It Lives Again Again

Curiously absent from IMDb is the upcoming remake of Larry Cohen's 1974 It's Alive, reportedly shot in Bulgaria sometime in March. The flick is helmed by Josef Rusnak (The Thirteenth Floor, the upcoming Victims) and stars Bijou Phillips. The director announcement may come as a letdown - Cohen had planned to make it his first directorial job (absent an Air Force One documentary) in over a decade. His script was used; Cohen's always had an interest in social issues through genre film, so this time around, he's focusing less on the abortion issues of the original and more on genetic engineering.

The original was Cohen's most financially successful film, birthing two sequels and at least one blatant rip-off, The Devil Within (aka I Don't Want to be Born, The Baby, It Lives Within Her, It's Growing Inside Her, The Monster, Sharon's Baby). Recently lauded in this blog was Don Coscarelli for authoring the entire Phantasm quadrilogy; Cohen similarly wrote and directed the entire It's Alive trilogy. All three films are recently reissued on DVD in a bargain-priced single-case edition, all with Cohen commentaries. Enjoy!