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2024 Horror Preview: 50 Horror Movies We Can’t Wait to See This Year

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2024 Horror Preview

Horror hits the ground running in 2024, and judging by the current release slate, the genre has no intention of slowing down anytime soon. 2024’s horror slate is densely packed already, and it doesn’t even touch on the yet-to-be-announced features and surprise festival gems.

Welcome to Bloody Disgusting’s 2024 Horror Preview.

How massive will 2024 be for horror? If this preview of the year’s looming horror offerings is any indication, horror fans may be spoiled for choice. Of course, expect some release dates to shift and many surprises yet to get announced in the coming months. In other words, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Here are 51 horror movies we’re excited to check out in 2024.


Mayhem! – January 5

mayhem 2024

Xavier Gens, the filmmaker behind New French Extremity entry Frontier(s), is kicking off the new year with a violent actioner follows a boxer’s quest for bone-breaking, merciless revenge. Enough said.


Night Swim – January 5

Night Swim trailer

It’s not the house that’s haunted here, but a swimming pool. Wyatt Russell (Overlord) and Kerry Condon star in this high concept horror movie from writer/director Bryce McGuire, based on the acclaimed 2014 short film by Rod Blackhurst and Bryce McGuire.


Destroy All Neighbors – January 12

Destroy all Neighbors trailer

Alex Winter and Jonah Ray Rodrigues star in this Shudder original splatter-comedy that combines gory practical effects with prog-rock mayhem. Rodrigues leads as the aspiring musician who unwittingly leaves a pile of dead (and undead) bodies in his quest for rock stardom.


I.S.S. – January 19

I.S.S. Trailer

When war breaks out globally, astronauts aboard the International Space Station receive orders to take control by any means necessary. Tensions and paranoia escalate in what appears to be an intense zero gravity thriller with an impressive cast that includes Ariana DeBoseChris Messina (The Boogeyman), Pilou Asbaek (Run Sweetheart Run, “Game of Thrones”), John Gallagher Jr. (10 Cloverfield LaneHush), Costa Ronin, and Masha Mashkova.


The Seeding – January 26

The Seeding

The feature debut of director Barnaby Clay evokes the gritty horror of the ‘70s and centers on a hiker lost in the desert. He seeks refuge from an isolated woman living alone, a setup ripe for grim horror.


Lisa Frankenstein – February 9

Lisa Frankenstein

An ‘80s set coming of rage love story between an unpopular high school student and the perfect dead she’s resurrected for herself. The goth lovebirds with a penchant for murder are played by Kathryn Newton (Freaky) and Cole Sprouse (“Riverdale”). The Weird Science-inspired tale was written by Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body) and directed by Zelda Williams.


Out of Darkness – February 9

Out of Darkness Trailer - The Origin review

Stone age horrors will be unleashed in the upcoming Out of Darkness, which had previously been titled The Origin. The paleolithic set film follows a group of survivors attempting to find a new home in an unforgiving land, only to find themselves being hunted.


Monolith – February 16

Monolith

Evil Dead Rise star Lily Sullivan plays a podcaster drawn into a strange alien conspiracy when embarking on her latest project. Expect a quiet, meditative chiller centered almost entirely around Sullivan.


History of Evil – February 23

History of Evil

A family on the run from an oppressive rule takes shelter in a remote safe house. But the house harbors a dark, insidious past that seems to awaken with the arrival of the family.


Stopmotion – February 23

Stopmotion

Aisling Franciosi (The Last Voyage of the Demeter, The Nightingale) stars as a stop-motion animator who is struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother. To cope, she begins a new creepy puppet feature, which winds up becoming the battleground for her sanity as the puppets take on a life of their own.


Imaginary – March 8

Imaginary 2024 Horror

A stuffed bear named Chauncey gets bloodthirsty in the upcoming horror movie from Jeff Wadlow (Cry Wolf, Kick-Ass 2, Truth or Dare, Fantasy Island, The Curse of Bridge Hollow). DeWanda Wise (Jurassic World Dominion) leads the cast as the woman who must take on a sinister imaginary friend.


Love Lies Bleeding – March 8

Love Lies Bleeding Trailer

Revenge gets ripped in Saint Maud director Rose Glass’s romantic thriller starring Kristen Stewart as a gym manager Lou, who falls for a body builder (Katy O’Brian). The couple get embroiled in vengeance and violence thanks to Lou’s criminal family.


Late Night with the Devil – March 22

Late Night With The Devil Exorcism

Up next from Australian writing-directing team Colin and Cameron Cairnes (100 Bloody Acres, Scare Campaign) is found footage horror Late Night With the Devil, with David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad) starring as the host of a late-night talk show that descends into a nightmare.


You’ll Never Find Me – March 22

You'll Never Find Me Tribeca Review

A torrential downpour late one evening brings an unexpected Visitor (Jordan Cowan) to a stranger’s door in a quiet RV park. The man, Patrick (Brendon Rock), invites the Visitor inside to dry off and take refuge from the raging storm outside. It sparks an eerie cat-and-mouse game where not everything is as it seems in the feature directorial debut by Indianna Bell and Josiah Allen.


Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire – March 29

Ghostbusters Frozen Empire Poster

In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, to battle a supernatural threat that’s rendered the city an icy wasteland. Gil Kenan (Monster House, Poltergeist) directed the upcoming sequel.


The First Omen – April 5

The First Omen 2024

The prequel to the classic horror film franchise sees a woman travel to Rome to begin a life in service to the Church, only to uncover a dark conspiracy that seeks to birth a great evil. Nell Tiger Free (“Servant”) leads a cast that also includes Ralph Ineson (The Witch, Onyx the Fortuitous) and Bill Nighy (“Living”).


Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – April 12

Godzilla x Kong

The fifth entry in Legendary’s MonsterVerse sees titans Godzilla and King Kong teaming up to combat a world-ending new threat. This sequel was written by Simon Barrett (You’re Next, The Guest) and directed by franchise returnee Adam Wingard.


Untitled Universal Monster Thriller – April 19

Melissa Barrera

‘Scream VI’

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett helm this currently untitled Universal Monster movie that sees a group of criminals bite off far more than they can chew when they kidnap a young girl. As if this isn’t enticing enough, the untitled film stars Melissa Barrera and Dan Stevens.


Infested – April 26

Vermin Infested Fantastic Fest Review

Arachnophobes beware: this creepy crawly horror movie sees a venomous spider let loose upon an apartment building, where it quickly spawns hundreds of offspring.


Horrorscope – May 10

Horrorscope book cover

College friends find themselves dying in fates revealed by mysterious horoscope readings, based on the novel by Nicholas Adams. Jacob Batalon (“Reginald the Vampire”), Alana Boden (The Invitation), Adain Bradley (Wrong Turn: The Foundation) and Avantika (Senior Year) star.


The Strangers: Chapter 1 – May 17

The Strangers trilogy Renny Harlin

Based on the original 2008 cult horror franchise, the project features Madelaine Petsch, who drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend (Froy Gutierrez) to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest. The couple soon runs afoul of the masked strangers. Chapter 1 marks the first of three installments from director Renny Harlin.


The Watchers – June 7

Georgina Campbell

‘Barbarian’

Director Ishana Night Shyamalan‘s feature debut stars Georgina Campbell (Barbarian) and Dakota Fanning, and adapts A.M. Shine‘s novel. The plot sees a woman trapped with three strangers, all stalked by mysterious creatures every night.


A Quiet Place: Day One – June 28

a quiet place 3 prequel

John Krasinski in ‘A Quiet Place’

The next installment in Paramount’s hit horror franchise, A Quiet Place: Day One is set to be a universe-expanding spinoff movie. Plot details are currently under wraps, but Lupita Nyong’o (Us),  Joseph Quinn (“Stranger Things”) and Alex Wolff (Hereditary) star.


Trap – August 2

M. Night Shyamalan Trap

The latest from writer/director M. Night Shyamalan is a psychological thriller set at a concert. Details remain scarce, other than the upcoming feature stars Josh Hartnett.


Borderlands – August 9

Borderlands movie CinemaCon footage

Unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect a missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power in Eli Roth’s video game adaptation. The ensemble cast includes Jack Black as Claptrap, Florian Munteanu as Krieg, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis, Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Kevin Hart as Roland, and Gina Gershon as Moxxi.


Speak No Evil – August 9

Speak No Evil 2022

‘Speak No Evil’ 2022

In this remake of the 2022 Danish horror movie will follow a family’s descent into an unimaginable psychological nightmare when they accept a holiday invitation from another family they’ve just met. What could go wrong? James McAvoy stars.


Untitled Alien Event Movie – August 16

Alvarez Alien 2024 Horror

An original Alien feature set between the events of the first two films, directed by Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe).  Cailee Spaeny (The Craft: LegacyPacific Rim Uprising) leads the cast alongside Isabela Merced, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Spike Fearn and Aileen Wu. Ridley Scott produces.


Beetlejuice 2 – September 6

Beetlejuice 2 - wedding set photos

‘Beetlejuice’ (1988)

Tim Burton is back with the long awaited sequel Beetlejuice 2, which will feature Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder alongside several faces fresh to Burton’s afterlife. No word yet on plot details, but it’s known that Jenna Ortega will be playing the daughter of Lydia Deetz, the character Winona Ryder is of course returning to play.


Saw XI – September 27

Saw X Director Kevin Greutert

Saw X. Photo Credit: Alexandro Bolaños Escamilla

Tobin Bell’s Jigsaw returned in 2023’s Saw X and it was a huge success, making this sequel no surprise. While plot details haven’t been revealed, it feels safe to predict that Saw XI might explore the epic showdown teased in the end credits of Saw X.


Smile 2 – October 18

Smile sequel 2024 Horror

‘Smile’ 2022

Parker Finn’s Smile, an adaptation of his own short film Laura Hasn’t Slept, will expand its world with this year’s Smile 2. Plot details, of course, are under wraps at this time, but Naomi Scott has been announced as the lead.


Terrifier 3 – October 25

terrifier 3 2024 Horror

The third entry in Damien Leone’s popular film series sees Art the Clown expanding his slaying ground. The ruthless killer is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve.


The Wolf Man – October 25

The Wolf Man

Leigh Whannell is reteaming with Universal and Blumhouse to direct a new take on the Wolf Man, with Christopher Abbott (Possessor, Poor Things) in the lead role.


Nosferatu – December 25

Nosferatu

Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman in 19th century Germany and the ancient Transylvanian vampire who stalks her. Willem Dafoe, Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Emma Corrin and Lily-Rose Depp star in the highly anticipated feature.


Blackout – Quarter 1, 2024

Blackout review

The latest from Larry Fessenden follows small town artist Charley (Alex Hurt), a tortured man whose drinking binges blur with his sneaking suspicion that he might likely be a werewolf. Dark Sky Films will release the werewolf tale in the first quarter of 2024.


Ash – TBD

Ash Eiza Gonzalez

Musician-turned-director Flying Lotus (Kuso) recently directed a segment in Bloody Disgusting’s V/H/S/99, and his next project will be a sci-fi thriller titled AshEiza Gonzalez and Aaron Paul star in the paranoid horror movie, and recently released first look images signal strong potential for a 2024 release.


Blacula – TBD

Blacula

Deon Taylor (The Intruder) helms this reboot that picks up where the original saga left off, after the 1973 sequel Scream Blacula Scream, and will be set in a metropolitan city post-coronavirus pandemic. In a recent Variety piece, the outlet noted that the upcoming Blacula reboot movie is “slated for release next Halloween.”


Caddo Lake – TBD

M. Night Shyamalan

This M. Night Shyamalan produced feature revolves around an eight-year-old’s disappearance on Caddo Lake, linking past deaths and disappearances that’ll irrevocably alter a broken family. The cast includes Dylan O’Brien, Eliza Scanlen, Lauren Ambrose, Eric Lange, Sam Hennings and Diana Hopper. That Caddo Lake received an MPA rating indicates that a release date shouldn’t be too far behind, making this a likely 2024 release.


The Crow – TBD

The Crow

From director Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman, Ghost in the Shell), Bill Skarsgård (IT) is leading the cast of a brand new take on The Crow as Eric Draven, with singer/actor FKA Twigs co-starring. Danny Huston (30 Days of Night) also stars, alongside Laura Birn (Foundation), Sami Bouajila (A Son), and Jordan Bolger (The Woman King). The reboot is expected to release sometime in 2024.


Cuckoo – TBD

Hunter Schafer in Cuckoo 2024

Luz director Tilman Singer is back with another horror movie. Plot details remain scarce, but production images suggest a potential slasher. We’re in either way, between Singer and a cast that includes Dan Stevens (The Guest) and Jessica Henwick (Underwater) as well as Hunter Schafer (“Euphoria”), Marton Csókás (Freelance), Greta Fernández (Santo) and Jan Bluthardt (Luz).


Frankie Freako – TBD

Frankie Freako

Psycho Goreman filmmaker Steven Kostanski‘s latest stars Conor Sweeney (The EditorFather’s Day) as he accidentally lets loose “a trio of tiny trouble-makers into his home, led by the maniacal rock-n-roll party monster Frankie Freako.”


Handling the Undead – TBD

Handling the Undead Sundance

A strange phenomena erupts across Oslo, causing a strange spike in electricity that resurrects people who recently died. The Norwegian film is the feature-length directorial debut of filmmaker Thea Hvistendahl. The horror drama feature is based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In). Lindqvist co-wrote the script along with the director.


Hostile Dimensions – TBD

Hostile Dimensions

Found footage sci-fi horror film Hostile Dimensions is poised to unleash multiverse madness in 2024. Two documentary filmmakers investigating a missing artist instead find themselves in an interdimensional nightmare.


I Saw the TV Glow – TBD

I Saw the TV Glow

Two teenagers bond over a scary TV show, but the series’ cancellation causes a rift in reality. Jane Schoenbrun (We’re All Going to the World’s Fair) helms this A24 horror film starring Justice Smith (Jurassic World Dominion) and Brigette Lundy-Paine (Bill & Ted Face the MusicBombshell).


In a Violent Nature – TBD

In A Violent Nature

Shudder’s upcoming slasher follows “the enigmatic resurrection, rampage, and retribution of an undead monster in a remote wilderness.” The streaming service acquired this slasher ahead of Sundance and is expected to debut the film sometime in 2024.


Longlegs – TBD

Mandy

Nicolas Cage in ‘Mandy’

Up next from writer/director Osgood Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter, Gretel & Hansel) is the Nicolas Cage horror movie Longlegs, which sees the actor playing a serial killer. Maika Monroe also stars. That the MPA gave this an R-rating teases that NEON will likely target a 2024 release.


MaXXXine – TBD

Maxxxine

The third entry in Ti West’s slasher trilogy that began with X and continued with Pearl “follows Maxine (Mia Goth), after the events of X, as the sole survivor who continues her journey towards fame, setting out to make it as an actress in 1980’s Los Angeles.”


Salem’s Lot – TBD

salem's lot 2022 movie

Salem’s Lot (1979)

The James Wan-produced reboot of Stephen King’s novel, directed by Gary Dauberman (It, The Nun, Annabelle Comes Home), has been delayed and shelved so frequently that we’re not holding our breath. Instead, we’re hoping 2024 is the year it finally surfaces and gets a proper release.


Shelby Oaks – TBD

Shelby Oaks

YouTube critic Chris Stuckmann’s feature debut follows a paranormal investigation that dates back to childhood and will include found footage elements. It stars Camille Sullivan (Hunter Hunter), Brendan Sexton III (Don’t Breathe 2), Michael Beach (If Beale Street Could Talk), Robin Bartlett (Shutter Island), Keith David (The Thing), Charlie Talbert (The Big Short), Emily Bennett (Alone with You) and Sarah Durn (Where the Crawdads Sing).


Starve Acre – TBD

Starve Acre Morfydd Clark

A ‘70s set folk horror movie. Starring Matt Smith (His HouseMorbius) and Morfydd Clark (Saint Maud) in the lead roles, Starve Acre is written and directed by Daniel Kokotajlo based on the book by Andrew Michael Hurly. That it was acquired for NA distribution in October 2023 gives strong indication that a 2024 release is likely.


The Toxic Avenger – TBD

The Toxic Avenger Red band Trailer 

Macon Blair’s update on the Troma cult fave seems all but destined for a 2024 release. It even received a red-band teaser already. The zany horror-comedy follows Winston Gooze (Peter Dinklage) as he transforms from corporate janitor to mutant superhero.


Witchboard – TBD

Witchboard

A remake of Witchboard is on the way from Dream Warriors and The Blob director Chuck Russell, expected sometime in 2024. Madison Iseman (I Know What You Did Last Summer), Aaron Dominguez (Only Murders in the Building), Antonia Desplat (Shantaram) and Charlie Tahan (Ozark) star.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

Editorials

What’s Wrong with My Baby!? Larry Cohen’s ‘It’s Alive’ at 50

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Netflix It's Alive

Soon after the New Hollywood generation took over the entertainment industry, they started having children. And more than any filmmakers that came before—they were terrified. Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973), The Omen (1976), Eraserhead (1977), The Brood (1979), The Shining (1980), Possession (1981), and many others all deal, at least in part, with the fears of becoming or being a parent. What if my child turns out to be a monster? is corrupted by some evil force? or turns out to be the fucking Antichrist? What if I screw them up somehow, or can’t help them, or even go insane and try to kill them? Horror has always been at its best when exploring relatable fears through extreme circumstances. A prime example of this is Larry Cohen’s 1974 monster-baby movie It’s Alive, which explores the not only the rollercoaster of emotions that any parent experiences when confronted with the difficulties of raising a child, but long-standing questions of who or what is at fault when something goes horribly wrong.

Cohen begins making his underlying points early in the film as Frank Davis (John P. Ryan) discusses the state of the world with a group of expectant fathers in a hospital waiting room. They discuss the “overabundance of lead” in foods and the environment, smog, and pesticides that only serve to produce roaches that are “bigger, stronger, and harder to kill.” Frank comments that this is “quite a world to bring a kid into.” This has long been a discussion point among people when trying to decide whether to have kids or not. I’ve had many conversations with friends who have said they feel it’s irresponsible to bring children into such a violent, broken, and dangerous world, and I certainly don’t begrudge them this. My wife and I did decide to have children but that doesn’t mean that it’s been easy.

Immediately following this scene comes It’s Alive’s most famous sequence in which Frank’s wife Lenore (Sharon Farrell) is the only person left alive in her delivery room, the doctors clawed and bitten to death by her mutant baby, which has escaped. “What does my baby look like!? What’s wrong with my baby!?” she screams as nurses wheel her frantically into a recovery room. The evening that had begun with such joy and excitement at the birth of their second child turned into a nightmare. This is tough for me to write, but on some level, I can relate to this whiplash of emotion. When my second child was born, they came about five weeks early. I’ll use the pronouns “they/them” for privacy reasons when referring to my kids. Our oldest was still very young and went to stay with my parents and we sped off to the hospital where my wife was taken into an operating room for an emergency c-section. I was able to carry our newborn into the NICU (natal intensive care unit) where I was assured that this was routine for all premature births. The nurses assured me there was nothing to worry about and the baby looked big and healthy. I headed to where my wife was taken to recover to grab a few winks assuming that everything was fine. Well, when I awoke, I headed back over to the NICU to find that my child was not where I left them. The nurse found me and told me that the baby’s lungs were underdeveloped, and they had to put them in a special room connected to oxygen tubes and wires to monitor their vitals.

It’s difficult to express the fear that overwhelmed me in those moments. Everything turned out okay, but it took a while and I’m convinced to this day that their anxiety struggles spring from these first weeks of life. As our children grew, we learned that two of the three were on the spectrum and that anxiety, depression, ADHD, and OCD were also playing a part in their lives. Parents, at least speaking for myself, can’t help but blame themselves for the struggles their children face. The “if only” questions creep in and easily overcome the voices that assure us that it really has nothing to do with us. In the film, Lenore says, “maybe it’s all the pills I’ve been taking that brought this on.” Frank muses aloud about how he used to think that Frankenstein was the monster, but when he got older realized he was the one that made the monster. The aptly named Frank is wondering if his baby’s mutation is his fault, if he created the monster that is terrorizing Los Angeles. I have made plenty of “if only” statements about myself over the years. “If only I hadn’t had to work so much, if only I had been around more when they were little.” Mothers may ask themselves, “did I have a drink, too much coffee, or a cigarette before I knew I was pregnant? Was I too stressed out during the pregnancy?” In other words, most parents can’t help but wonder if it’s all their fault.

At one point in the film, Frank goes to the elementary school where his baby has been sighted and is escorted through the halls by police. He overhears someone comment about “screwed up genes,” which brings about age-old questions of nature vs. nurture. Despite the voices around him from doctors and detectives that say, “we know this isn’t your fault,” Frank can’t help but think it is, and that the people who try to tell him it isn’t really think it’s his fault too. There is no doubt that there is a hereditary element to the kinds of mental illness struggles that my children and I deal with. But, and it’s a bit but, good parenting goes a long way in helping children deal with these struggles. Kids need to know they’re not alone, a good parent can provide that, perhaps especially parents that can relate to the same kinds of struggles. The question of nature vs. nurture will likely never be entirely answered but I think there’s more than a good chance that “both/and” is the case. Around the midpoint of the film, Frank agrees to disown the child and sign it over for medical experimentation if caught or killed. Lenore and the older son Chris (Daniel Holzman) seek to nurture and teach the baby, feeling that it is not a monster, but a member of the family.

It’s Alive takes these ideas to an even greater degree in the fact that the Davis Baby really is a monster, a mutant with claws and fangs that murders and eats people. The late ’60s and early ’70s also saw the rise in mass murderers and serial killers which heightened the nature vs. nurture debate. Obviously, these people were not literal monsters but human beings that came from human parents, but something had gone horribly wrong. Often the upbringing of these killers clearly led in part to their antisocial behavior, but this isn’t always the case. It’s Alive asks “what if a ‘monster’ comes from a good home?” In this case is it society, environmental factors, or is it the lead, smog, and pesticides? It is almost impossible to know, but the ending of the film underscores an uncomfortable truth—even monsters have parents.

As the film enters its third act, Frank joins the hunt for his child through the Los Angeles sewers and into the L.A. River. He is armed with a rifle and ready to kill on sight, having divorced himself from any relationship to the child. Then Frank finds his baby crying in the sewers and his fatherly instincts take over. With tears in his eyes, he speaks words of comfort and wraps his son in his coat. He holds him close, pats and rocks him, and whispers that everything is going to be okay. People often wonder how the parents of those who perform heinous acts can sit in court, shed tears, and defend them. I think it’s a complex issue. I’m sure that these parents know that their child has done something evil, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are still their baby. Your child is a piece of yourself formed into a whole new human being. Disowning them would be like cutting off a limb, no matter what they may have done. It doesn’t erase an evil act, far from it, but I can understand the pain of a parent in that situation. I think It’s Alive does an exceptional job placing its audience in that situation.

Despite the serious issues and ideas being examined in the film, It’s Alive is far from a dour affair. At heart, it is still a monster movie and filled with a sense of fun and a great deal of pitch-black humor. In one of its more memorable moments, a milkman is sucked into the rear compartment of his truck as red blood mingles with the white milk from smashed bottles leaking out the back of the truck and streaming down the street. Just after Frank agrees to join the hunt for his baby, the film cuts to the back of an ice cream truck with the words “STOP CHILDREN” emblazoned on it. It’s a movie filled with great kills, a mutant baby—created by make-up effects master Rick Baker early in his career, and plenty of action—and all in a PG rated movie! I’m telling you, the ’70s were wild. It just also happens to have some thoughtful ideas behind it as well.

Which was Larry Cohen’s specialty. Cohen made all kinds of movies, but his most enduring have been his horror films and all of them tackle the social issues and fears of the time they were made. God Told Me To (1976), Q: The Winged Serpent (1982), and The Stuff (1985) are all great examples of his socially aware, low-budget, exploitation filmmaking with a brain and It’s Alive certainly fits right in with that group. Cohen would go on to write and direct two sequels, It Lives Again (aka It’s Alive 2) in 1978 and It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive in 1987 and is credited as a co-writer on the 2008 remake. All these films explore the ideas of parental responsibility in light of the various concerns of the times they were made including abortion rights and AIDS.

Fifty years after It’s Alive was initially released, it has only become more relevant in the ensuing years. Fears surrounding parenthood have been with us since the beginning of time but as the years pass the reasons for these fears only seem to become more and more profound. In today’s world the conversation of the fathers in the waiting room could be expanded to hormones and genetic modifications in food, terrorism, climate change, school and other mass shootings, and other threats that were unknown or at least less of a concern fifty years ago. Perhaps the fearmongering conspiracy theories about chemtrails and vaccines would be mentioned as well, though in a more satirical fashion, as fears some expectant parents encounter while endlessly doomscrolling Facebook or Twitter. Speaking for myself, despite the struggles, the fears, and the sadness that sometimes comes with having children, it’s been worth it. The joys ultimately outweigh all of that, but I understand the terror too. Becoming a parent is no easy choice, nor should it be. But as I look back, I can say that I’m glad we made the choice we did.

I wonder if Frank and Lenore can say the same thing.

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