Customer Reviews

It's Alive 3 : Island Of the Alive [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

They're cute! They're cuddly! They'll rip yer head off! In IT'S ALIVE, the Davis baby ran (crawled) amok, leaving bodies strewn in it's frenzied wake! Larry Cohen's saga of babies gone bad continues with this double dose of pernicious pablum! IT LIVES AGAIN has Frank Davis (John P. Ryan) crashing a baby shower to deliver the bad news that the expectant parents (Frederic Forrest and Kathleen Lloyd) are about to hear the pitter-patter of little murderous-mutant feet! If that's not horrid enough, the government is watching and waiting for it's chance to swoop in and make things even worse! Mr. Mallory (John "horses-head-in-the-bed" Marley), leads a team of operatives bent on mutant infanticide. Frank must get the young couple into hiding at a secret facility before the inevitible bloodbath. Check out the delivery-room on wheels! Slower than the original, but good enough for repeat viewings. ISLAND OF THE ALIVE opens with the infamous taxi-cab delivery scene. Then, we shift to a father named Stephen Jarvis (Michael "Q-The Winged Serpent" Moriarty) fighting in court for the life of his caged son. The judge decides to spare the creature, and an island is found where it and others of it's kind can live in peace. Well, of course, invaders arrive to hunt down and kill the babies, only to become so much baby food themselves! Finally, another team is sent to "study" the lil' devils, who have all grown up into big ol' cannibals! Mmmm! It turns out that the "kids" have a plan of their own! Karen Black (Trilogy Of Terror, Burnt Offerings) stars as Jarvis' ex-wife, Ellen; who just wants to forget the whole "killer baby" thing. I love this one! Much gorier than the first two. This is a great double feature! Grab the first one too and complete the trifecta...

In my review of 'It's Alive' I noted that that film was surprisingly serious and low-key for a film about murderous mutant babies. The same cannot be said for these two movies. However, they're highly entertaining, so between the 3 of them we get a bit of everything. This is some very entertaining schlock horror right here. Can't imagine why it isn't more popular.

'It Lives Again' is the better of the two here, and probably the best of the series. This is a direct sequel, as the killer baby epidemic is spreading and the government has resorted to immediate execution. Frank Davis is back with a number of sympathetic doctors and scientists, and is working to save the children. This time there are 3 babies, and there is a whole lot more baby mayhem. Though they're still occasionally conspicously absent from the frame, you see a whole lot more of the kids this time around. Obviously, they are rarely at all convincing but I think they look neat and seeing the babies maul someone is always a treat. There's still quite a bit of downtime, but Frank is still entertaining to watch, so it doesn't hurt it all too much. He's getting pretty obsessive and nutty by now, but I still sympathize with him. This time around the whole thing seems a lot wackier. Now they've got whole legions of cops waiting for the babies, and watching them search the hillside and lengthily discuss baby-hunting strategy is just very amusing. The film is hurt by the fact that the ending is a bit to reiterative of the original. Seems a little lazy this way, but it doesn't matter too much.

Grade: B

'Island of the Alive' is easily the weakest of the series, but it's still entertaining and deserves some credit for trying something new. It starts Michael Moriarty as Jarvis, an actor who fathers a mutant child, and fights to have them saved. After a hilarious and awesome courtroom scene involving a stop-motion animated baby it is decided that the killer babies will be banished to some jungle island. The film focuses on a few years later where there is an expedition to see how the babies have grown. This points to the central problem-- The babies are all grown up throughout the climax of the film, so they're basically just monster people. That is much less appealing. Still, there's quite a bit of baby action at the beginning, and it's the best stuff of the series. There's a sequence where a pack of hired guns go out to wipe out the babies shortly after they're placed on the island which is absolutley priceless, culmnating in the final survivor fleeing in the helicopter only to find that, dear God!, there's a baby already inside which leaps on him from behind. Also, then the helicopter explodes, for no apparent reason. As with all the Cohen monster films I've seen this movie has got a lotta talking, focusing largely on Moriarty's wacky, twitchy and crazy performance. I find him fairly amusing, but he's definitely on display too much. The film is also helped by a fair bit of gore, but the overall relative absence of the babies reduces the charm of the film substantially.

Grade: C+

Yeah, this disc is definitely worth at least a rental. At this low of a price I'm sure I'll pick it up sooner or later, actually, but ya certainly oughta see it at least once.

IT'S ALIVE 3 opens with a woman giving birth to another deformed mutant baby in the back of a taxi on a rainy night. When the cabbie tries to blast the little nipper into oblivion, the quick little sprout drags him inside the cab and makes a meal of him. Thus begins director Larry Cohen's belated return to his much adored B-horror series.
The mutant is captured, caged and bought before a court which will decide its fate. The judge sides with the creatures dad, Steve Jarvis (Michael Moriarty) and decides it to be in the child's best interests that it is protected, so the monster is sent to a remote island inhabited by other mutants.
The FX in ISLAND OF THE ALIVE are none too convincing, the top-motion models (which are okay)add to the B grade fun, and there are some amusingly cheesy gore scenes. The movie does tend to be a bit sluggish in places, and Moriarty gives a decidedly erratic performance. My final quibble is that the finale is very similar to the first two movies, but generally speaking, it's still a pretty good movie.

One of the best double features. It Lives Again takes after part one. The father warns a new family about their unborn baby. Convinces them to have the baby at a secret base, and we get a lot more little mutants. Great story, and fx. Part 3 Island of the Alive. This time the mutant babies are sent to a Island. Which a course they make it back to the states for mayhem. I don't ever remember part 3 being in theaters. But seen it on cable, its still a good movie. Both films are quite entertaining. Also don't forget the first It's Alive!

It Lives Again (Larry Cohen, 1978)

It certainly shouldn't have, but it did, in fact, live again, four years after the original film. A lot of people with otherwise impressive resumes must have all needed money at the same time, for they got together and made this el-cheapo slasher sequel to the cult hit. Same basic idea, slasher baby, except that now there are three of them. (Remember the final line in the original movie?) Trite, predictable, and as silly as anything that ever came out of the Herschell Gordon Lewis factory; only worth seeing for completist purposes. *

* * *

It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (Larry Cohen, 1987)

While the second It's Alive movie is basically worthless exploitation of the cult status of the first one, Island of the Alive is actually kinda-sorta worth watching. Much of this has to do with Michael Moriarty, who was, at the time, one of those great B-list actors who no one paid anywhere near enough attention to, despite having been so good in Pale Rider a couple of years previous. (Cohen and Moriarty were actually making two different films for the studio simultaneously--Island of the Alive and A Return to 'Salem's Lot, both of which are cheese-fests of the highest order.) Moriarty, not surprisingly, plays the father here, and his character follows the exact same formula as the fathers form the first two films. He gets Karen Black as a wife, though, so it's not all wet nappies and blood.

In this installment, the government has sent all the murderous cannibal babies to a deserted island, which is now considered a fabulous vacation spot for highly illegal hunting expeditions. As well, the existence of the kids has caused a media exploitation frenzy, and so an activist, with a team of scientists and a concerned pair of parents (Moriarty and Black), set off for the island with differing ulterior agendas.

Yeah, it's low-budget schlock exploitation horror, but that sort of thing can work marvelously if you've got pieces of the whole that rise above the norm; all you have to do for evidence of this is look at the first movie in the franchise. In this case, the piece that rises above is the acting. Moriarty and Black head up a stable of talent that is not inconsiderable, including the final screen appearance of great character actor Macdonald Carey, as well as a number of other character actors you'll probably recognize, as long as you're old enough. Cohen wisely kept to formula on this one while still varying things enough to make it interesting (one of the main failings of the second movie), and throws in the kind of plot twist that just makes you wonder what everyone involved with the film in its conceptual stages was smoking. It's dumb, but it's a lot of fun, as well. ** ½

In "It Lives Again", two years after the events of the first movie a happy couple called the Scotts (Fredric Forrest and Kathleen Lloyd) are about to expect a baby. However Frank Davis (John P. Ryan) the father of the original mutant monster warns them about their upcoming unborn child being a creature and now there are three abominations that must be studied to see if they can be domesicated but can they be trusted?. Then in "It's Alive III: Island of the Alive", the murderous toddlers are being rounded up to a secluded island where they grow up as even more dangerous and can reproduce but can the father (Michael Morarity) of the beast tame it or will it's clan devour humanity?

"It Lives Again" and "It's Alive 3: Island of the Alive" are both nice sequels to the 1974 Larry Cohen cult classic, if the first one dealed with the theme of how radioation can affect an unborn child then these two sequels deal with the theme of pro-life and how the mutations of infants can affect society. Larry Cohen has written, produced and directed these two sequels and Rick Baker who did the make-up and creature effects for the original movie has done the other killer infants for "It Lives Again" and "It's Alive 3" co-stars Karen Black and Gerrit Graham.

The DVD contains decent picture on both movies especially sound and contains theatrical trailers with audio commentaries by Larry Cohen. Even though these two movies aren't nearly as good as the classic original but are still worth watching if your a Larry Cohen fan.

Larry Cohen has turned to stop-motion to show the babies without any strings. He does this quite amusingly. Now where is the Trilogy DVD Box set!!

this movie is a gem for B-movie aficianados. It's got a decent amount of gore, some pretty funny scenes, a couple scenes which will make you jump, and a dash of Elephant Man-type emotion. I really like this movie, but if your one of those people who expect Hollywood class acting and special effects, then you might not like this movie. but for us b-movie lovers, this movie is great and i would highly recommend buying it.

If you are looking for horror, don't bother with this film. Cohen can handle horror, but his films usually are more like comedies featuring monsters. The mutant babies are back, and this time, good guy daddy Michael Moriarty, a Cohen favorite, is trying to protect his child. Too bad Sam Fuller, Cohen favorite and weirdo director himself, couldn't have been in this one, but he was in partII. If you liked Q and The Stuff, check this one out.

Writer, producer and director Larry Cohen completes his cannibal mutant baby trilogy with the last two films, It's Lives Again (1978) aka It's Alive II and It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987), both available here on one DVD.

It Lives Again stars Fredric Forrest (Apocalypse Now) and Kathleen Lloyd (The Car) as Eugene and Jody Scott, a young couple expecting their first baby. What they don't know is the gooberment has been keeping tabs on them, as test results, provided by their doctor, indicate their pregnancy may result in the same sort of freakish horror experienced by the Davis couple of the first film, an experience shared by a growing number of couples. The official reaction is to put the babies down at birth, but an underground movement has developed, one intended to save these babies, as to study and learn from them. Are they truly the next step in human evolution, as some think, or are they the result of some strange, unforeseen side effect to various over the counter drugs used by millions of people everyday? Returning from the first film is John P. Ryan as Frank Davis, father of the first freaky infant, and deeply involved with the underground movement to save the babies, Andrew Duggan as Dr. Perry (I'm unsure if he's actually reviving his role from the first film as in that one his character was credited just as `The Professor'), and James Dixon (the only actor to appear in all three films) as Detective Perkins. Also appearing is John Mallory (The Godfather) as Mr. Mallory, a man working with the gooberment as he has a personal interest in seeing these nasty creatures put down.

In It's Alive III: Island of the Alive, the story continues, this time on a much larger scale, as now the case of the freaky babies goes to court, as the gooberment tries to justify its' policy of killing these creatures at birth, while Stephen Jarvis (Hey, it's Michael Moriarty from TV's Law & Order...and he's got a full head of hair, to boot...actually Moriarty seemed a Larry Cohen favorite who, along with Dixon, appeared in Cohen's other films like Q: The Winged Serpent and The Stuff), father to one of the creepy crawlers tries to save his young son's life. His impassioned plea ultimately results in a stay of execution for his son and others, but on the condition that the abhorrent children are exiled to a secluded, uninhabited island where they shall live out the rest of their natural lives, a threat to no one, that is until a small group, including Jarvis, decide to travel to the island, finding that, due to an accelerated growth rate, the babies are now adults...reproductive adults. Also appearing in the film is B movie fan favorite Karen Black (Trilogy of Terror...remember that wacky Zuni doll? I sure do...nothing sez loving like a Zuni in the oven).

One thing I noticed about both these films is that Cohen, not seeming content to churn out more of the same, really put an effort into expanding the original story, to which I think he did to some degree of success, although neither of the following films was able to, in my opinion, really revive the shock value of the first. In It Lives Again, Cohen does manage to import some of the wonderful qualities of the first film, helped greatly by the inclusion of a number of returning characters. Also, I thought Forrest and Lloyd did very well in their parts showing the stresses and strain having a freakishly hideous mutant cannibal baby can have on a marriage. I really enjoyed the notion of two factions, one being the gooberment intent on putting these creatures down on sight, and the other, and underground movement designed to save, protect, and learn from these creatures (to their ultimate folly). The film got a little bogged down near the end, but still came through as a suitable, and enjoyable, successor to the first. In It's Alive III: Island of the Alive, I thought the film started out strong, but then deviated in some very strange directions, figuratively and literally...at one point, Jarvis is thrown overboard after his mutant son commandeers the ship which Jarvis and his group travel to the Island with, and Jarvis ends up in Cuba...it was certainly weird, but kinda funny...actually, I perceived the character of Jarvis to take on a sort of Odysseus (of Homer's The Iliad) quality as his journey was long and fraught with curious peril. The movie, made some 13 years after the first, has the best production values of the three, but seemingly the least amount of heart, which was sad, but not entirely unexpected, as often the more sequels there are to a film, the more diluted and strained the original concept becomes (look at the Police Academy films for a prime example of this). Keep in mind, as with the first, the horror elements in these two films are less of the visceral kind, despite the advertising, (there's minimal blood in all three, but what there is, is used effectively). We rarely get to see the creatures in any of the films (except maybe the third, as the `adults' run around a bit, looking kinda goofy in their rubber suits). Also, the special effects are of the minimal kind (shoddy...the third film does feature some stop motion work, but it's not that great), which, I think is part of the reason we see so little of the creatures, but more so as to create a real sense of suspense and fear, always keeping them sort of in our peripheral vision.

Both films are presented in widescreen format, with It's Alive III sporting the better quality print. It Lives Again looks good, but there's white speckling present (probably due to age deterioration), and the audio is very soft in some spots. Both films feature their original theatrical trailers and a commentary track by Cohen.

Cookieman108