The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
It's Alive
Horror · Science Fiction · 1974
The Davises are expecting a baby, which turns out to be a monster with a nasty habit of killing people whenever scared. And it's easily scared.
Movie details
It's Alive
“There's only one thing wrong with the Davis baby...”
1974 Horror · Science Fiction 1h 31m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
5.8 / 10
9.3K votes
Metacritic
72 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.0 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
The Davises are expecting a baby, which turns out to be a monster with a nasty habit of killing people whenever scared. And it's easily scared.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over It's Alive?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Twice-Told Tales
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Race with the Devil
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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Larry Cohen
Written by
Larry Cohen
John P. Ryan
Frank Davis
Sharon Farrell
Lenore Davis
Andrew Duggan
The Professor
Guy Stockwell
Bob Clayton
James Dixon
Lt. Perkins
Michael Ansara
The Captain
Robert Emhardt
The Executive
Court is in session
Put It's Alive on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Prestige Tourist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.