'It's Alive!' (1969) (TV)

Director:

Larry Buchanan

Writers:

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Trapped In a Cave of Terror!

Plot:

In this sci-fi film a loony farmer finds a prehistoric monster hiding in a cavern on his land. To feed his newest critter, the farmer kidnaps three people. The three desperately try to escape and finally, one of them succeeds. |

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Apostrophe In Title | Cave | Exclamation Point In Title | Madman

Cast

Tommy Kirk	...	Wayne Thomas
Shirley Bonne	...	Leilla Sterns
Bill Thurman	...	Greely / Monster (as Billy Thurman)
Annabelle Weenick	...	Bella (as Annabelle MacAdams)
Corveth Ousterhouse	...	Norman Sterns

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Nova Scotia) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Dogpatch Amusement Park, Arkansas, USA

Company:

Azalea Pictures

Trivia:

This has the unusual distinction of being a remake of a movie that was never made in the first place. When American International made a deal with Larry Buchanan to remake some of their movies ("It Conquered the World" became "Zontar, the Thing from Venus," "The She-Creature" became "Creature of Destruction" and so forth), they evidently included a script based on Richard Matheson's story "Being." The production had gone by several titles, including "G.O.O.", and was to have starred Peter Lorre and Elsa Lanchester. Apparently Lorre's death canceled the project, so AIP earned back some of their money by passing the script on to Buchanan.

Goofs:

Continuity: The housekeeper's flashback to her arrival, capture, and attempted escape is full of continuity errors including two hair style changes and two clothing changes for her. When she splashes the hydrogen peroxide into the face of her captor, his face is obviously already wet from previous takes. He is also wearing a different, dry shirt once he catches her after the splashing.

Movie Connections:

References Creature of Destruction (1967) (TV)

It "is" Alive!

This movie was extremely disturbing to me when I first saw it as a kid. Early 70's, late night "Creature Features"! The stock music that Larry Buchanan always used in his movies contributed a lot. But what really disturbed me the most was Billy Thurman's loony character. He physically resembled an uncle of mine! That was really creepy! Considering my uncle is a nice guy. The monster was hokey as hell, but still creeped me out.(Hey! I was 10 years old!) The real monster though, was Bill Thurman's character. He played it with his usual "intensity", and it was scary! No, it will never go down in history as a "classic", but I would like to have it on DVD, to bring back that 10 year old. Just so he can laugh at it now!