Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
ChicDragon
It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.
Taraparain
Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
Stephan Hammond
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
GL84
Determined to prevent another incident, the group who battled the creatures previously spring into action when reports surface of another potential killer baby being born and bring it to an isolated study center only for one to escape which makes them try to track it down and kill it.This was quite a dull and unnecessary sequel. One of the few things that works here is the fact that the creatures are made a focal point of the for a much longer period of time than what had happened previously. Given more of an emphasis for being there in the area this time around, with the majority of the first half consisting of them getting the information out of the group and what their intentions are which carries into the need for the security at the hospital for the birth of the creature and the resulting chaos afterward. Consisting of the abduction and eventual hostage part in the truck where it really gets even bigger with the incidents in the back part of the truck, this here is a fine start to things which is later played off nicely in the later half where the creatures are loose in suburbia and have plenty of enjoyable encounters between the creatures and the swarm hunting them down. As this provides the action with some decent gore effects, these are what hold this one down over its rather large flaws. A lot of the film's problems stem from the same issue that befell the original in that there's just not a whole of interesting things going on here. Taking the guise of a loose remake where this starts off with the creatures' birth and the eventual escape from the hospital only this time it takes far longer to get to the point of the story which here makes no sense at all. The point of keeping mutant, bloodthirsty deformed freaks alive and healthy in the manner attempted here is not only colossally irresponsible but also moronic by keeping known threats to humanity alive. The fact that we don't really get much of anything about their point to be conducting the experiments on the creatures or what they hope to learn from them at the facility which makes their mission even more problematic overall. As these here are all in disservice to the pacing here, this one is just so dull and barely interesting that it feels a lot longer than the others which makes it incredibly hard to get into this one. Added together with the unimpressive action scenes that don't really mean much of anything that happens here is interesting, this one is quite the bland and unappealing effort.Rated PG: Violence and Language.
Hayjohowe
It's Alive 2 a.k.a It Lives Again, is the happy medium between the original It's Alive, which I find a little dull compared to the other two, and It's Alive Three Island of the Alive, which was much more violent and had a lot more profanity. But the plot to It lives again is nothing special: Affter his baby was killed, Frank Davis starts warning people who are ready to have a baby about what may happen, and what the government may try to do. He and a group of others devise a plan to help a pregnant woman and her husband (The Scotts) have their baby, despite the obvious fact that it will be a mutant. He uses a special truck with appropriate gear to do this. But when the baby kills the doctors, the team captures it, and takes it to a base with two other children to study it. But the government knows what is going on and is intent to stop it. When the three babies get lose, they run ramp-id on the base until the government kills all of them except the Scotts baby, Who kills Frank Davis when he tries to get it to safety. The Parents then offer themselves as bait, remembering what Frank said about the infants ability to find it's parents. The police waits in the area around a house that the Scotts stay in, while the baby makes it's way to them. Eventually it finds them, and they realize that the baby only wants their love, and they then care for it for a short time. But then the government group gases the house to poison the infant, and when the leader steps in, the child attacks him, and it's either shoot their own baby or let the man die. So in the end, Mr. Scott kills his own baby. It's a lot more tragic end in this movie, than in the first. Some may say, this movie isn't as good as the original, and it's probably not, but I say, go check it out, see for yourself...
Michael_Elliott
It Lives Again (1978) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Sequel to It's Alive has another mutant baby being born but this time the government is there to kill it on the spot. This doesn't sit too well with a certain group of people who want to keep the baby and study it. Once again director Cohen adds some political messages but the end results aren't as fun as the first film. I'm sure he must have needed the money to do this thing because it doesn't come off with any of the charm as the first one. There are some very good moments in the movie but sadly they're all wasted with the deep message, which becomes quite annoying after a while. The attack sequences are all well done though.
fertilecelluloid
I read James Dixon's great novelization of this sequel first, so my expectations were high. Too high. It plays like a retread of the first film with three killer tots instead of one.John Ryan is back trying to warn other parents of the infant scourge, but nobody listens until it's too late or they're dead.Once again, Cohen gives us a dialog-heavy, vapid time-waster with little action until the last ten minutes and badly directed action at that.Bernard Herrmann's score is culled from unused cues from the first film and is the film's only saving grace.If you can still find it, read the novelization and consider what this film could have been.