It's Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987)

Director:

Larry Cohen

Writers:

Larry Cohen (characters)
Larry Cohen (written by)

Release Date:

May 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

They do something worse than kill. They multiply.

Plot:

The mutant babies have been placed by court order on a deserted island. Appalled by the cycnicism and...

Plot Keywords:

Island | Mutant Baby | Baby | Mutant | Killer Baby

Cast

Michael Moriarty	...	Stephen Jarvis
Karen Black	...	Ellen Jarvis
Laurene Landon	...	Sally
James Dixon	...	Lt. Perkins
Gerrit Graham	...	Ralston
Macdonald Carey	...	Judge Milton Watson
Neal Israel	...	Dr. Brewster
Art Lund	...	Dr. Swenson
Ann Dane	...	Dr. Morrell
William Watson	...	Cabot
C.L. Sussex	...	Hunter
Patch Mackenzie	...	Robbins
Rick Garia	...	Tony
Carlos Palomino	...	First Cuban
Tony Abatemarco	...	Second Cuban

Also Known As:

Island of the Alive (USA) (alternative title)
It's Alive 3: Island of the Alive (USA) (DVD box title)

Runtime:

95 min | Germany:91 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

UK:15 (video re-rating) | Iceland:16 | Australia:R | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 (cut)

Filming Locations:

Hawaii, USA

Company:

Larco Productions

Trivia:

Last cinema film of Macdonald Carey

Goofs:

Continuity: Cabot's helicopter has a different paint job than the unconvincing model of the helicopter which explodes after it takes off from the island.

Movie Connections:

References "Entertainment Tonight" (1981)

Soundtrack:

IF I TOLD YOU

Not a Popular One, But My Favorite of the Three

Stephen Jarvis is the father of the monster (where "the monster" is another bloodthirsty infant). He gets involved with a court case that ends up getting the infants sent to an isolated island. But once the judge who ordered the infants away dies, different parties want them back in the spotlight.

Many people, including my horror reviewing colleague Don Normann, really dislike this film. It is considered the weakest of the three, the least popular and I would suspect that most consider it the cheesiest. I really liked it -- this one, more than the other two, seemed to really hit on a variety of social commentaries. Writer and director Larry Cohen's strength is his social commentary. Actually, that's almost his only strength -- he has no budget, is poorly organized in his shooting schedules and writes much of his scripts on the fly (which is quite obvious).

Two of horror's icons appear here: Michael Moriarty (as Stephen Jarvis) and Karen Black (as Ellen Jarvis). Black is probably now best known to modern audiences from Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpses". Moriarty, on the other hand, is a Cohen staple -- appearing in "Q" and "Pick Me Up", for example. And this happens to be one of Moriarty's better roles (he has a very unique way of delivering dialog which works here but is dreadfully awful in "Pick Me Up"). I found him to be a good lead, especially in the improvised segments (such as the singing scene).

There is a good commentary on disease (does an infected child mean an infected parent) and a really good jab at Cuban-American relations. I think Cuba's military obsession is played up a bit, but the part about them being human was a good one (and still relevant twenty years later). And the pharmaceutical company trying to destroy the infants so their drugs couldn't be blamed... very nice (and reminiscent of the Thalidomide scandal).

Lastly, once you've watched it, watch it again with audio commentary (if you get the chance). Cohen's explanations really add a new dimension to this picture, pointing out where Bob Kane's wife comes in (Kane invented Batman), how many of the parts are just Cohen's friends and how a rubber chicken ended up on a deserted island. His justification for a variety of aspects of this film really help you understand what he was trying to achieve and make you realize just how close he came to achieving it.

If you've seen the first two, you need to see this third one. Not only does it wrap up the story in a nice, neat little package, but I think it's grossly under-appreciated. Judge it for what it is -- a low-budget B-movie. With that in mind, I think you'll be hard-pressed to find another film of its kind.