Customer Reviews

It's Alive/It's Alive 2/It's Alive 3

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a great deal for serious film fans who also have a taste for the good old "popcorn" genres, too, as this DVD covers both areas. In the former category, the "It's Alive" films boast the final and still great work of famed film composer Bernard Herrmann. You can literally feel his moody, apocalyptic main "It's Alive" theme pull these films up from their B-movie origins into the realm of true quality fare.

And in the "popcorn" category, the quality isn't all that bad, either, even if you don't consider the great musical scores. Taken together, the three movies on this disc feel like one of those big Stephen King end-of-the-world epics he's so good at writing. Like King's work in this area, here you get the big mysterious disaster (in this case, weird mutant babies being born all over the place) and the well-organized government response to the disaster. And again, like all those 800-page King epics, it's all quite well developed here: after being caught initially unaware by the new "creepy babies" dilemma, the government soon conspires with the medical profession to identify "non-normal" pregancies, so that contigents of cops are there in the delivery room, guns drawn, waiting to "take out" the little sharp-toothed tykes when they, uh... burst forth. But then there's a rival group of doctors who think the babies have a right to be born and they try to get to the mothers first. It's all quite interesting, and not at all like the "dumb but fun" movies I was expecting.

Each movie runs about an hour and a half, feature some pretty good actors (Michael Moriarity and Karen Black among them), and the widescreen prints used here are bright and clear, with a minimum of imperfections. A commentary track by director Larry Cohen graces each movie, too.

So, hey, just to be clear, I'm not saying you're getting Shakespeare here, but for a low price you're getting three pretty good horror movies, each laced with a handful of scares, some genuine complexity (should we feel bad for these creatures or not?), and the great musical scores I mentioned. As I said at the outset, it's a great deal.

Alright people, this is the way DVD's should be. My thanks goes to Warner Bros. for releasing these three classic horror films for such a nice price! You get 2 discs, the first being It's Alive icluding a commentary and trailers for all three films. The second disc has It Lives Again with commentary and trailer on side A and It's Alive III-Island of the Alive with commentary and trailer on side B. I gave this collection 3 stars because although these are horror classics from the 70's and 80's they tend to move kind of slow with part 3 being the fastest. If you are looking for descent suspense and a few jump out surprises then you will enjoy these films. I believe part 2 should have received a PG rating as well. Part 3 is the goriest out of this trilogy. I'm just curious as to why my VHS tape of It's Alive has an R rating and now that this film is out on DVD it comes with a PG. Anyway, if you enjoy classic horror of the 70's and 80's this is one trilogy to add to your collection.

This trilogy is a favorite of mine. I watched it back when I was a child. Once I saw how these now horror movies are missing certain elements. I figured, how about go back and watched those movies that have that missing element. The missing element is, the cheap shot. The part were it makes you jump out of your seat. These movies have it. If your interested in watching this cult classic here are some other favorite's of mine.
The legend of Boggy Creek, The Beast Within, Dario Agento's Demons, Rosemary's Baby, Sleepaway camp, and Halloween.

When I was in college, I check the first movie out. Man, it kept me on the edge of my seat. The theater was quiet as a tomb, so when anything jumped off, the whole audience almost jumped out of our skins.
The ending was the most touching and the saddest. Still, it and the whole trilogy is worth getting. So..........GET IT!!!

Frank Davis is extremely excited about having his second child, but when his wife is giving birth, things take a tragic turn. The baby turns out to be a bloodthirsty monstrosity, and immediately after birth, it begins a killing spree. Almost instantly, word is out about the Davis baby, and the distraught parents are forced to deal with a myriad of emotions and issues as the police hunt down their murdering monster-baby.

Boy, do I remember this film from the late night TV airings as a kid. After the 10 o' clock news on Friday nights in my area, CBS would rotate airing films like "Cat People", "An American Werewolf In London", "Q - The Winged Serpent", "Alligator", that movie about KISS at the amusement park, and episodes of "Kolchak - the Night Stalker", among other stuff, including this movie, "It's Alive". What a treat to see it again (I'd like to refresh my memory on some of those other weird flicks too, ha). Of course, I was more easily freaked out as a kid, and these days I don't find much horror in such films, but I still find them highly entertaining. The "It's Alive" trilogy doesn't fail there, starting with the first and best. Boasting the talents of creature-man Rick Baker composer Bernard Hermann, and written, produced, and directed by Larry Cohen, this 1980 creature feature stays interesting throughout with its bizarre and disturbing premise and great performances.

The sequel, "It Lives Again", is the weakest in the line-up for me. However, it's still pretty cool. I didn't love the annoyingly loud lead-character, the father of the second film's main monster-baby (of 3 that feature), but story-wise, it starts out very strong. The father from the first film visits an expecting couple to provide an ominous warning about how the baby they would soon give birth to would be a monster, and the government was on hand to destroy it right away. He manages to help them run away to a secret facility where two other mutated babies are being kept and studied, as more and more such births have been happening (the result of certain prescription drugs). Of course, the killer babies escape, and this is where it becomes less interesting for me, as they try to hunt down the babies who are going around killing people again. After the father from the first film is out of the picture, I really don't feel the other characters are likable enough to carry the film. It is still watchable though, and I love how the story is growing as an end of the human race sort of scenario as the films progress, similar to something like Romero's "Dead" series.

The third and final sequel, "Island of the Alive", brings us one of the best and most fun to watch performances of the saga from Michael Moriarty of Cohen's other classics, "Q" and "The Stuff". Moriarty brings yet another new take to the "disturbed father of a monster-baby" role represented in all three "It's Alive" films, this time with Karen Black playing the creature's mother. This whole film has a different feeling, however, and is just such an interesting entry. A plays more than ever on the ostracizing of the monster-baby's father by society, especially in the beginning, then has a Jurassic Park 2 feeling, as the babies are now kept on an island where they are allowed to roam free until a group is sent to "check things out" and possibly bring back a body for study. Moriarty's character takes part in the expedition to see what became of his own child. Unfortunately, the creature costumes are pretty silly here, in my opinion, but at times they do still appear dangerous and the action soon movies back to the States. The creatures set out in search of Karen Black, Moriarty tries to warn her, and the cops are all out to kill the beasts. It goes kinda into Escape from the Planet of the Apes territory at the end. The let down here is that the world has basically put a stop to the mutant baby problem before it ever got truly out of control by taking the drugs off the market that caused it all to begin with. This is less intriguing than the impending doom of the first two films and similar apocalyptic sagas. Still, it's a fun movie with a lot of great moments and performances, which can be said for the trilogy as a whole. I just wish they had gone all the way with taking this from a monster-baby film with a couple of sequels to a saga about the end of the world. It basically falls in between those two things. I also feel like more should have been done with the adult forms of the babies. They had telepathy and emotion, but were still more bloodthirsty monsters than anything. They should have grown up into a more advanced and intimidating form as adults. Think of something like the alien from the "To Serve Man" episode of The Twilight Zone.

Getting all three films together in this DVD set is fantastic, and though there aren't many special features, you can't complain when you get a David Cohen commentary for all three of the films, as well as the theatrical trailers. The trailers are really interesting and creepy, and the commentary is pretty interesting to listen to. Cohen pats himself on the back a lot, but manages to be very likable anyway, and certainly gives plenty of compliments to those he worked with. There are some fun things pointed out by him throughout as well, like scenes in which actors are carrying a dog rather than a baby or doll, and bits of its fur can be seen here and there when you are told where to look.

This is a great set of a pretty fascinating and fun horror trilogy. Yeah, they could have gone more epic with the way the premise played out by the end of it all, and it is sad that Cohen didn't go that route, but what it is is still worth owning and watching. Good stuff!

These movies are fun. It's the kind of movie that is so bad it's good!

Larry Cohen is sort of like the John Water's of B-movie horror. Although the dialogue at the time was to be serious, watching it now just makes it hilarious.

The first film is ok...it's creepy in spots, but a little on the dull side. But an important watch to understand the story.

But, when we reach It Lives Again, this is where things take off and the film takes a seriously funny angle. I liked this one the best out of the three, just because of the laugh out loud dialogue and cheesy production. In fact, it is quite obvious that vocal over dubs were used here and there for the main character. I didn't really realize it until they get to the hospital and then you can hear her voice change, the radio in the background change...and her saying the most ridiculous "panic" dialogue, then back to the original recorded sound. This continues through the birth section of the movie. The actress turns he face away from the camera, and added moan, groans , and yelling goofy dialogue were added. Did this take away from the film? NO---it actually made me want to see what else was going to make me laugh! I loved it!

Island Of The Alive is not quite as funny, but still pretty campy. Who doesn't love Karen Black!

Here you have 3 movies by cult director Larry Cohen about killer babies. Now, if you're still reading after that, this set is well worth the $10 you'd pay for it because the movies themselves aren't great per se, but would you rather pay $10 for them individually or $10 for them all in one?

It's a single case, 2-discs, the second of which is double-sided, and each movie has a trailer and a commentary.

This collection can be very cool for someone that is only looking for blood and gore! but for me was not perfect:

* The first movie is the best, BLOODY, CREEPY and HORRIBLE!!

* The second movie is the WORST of the three! The blood was tune down, few killings, the storyline is very slow and the story itself SUCKED!!

* The third movie was so-so! At least better than the second one. There is BLOOD AND GORE and some of the baby monsters are big now! But that's it! The rest was NOT GOOD!

P.S: The only movie that should be rated R is the third one. Because the first movie is very bloody but not gory, the second movie is NOTHING bloody or gory, the third movie is the one that is bloody and gory but it wasn't THAT good.

Adios.

there ok movies im not gunna add them to my collection tho ill wait for the remakes