tyke, who every time Bijou Phillips character Lenore returns him to his crib, he escapes yet again, and kills...yet again. That's where the comedy comes in. And like I said, while it isn't forced, it just comes into play naturally based on the overall set up of the occuring events. Bijou Phillips as Lenore is great in the film, which is another thing that makes the movie work. I personally was not impressed with Jordan Ladd's performance in "Grace", but Bijou in "It's Alive" was very good.

While there wasn't a ton of development put into her role from a character standpoint, there was a significant amount of it, and Bijou lived up to most of it, and her character is very tragic in the movie. She has a lot of up and down moments. From the up moments of being a new mom, to the down moments of finding out her newborn is a bloodthirsty killer infant. She really puts some good performing into the role, and bounces back well from "The Wizard Of Gore" remake, where she was pretty much wasted talent-wise thanks to a bad script.

Those of you who are the more curious, of genre fans need not fear, as yes, we are eventually given a reason and explanation for the baby's "unique" tastes and it's a pretty cleverly written one as well, and it ties into the realistic world of medicines, pills, and how as a society, our reliance and sometimes over-reliances on supplements, drugs, and the like, can really have terrifying results in the end.

Gorehounds will be satisfied with the movie and should be satisfied as there's a substantial amount of the red stuff flung around in those scenes where baby Daniel escapes his crib, which almost always result in someone getting offed. The ending is tragic and sad at the same time, and Bijou really gives the movie a strong and effective conclusion by making a tough decision at the end. "It's Alive" is a great indie remake, and is definitely worth a peek.

Positives:Good performance by Bijou as Lenore Harker, good amounts of blood and gore, funny and gory kills, and some very tragic and effective scenes, especially the ending.

Negatives:Lenore's best friend from college was very annoying as a character.

Overall:Three and a half out of four stars.





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