For screen caps of the trailer released April 2008

click here.

For screen caps of Trailer B released July 2009

click here.

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James Murray as Frank, in It's Alive - Latest News

Based on Larry Cohen’s successful cult classic from 1974, director Joseph Rusnak’s taut remake explores the terrifying consequences of experimental drug testing. Lenore Harker (HOSTEL’s Bijou Phillips) is a typical college senior and her boyfriend Frank (PRIMEVAL’s James Murray) loves her. The only problem is Lenore is about to give birth to a baby whose sole purpose in life is to kill everything in sight….

90 minutes Director: Joseph Rusnak USA 2008
Bijou Phillips – Lenore Harker
James Murray – Frank
Raphael Coleman – Chris
Ty Glasser – Marni
Owen Teale – Sergeant Perkins

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41671

Vern reviews ITS ALIVE remake film!!!

IT'S ALIVE

Man, anybody notice they do alot of remakes these days? Seems like it anyway. I'd have to research it a little more to be sure. This is the remake of Larry Cohen's 1974 killer baby picture. I thought it was supposed to play in theaters, but that's because I didn't know it was from the DTV kings at Millennium Pictures and Josef Rusnak, director of ART OF WAR II: BETRAYAL and THE CONTRACTOR. This one unfortunately doesn't star Wesley Snipes, but instead Bijou Phillips as the mother of the killer baby.

In this version she's a graduate student under some pressure to not have the baby so that she doesn't screw up her education and throw away a career she's been working toward. But she makes the decision to leave school to give birth and live with her boyfriend and the disabled younger brother he's raising. The baby grows unusually fast so she has to have a forced birth.

She's drugged up for her C-section and when she wakes up the operating room is covered in blood and dead bodies, which is not how it's supposed to look. Also the baby is pretty big for a preemie. We the viewers can guess that the baby is the culprit, but understandably the characters don't jump to the same conclusion. You don't just go around pointing fingers at a newborn. In my experience you want to be absolutely sure that the baby really committed the massacre before making a serious accusation like that.

So Bijou and her boyfriend set out to deal with a difficult birth - they just don't know how difficult. At first the dead animals they find around the house don't seem to be connected to the baby. It's a while before mommy catches baby eating a rat, and even longer before she has to hide the bodies of her dead friends.

I wonder if maybe there should've been more of a whodunit mystery kind of thing here. Like maybe there should've been a couple other baby characters in the movie and you're not sure which baby it is doing the killing until it's revealed at the end. I don't know. Maybe not.

Original IT'S ALIVE writer/director Larry Cohen is credited as one of three writers on the remake. That's because he tried to do the remake himself, so I guess at some point he left or got dumped and they rewrote his script. According to interviews he planned to deal with advances in genetics and the dangers of parents wanting to abort their baby because they find out its disabled in some way, or even gay. That would've been a reasonable new thing to add into the mix, but it's not in the final remake. There's something about an attempt to abort the baby that can be interpreted as the reason for the mutation, or why the baby is angry, but I don't think it's meant as an anti-abortion parable considering how the baby turns out. If ever there was a baby to want to abort it would be this little fucker.

Anyway, this has the usual remake problem of needlessness. I'm not sure why you need to remake it. The original might be dated, but in an interesting way. It has things to say about the time it was made. This one maybe says a little less. Despite that, for me (I like the original, but don't love it or remember everything about it) the remake is an enjoyable experience, a solid little horror movie that treats a ridiculous premise with admirable seriousness. Other than the ambiguous abortion thing I mentioned there's no hint at why the baby is this way, because it doesn't really matter. They don't even once mention "the environment." Instead the movie is interested in the fears of parenting: is she ready to be a mother, is he ready to be a father, or a husband, will she have to give up her life plans, will it be worth giving up her life plans, is the younger brother gonna be okay with it, is the baby normal? And the guilt of having been unsure about the pregnancy. And most of this stuff you get to read on their faces, they don't have a bunch of stupid dialogue to explain what they're feeling or that the mother - who is more the central figure than she was in the original - is having trouble weighing "he's my son and I love him unconditionally" against "oh shit, my baby keeps mauling people."

Like in the original they keep the baby mostly out of sight, off screen, in blankets or shadows. With maybe one sharp-toothed exception the money shots are subtle and creepy. There's a scene in the basement where the baby slowly crawls out from around a corner and stares. But he's across the room and in shadows, you have to squint to get a look at him. But he looks real.

Also like the original the killings are really over the top. You're not seeing little Daniel, but you sure are seeing blood cover the windows and walls. He just tears people apart with his little monster baby teeth and claws or whatever he has. And it's funny because he's a baby, a human baby (to some extent). And I think that's why this is DTV. It's better than some horror movies that get a theatrical release, but I bet they're right if they think today's audiences would laugh it off the screen. Back in the '70s the trailers for these movies made kids shit their beds, but now they probaly think killer babies are funny. People now days got no appreciation for the outlandish and the absurd. They think because it's crazy that means it's bad. They haven't seen the original so they haven't seen something like this before. They're not ready. They can't take it. They're too literal, too square, too anti-killer baby. So fuck 'em.

Of course, the people who can appreciate a killer baby movie have most likely seen the original IT'S ALIVE movies, and aren't looking for an update. But if they are it's due October 6th. I say just because this remake was an accident doesn't mean we can't appreciate the creepy scene where the father traps the baby in a garbage can and takes it out in the woods and loads his gun while otherworldly wailing echoes from inside. It was unwanted, but that doesn't mean it's not beautiful in God's eyes. As far as DTV movies go.

--Vern
www.outlawvern.com

http://outlawvern.com/2009/07/13/its-alive-remake/

According to various sources, IMDb included, "It's Alive" was first released in the United Arab Emirates, then in other countries as listed below.

Argentina 12 November 2009
USA (DVD Premier) 06 October 2009 rated R
UK (DVD Premier) 07 September 2009
London (FrightFest) 29 August 2009
Phillipines 22 July 2009 rated R13
Mexico 17 July 2009 rated B15
Japan 23 May 2009 rated PG12
Egypt 06 May 2009
Bahrain 30 April 2009
Lebanon (Beirut) 23 April 2009 rated R12
United Arab Emirates 02 April 2009 rated R18 (placed 4th in it's first week)

It’s cute. It’s adorable. And it will eat you up! Get ready for this little bundle of terror as the new horror flick It's Alive brings in the scares on July 8. Based on Larry Cohen’s original and successful cult classic from 1974, but more horrifying than the original, It's Alive takes us on a journey where we explore the terrifying consequences of a young woman’s actions.

Lenore (Bijou Phillips -- HOSTEL, BULLY, ALMOST FAMOUS) is pregnant with her longtime boyfriend Frank (James Murray -- PRIMEVAL), but something horrible happens in the delivery room as all the doctors and nurses are gruesomely murdered, leaving the mother and baby safely untouched. There is no trace of the killer as the police try to solve the mystery. When Lenore and Frank proudly bring their beautiful baby home, people start disappearing and as the baby’s nature is revealed, Lenore has to choose between the love for her newborn and her family.

“The baby is perfect and amazing, but starts to roll over and sit up way before it should be able to, so Lenore thinks she has a really super special baby,” explains Phillips of the devoted mother she portrays.

Lenore evades anyone who threatens the tranquility of her bond with the baby. “I’m sort of having an inner conflict on what to do with this baby,” says Phillips when explaining that Lenore refuses to discuss the unexplained deaths that start to mount since the baby’s birth.

When asked what drew co-star James Murray on the remake of the ‘70s Larry Cohen classic, he shares, ”I had never done a horror film and I think it’s challenging for actors because there is nowhere to hide, you really got to go for it as it were. It’s the age-old thing that if you’re not scared then the audience isn’t and you have to work at it (to be convincing).”

Find out how evil can come in small packages as It's Alive finally hits local cinemas on July 8. From Viva International Pictures.

It's a boy...er, or a girl. Whatever it is, First Look Studios has the It's Alive remake which has been kicked around the "we need distribution" block for the last year. The company is releasing the film on DVD, unrated, on October 6th.

It's Alive is a modern remake of the classic 1970s horror film. When a young woman (Bijou Phillips) learns that she is pregnant, she leaves graduate school to set up a home with her boyfriend in the country. The fate of the happy new family takes a gruesome turn when animals and people end up brutally dead – all with a strange connection to their newborn. Could their new child be the monster responsible for the gruesome murders?

From Dread Central:IT’S ALIVE REMAKE ON DVD IN OCTOBER

Date: 26th June, 2009.
It's Alive Remake Heading to DVDGiven we live in an age where darn near every horror movie hitting theaters is either a remake or a sequel, it’s kind of surprising to hear that a remake is bypassing theaters and going straight to DVD. Such is the case of the remake of Larry Cohen’s killer baby opus It’s Alive.

First Look Studios has announced an October 6th DVD release date for Josef Rusnak’s remake of It’s Alive starring Bijou Philips about a new mother slipping into madness to protect her newborn killer mutant baby.

No further DVD details are available at this time, but they should be forthcoming shortly.

- The Foywonder

MOVIE SYNOPSIS
Date: March 4th, 2009
Movie companies apparently associated with this productions - Foresight Unlimited, Signature Pictures, Nu Image, Village Roadshow - and still no indication from any of them of when this movie will be released. Latest release lists put at sometime this year.

Remake Radar: It's Alive
Date: September 24th, 2008

Welcome to the September edition of Remake Radar, where we tackle Hollywood's penchant for remaking previous films (for better or worse). This edition's remake: It's Alive.

What do we know now? It's being released before the end of the year! Directed by Josef Rusnak from a re-worked screenplay submitted by Larry Cohen, it stars Skye Bennett, Ty Glaser, Laura Giosh, and Bijou Phillips. It's already been released at a German film festival, and should be here in theatres or DVD by year's end.
~ ~ ~ ~
It's Alive
MIDNIGHT MADNESS
USA 2008 / 35mm / 84 min / englische OV
Showing in the following cinemas:-
...................................................
BERLIN 17 AUG / 23:45 / CINEMAXX 7
HAMBURG 15 AUG / 23:30 / CINEMAXX 3
KULN 24 AUG / 23:45 / CINEDOM 9
DORTMUND 27 AUG / 15:00 / CINESTAR 10
FRANKFURT 28 AUG / 23:45 / METROPOLIS 3
NURNBERG 01 SEPT / 23:45 / CINECITTA' 3
STUTTGART 07 SEPT / 23:45 / METROPOL 1
MUNCHEN 09 SEPT / 13:00 / CITY

Source:http://geeksofdoom.com/2008/06/22/conversations-with-god-larry-cohen/

Posted by T.E. Pouncey
Date: June 22nd, 2008.

(Taken from an interview in 2008 with Larry Cohen himself)
GoD: I also loved your movie Q about the flying monster. Are there any plans for a remake or a sequel?

LC: They’re always remaking movies. Recently they remade my movie It’s Alive and it was just dreadful. I took a lot of money for the movie rights to It’s Alive, but it wasn’t good. I would love to see someone make a sequel to Q, but I would like to be involved. Usually when they do these remakes of classic horror movies they don’t do such a good job, but you get tempted by the money.

I’m hoping The Invaders DVD will do well enough that someone will want to do a movie version. They did a four-hour TV movie version a few years ago and I had a little guest-star part. But they took out all the elements of the TV show that people liked, such as being able to detect the aliens by their “pinky” fingers and the way the aliens burn up when they die — all the signature items of the series. There was nothing left but a science fiction movie about aliens wandering around the Earth and most people have seen that a lot of times. They basically took all the character out of the show. It was sad, because I had hoped the TV movie might bring The Invaders back as a regular TV series.

But with the new DVD coming out, there’s always hope for the future.

Are you ready for another unnecessary horror remake? Check out this Cannes Promo Trailer for Josef Rusnak’s remake of Larry Cohen’s 1974 creature feature It’s Alive starring Bijou Phillips (Hostel: Part II) and James Murray. The movie tells the story about a couple who find that their newborn baby, when scared, has an appetite for murder. Millennium Films produced, no release date has been announced.

1. The killer mutant baby from It's Alive (1974)

In this flick, which traumatized a generation of kids who came of age in the 1970s and which probably caused a minor bump in the number of vasectomies done during the time of its release, pesticides and environmental changes are blamed for the birth of a fanged, clawed, carnivorous mutant baby. The mutant, designed by Rick Baker, is an ugly little brat that slashes the throats of its prey with the neatness of an appendectomy performed with a jagged beer bottle. The mutant baby is an SF riff that goes all the way back at least to Judith Merril's much more gentle 1948 story "That Only a Mother," but Cohen's dementia and violation of the sacred ideas of motherhood and birth make this mutant an icon of low-budget shock cinema. And, of course, because this is a cool horror movie from the 1970s, a remake is in the works.

Cohen hopes it will now get a DVD version -- he still owns a piece of it. He's busy with production of a remake of "It's Alive" as well as a ghost film, "Tremble" and "Messages Deleted."

It's a great strategy, but only if you've got the legal skills and tenacity to pull off major wins against the most well-lawyered studios. That hasn't been too big a problem. In 2005, Toberoff created every studio general counsel's worst nightmare by convincing a judge to issue an injunction against Warners' "Dukes of Hazzard" just weeks before its scheduled release. The case settled for $17.5 million. Similar claims have been settled on Warners films from "It's Alive" to "Wild Wild West" to this summer's "Get Smart."

The studios call it ambulance chasing. Toberoff calls it a smart and lucrative business. They're both right.

Interviewer: Yeah, I can imagine. So you get back and then Sarah’s on TV and you’re coming back on TV so it all starts up again.

JM: Yeah, it does, it’s back on the treadmill straight away.

Interviewer: Fantastic, so what’s up after Primeval now and, I mean obviously the series has finished filming, so you’re back from your honeymoon.

JM: I’m back from the honeymoon and erm…, and I did a film last year which is a remake of the classic 1970s horror ‘It’s Alive’.

Interviewer: Right. (looks confused)

JM: Which I know you know all about.

Interviewer: Oh yeah, very well. (she patently doesn't)

JM: And I think that’s coming out in the next couple of weeks so we’re kind of promoting that and getting on with that, yeah.

Nicholas Pike, whose previous credits in the horror genre includes Fear Dot Com, Sleepwalkers and the mini-series The Shining, is currently working on the score for the remake of Larry Cohen's 1974 genre classic It's Alive, which featured eerie music by the legendary Bernard Herrmann. Josef Rusnak (The Thirteenth Floor) directs the remake, which is produced by Millennium Films and stars Bijou Phillips. Nicholas Pike, who recently moved from Soundtrack Music Associates to First Artists Management, also has the score for the horror film Parasomnia coming up.

So the It’s Alive remake, which was supposed to be directed by original helmer Larry Cohen, has apparently finished its shoot and is in the final stages of production.

Upcoming Film Scores got word that Fear Dot Com/Sleepwalkers composer Nicholas Pike (who also has composed music for William Malone’s latest, Parasomnia) has been hired to score It’s Alive, which was directed by Thirteenth Floor helmer Josef Rusnak. For obvious reasons, the film just seems that much less appealing for the absence of Mr. Cohen.

Bijou Phillips, James Murray and Rachel Coleman star in the remake, which takes the ideas presented in the 1974 original about the dangers of fucking with Mother Nature to a new extreme. Millennium Films is behind the redux, so there’s another good reason not to hope for much, but we’ll keep our minds open for now...

The Davies expecting a baby which turns out to be a monster with the nasty habit to kill when it's scared. And it's easily scared...

Director:Josef Rusnak
Actors: Raphael Coleman, Bijou Phillips, James Murray

The film, which is currently shooting in Bulgaria, is a sweet family film about "a monstrous homicidal vampire baby." In the original, the baby's murderous tendencies came from its being frightened, but we can't really rely on the original. Director Josef Rusnak (The Thirteenth Floor) is quoted as saying:

"Some character elements and situations have been updated to reflect certain changes in society, but the script still preys on the genre's ability to explode the foundation of today's bourgeoisie."

Umm, yeah. So, the bad, murdering baby is coming back to the screen to take a stab at the middle class? How political of the little tyke! As of spring 2007, a remake is being filmed in Bulgaria, with Bijou Phillips as the creature's mother.

According to MTV, the remake of It's Alive starring Bijou Phillips has wrapped production. The film is slated to come out sometime in 2008. The movie tells the story of Frank and Lenore Davies, expecting a baby which turns out to be a monster. The baby has the habit to kill when it's scared.

The original story opens with a delivery-room massacre as the newborn child of Frank and Lenore Davies (John P. Ryan and Sharon Farrell) answers the doctor's slap by tearing him to pieces, along with a few other medical personnel, before fleeing the hospital for whereabouts unknown. The subsequent hunt for the killer baby creates a rift between Frank, who wants the child destroyed, and Lenore, whose maternal instincts convince her that her child is not deliberately homicidal but merely frightened and defending itself.

The baby's bloody rampage continues with several murders (including the creepy scene in which the terrible tyke savages the neighborhood milkman), until it is cornered by Frank and a police task-force. At the crucial moment, Frank has a sudden change of heart and tries to defend the infant from the police.

Perfectly good b-movies apparently need a fresh coat of paint...

Long before he wrote movies like Phone Booth, Cellular, and (ugh) Captivity, filmmaker Larry Cohen was making horror movies about killer babies. And (guess what?) he just got done on the remake of his own 1974 horror flick It's Alive. Production recently wrapped on the It's Alive remake, which will star Bijou Phillips as a woman dealing with killer mutant babies. (Hey, the original is actually quite a bit of schlocky fun!)

Although he's still on board as writer and producer, Mr. Cohen has ceded the directorial reins to Josef Rusnak, whom some of you may remember from a movie called The Thirteenth Floor. Yeah, that one.

Cohen seems to have no problem joining in the remake parade: "Every movie's being remade, every old horror movie has been remade, usually so badly ... I hope [these] will be good ones," is what he told the MTV Movies Blog. Also on tap for remake duty: the 1973 blaxploitation flick Black Caesar and the "killer cool whip" satire The Stuff (which is a b-movie I've always loved.)

No word yet on if Mr. Cohen plans to remake the sequels It Lives Again (1978) and It's Alive 3: Island of the Alive (1987), but I wouldn't exactly hold my breath on that. But if Mr. Cohen wants a few suggestions, I sure wouldn't mind seeing some new (but still good) versions of God Told Me To (aka Demon) and Q: The Winged Serpent.

What do you do when you’ve already established the most substantial genre-movie career this side of Roger Corman, the studios are still calling, and your 70th birthday is staring you in the face? Well, if you’re Larry Cohen, you start all over again.

“The next movie coming out will be ‘It’s Alive,’ the remake of my 1974 movie that we just remade with Bijou Phillips,” the writer/director/producer told us recently. “It’s a 2008 version with a lot of updating - new stuff, new gags. We filmed it in Bulgaria.”

The original “It’s Alive” is a guilty masterpiece, starring the creepiest baby since Maggie Simpson’s uni-browed arch-enemy. Cohen said that the new Davis offspring will be equally terrifying, but will be aided with some modern CGI techniques that will allow it to come out of the stroller more often. “It’ll be a CGI baby; that’s why we did it,” Cohen said of the flick, which is directed by Josef Rusnak (”The Thirteenth Floor”) and co-stars James Murray and Raphael Coleman (”Nanny McPhee”).

Beyond “Alive,” Cohen is also in talks to bring back a blaxploitation classic and a 1985 zombie-mummy movie. “We’re talking about doing ‘Black Caesar’ again — which was a black gangster movie — for MGM/Sony,” he grinned. “Also, maybe ‘The Stuff’.”

“We’re probably going to remake them all before we finish, [but] why not?” he laughed. “Every movie’s being remade, every old horror movie has been remade, usually so badly … I hope [these] will be good ones.”

Mark Damon's Foresight Unlimited has boarded the $15-20m serial killer thriller Hangman with Harold Becker set to direct and $9m Franz Kafka adaptation Metamorphosis starring Daniel Bruhl, Anna Paquin and Stephen Rea.

The slate includes Mike Binder's upcoming $20m comedy-drama Emperor Of Michigan, $11m horror remake It's Alive, and the $15m Jean-Claude Van Damme mixed martial arts romp Smashing Machine.

It's Alive stars Bijou Phillips and is a remake of Larry Cohen's 1974 classic about a homicidal baby. "We're going to have something very special here," Damon said. "It's a great film and we've given it a modern twist." Joseph Rusnak recently wrapped the Nu Image and Signature Pictures co-production.

Damon founded Los Angeles-based Foresight Unlimited in January 2005 and recently wrapped production on the Roland Joffe thriller Captivity starring Elisha Cuthbert that Lionsgate and After Dark Films will release in North America this summer. Damon's producing credits include Monster and The Upside Of Anger.

Well I got good news and bad news. Bad news is we got another remake. Good news is its not yet another Asian horror remake. It is being reported that Bijou Phillips will star in a remake of the 1974 horror film Its Alive.

The movie tells the story of Frank and Lenore Davies, expecting a baby which turns out to be a monster. The baby has the habit to kill when it's scared.

The 'Hostel Part II' star has started work on another horror film.

'Bully' star Bijou Phillips is fast becoming the scream queen of choice for horror films shot in eastern Europe. Late last year I bumped into her on the Prague set of 'Hostel Part II', and this week she started work on 'It's Alive', a remake of Larry Cohen's 1973 horror classic that is currently shooting in Bulgaria.

Revolving around a monstrous homicidal vampire baby that embarks on a violent killing spree, 'It's Alive' co-stars James Murray and Raphael Coleman and is directed by Josef Rusnak, who had this rather overblown statement to say on the subject:

'Some character elements and situations have been updated to reflect certain changes in society, but the script still preys on the genre's ability to explode the foundation of today's bourgeoisie'. Keep it light Jo - it's just a killer baby flick!

Date: September 18, 2002

Byline: countchocula

With all the remakes of ’70s cult classics in development, it’s a positive sign that one might be done by its original creator: Larry Cohen is meeting soon with Warner Bros. about mounting an update of his killer-baby classic IT’S ALIVE! “I think it would translate very well today,” Cohen tells Fango, “what with all the stuff about cloning, and the predetermination of one’s traits and the hunting down of those creatures that are abnormal. Many of my films, especially IT'S ALIVE, have been very prophetic that way.” Cohen believes the lead role of the mutant infant’s father would be perfect for a major star, though “I’d even like to bring back [original leads] John Ryan and Sharon Farrell, give them parts in the new one, though I don’t want to hit fans over the head by bringing back people from the past.”

I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's Alive is a sentimental favorite of mine, but the effects could use a refinement. It would be interesting to see an update of this tale, especially with Cohen behind the camera.