1970s Horror Hit Owes Success To Perfect Marketing But New Fans Are Missing Out
Film antagonists have taken all forms over the expansive cinematic universes that encompass the horror genre. Human monsters, vampires, demons, witches, aliens. . .the list seems to be always expanding. The tragically overlooked 1970s film It’s Alive used a rare type of monster to terrorize its characters; a human baby.
A Very Naughty Newborn
It’s Alive is the tragic story of Frank (John P. Ryan) and Lenore Davis (Sharon Farrell), a Los Angeles couple that is expecting their second child. But when Leonore goes into the hospital to deliver their baby, she gives birth to a grotesquely mutated creature.
Equipped with long and sharp fangs and claws, the newborn is strong, stealthy, and causes murderous chaos moments after being brought into the world.
It’s Alive sees the baby attack and kill the delivery room doctor and nurses before climbing up the walls and escaping through a skylight.
The killer kid sneaks around the neighborhood and attacks innocent victims at will, savagely ripping out their throats or utilizing its sharp claws as weapons.
Warner Bros. Pulled The Plug
The answer to what could have caused Lenore to give birth to a little monster has light shed on it by a pharmaceutical company executive. During a meeting with Lenore’s doctor, the executive acknowledges that Lenore’s use of his company’s brand of contraception in the years before her second baby was conceived could have caused a severe mutation.
It’s Alive becomes a film that details a corporate coverup as the Davis baby continues to elude those hunting it and successfully slaughtering anyone in its path.
It’s Alive almost never made it away from being a one-off at a single theater. After its completion in 1974, filmmakers were shocked when the new brass at Warner Bros. decided to severely limit the release of the film.
It showed for a month in a Chicago theater before being pulled and facing cinematic oblivion.
A New Approach
But after another management change in 1977, It’s Alive had its chance for a resurrection. This time, Warner Bros. placed the film on hundreds of theater screens across the United States behind one of the creepiest marketing campaigns of the 1970s.
A trailer for It’s Alive featured the camera panning slowly in on a baby carriage while the song “Rock-a-bye-Baby” played in the background.
A narrator gives a chilling voice-over that states “There’s only one thing wrong with the Davis baby. It’s alive.”
A Successful Gimmick
The gimmick worked and Warner Bros. saw It’s Alive rake in more than $7 million over its $500,000 production budget.
The film itself burns fast with plenty of great shots of the mutant Davis baby and the violent attacks it makes on victims. It’s Alive also does well in invoking a bit of sympathy for not only the creature, but for both Frank and Lenore.
The storyline is a ludicrous concept but one that makes for a pretty enjoyable film.
Stream It Now
GFR SCORE
You might not think that a movie about a mutant baby would involve the collaboration of Academy Award winners. The chilling cinematic score was assembled by Oscar winner Bernard Herrmann, a staple from numerous Alfred Hitchcock productions. Additionally, the film had seven-time Academy Award winning special effects makeup artist Rick Baker (American Werewolf in London, Men in Black).
It’s Alive claws up 3.0/5.0-stars.
You can rent the chilling horror film It’s Alive On Demand with Vudu, AppleTV, Google Play, and Prime.
