MovieChat Forums > It's Alive (1974) Discussion > All signs point to killer mutant baby

All signs point to killer mutant baby

posted 14 years ago by chadcrawford
23 replies | jump to latest

Did anyone else think it was strange that given a room full of dead people and a missing baby, the hospital staff and police instantly jumped to the conclusion that the baby was a mutant, killed everyone in the delivery room except the mother and crawled up the wall and escaped through a skylight?

I'm just really confused. No one saw the baby (not even the mother), there's no other evidence that points to mutant baby, yet mere hours after the incident a doctor is saying, as if fact, that the baby "kills like an animal" and "must be destroyed," the police are on the lookout for a mutant baby, researches are inquiring about rights to study the baby once it's captured or killed, and it seems to be the news story of the year.

In what universe do people just assume killer mutant baby before any one of 100 way more logical explanations?

In the real world, even if there was an eye witness to the murders - you know, someone who saw a mutant baby come out of its mother's womb, kill five or six people and then climb up a wall and escape through a skylight - rational people would assume the witness was crazy or suffering from PTSD or something.

I mean I know this is a low budget horror movie from the 70s, but these are pretty ridiculous conclusion to jump to given the evidence.

[–] Running_sandman 14 years ago

OK. Share an alternative theory. The doctor dismisses the father's claim of abduction due to the size of the hole in the roof. The injuries resemble an animal attack, and the mother was not harmed. I'm not saying I would hold a press confrence and speak my mind but strange things happen in low budget movies and real life.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] gribfritz2 10 years ago

OK. Share an alternative theory. The doctor dismisses the father's claim of abduction due to the size of the hole in the roof. The injuries resemble an animal attack, and the mother was not harmed. I'm not saying I would hold a press confrence and speak my mind but strange things happen in low budget movies and real life.

1. small size
2. injuries resemble an animal attack
My first guess would be......wait for it...... a small animal.

Why wasn't the mother harmed? No idea, but surmising that a killer mutant infant who was just born would not hurt its own mother is really stretching it, even for bad sci-fi. The writers should have just left a handful of witnesses.

[–] Stratego (30582) a year ago

Uh, animal attack. Don't be ridiculous

[–] badger12 14 years ago

Think about it. These people are trained physicians. Mutant killer babies are covered in any decent medical school. Of course, some doctors go on for further specialization in killer mutants; obviously the small hospital shown didn't have any mutantologists on staff or the problem would have never gotten out of control.

[–] MrBelette 14 years ago

The dialogue is a real feast of stupidity through the whole movie but what did you expect anyway ?

[–] SataiDelen 10 years ago

OMG! Thank you for the laugh! 

EMOTICONS ARE BACK! YAY!   

[–] LmanX 14 years ago

Ha ha, well I wouldn't have suggested right away that the baby was a mutant and kills like an animal, but I would have eventually came to the conclusion that in some way, shape or form, the baby was deemed responsible for the deaths of 5 or 6 nurses/doctors. Just look at the evidence...the small hole in the roof that a fully sized human could not fit and the blood that was found by/on the skylight, if someone was to have came and kidnapped the baby, then the mother or someone would have seen or heard a person covered in blood from the killings and walking out of the hospital room with the baby possibly crying, there were no signs of a broken window for escape, and the chewed off umbilical cord plus the bite marks on all the nurses/doctors.

With that evidence, there are no other logical explanations. At least none that I can think of except for a zombie-midget that moves fast and swift. A zombie-midget could explained all the bite marks and the umbilical cord being chewed off plus the small hole in the roof for escape, because I do not think anyone who is competent enough to plan a kidnapping would waste their time chewing off an umbilical cord when there is medical equipment everywhere. And if it was a kidnapper, then why would he/she struggle with fighting 5 to 6 nurses when there is an intensive care unit. The father in the movie is clearly looking at the babies as they rest after birth. There were plenty for the taking...

Although...ninja zombies could explain everything lol....

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] CasseroleWorshipper 13 years ago

I was kind of rolling my eyes at this as well. A far more plausible theory would have been a crazed or diseased animal somehow getting into the delivery room.

The dialogue is a real feast of stupidity through the whole movie but what did you expect anyway ?

Larry Cohen is a brilliant writer!
I don't mean to impose, but I am the Ocean.

[–] mlevans 13 years ago

Not to MENTION the fact taht a 12 to 15-inch-tall baby -- even if it can walk upright -- somehow keeps tearing out the throats of adults who are standing up! Could this be what inspired the 'killer rabbit' flying from victim to victim 2 years later in Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail?

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] LightningLad 13 years ago

I loved the title of this post! :) For some reason reason I can picture a horror movie cop saying exactly that, thoughtfully scratching his head with his pistol muzzle a la Plan 9.

http://themortalcreeps.weebly.com/

[–] DevilYouKnow 12 years ago

Yeah that was hilarious. And like one person said, how could a baby no matter how vicious and fast, tear up so many people in one room?

What I thought was EVEN SILLIER is the radio news report the Dad hears on his way home where they calmly state that a giant mutant baby has killed 5 people in the hospital and hey, the hospital didn't release the names of the parents but here are they're names and the city they live in. You know, in case you want to lynch them or point at them for being freaks or something.

Craziness.

http://werewolvesbeatingadeadhorse.blogspot.com/

[–] jamesedwardmorton 12 years ago

Best line in the film - when his boss tells him "These things happen."

Yep. They happen ALL the time... and to the best of us.

[–] techbox14 10 years ago

What if it was a frame-up made to look like a killer mutant baby?

[–] mikethemartian 8 years ago

My first guess would have been a murderous practical joke where the killer sneaked out the door before anyone was paying attention which didn't happen until the dying doctor somehow managed to escape the operating room.

The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.