It's Alive (1974)

I'd been avoiding this one for years because my previous exposures to the cinema of Larry Cohen had been, shall we say, less than pleasant. Just goes to show, everyone's got at least one good film in them. This starts out poorly -- bad child actor alert! -- but when Cohen first hints at what's going on through a detached long shot, I knew this was something special. It's a nightmarish journey through a parent's worst fear, liberally sprinkled with sharp black humor (the cops confronting a regular baby is priceless) and possessed with some extraordinary subtextual (as well as plain ol' textual) social commentary. (Lyz at And You Call Yourself a Scientist! has some great things to say about the film's possible intent.) The uneven acting and the oh-so-70s decor keep this from true greatness, but this is still far better than any movie featuring a rampaging mutant baby should reasonably be.

Grade: B+