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As the end of a trilogy, it’s difficult to see IT’S ALIVE III: ISLAND OF THE ALIVE as anything other than a disappointment. Considering how strong the series began with the heartbreaking tragedy and caustic satire of 1974’s IT’S ALIVE, the slide began with the just okay IT LIVES AGAIN before it took a drastic left turn in the third and final film that practically had nothing to do with the first two entries. But if you remove ISLAND OF THE ALIVE from its place as the concluding film in a once strong franchise (something that was admittedly difficult for me to do for a very long time), there is a wonky charm to it. That charm has little to do with the plot and everything to do with Michael Moriarty chewing the scenery like a brush hog demolishing a golf course.
The first IT’S ALIVE benefitted from the performance of John P. Ryan in what I’ve long considered the best piece of screen acting I’ve ever seen. Moriarty’s work in ISLAND OF THE ALIVE is just as memorable, but for completely different reasons. Ryan sank his teeth into a complex character and broke the audience’s heart. Moriarty took one look at the script and its premise and decided to drag the film into a place of absurdist comedy. He starts the film at about an eight in the eye-rolling, goofiness department and ramps it up until he peaks somewhere around Nicolas Cage to the fourth degree.
On a lot of amphetamines.
While wearing an obvious hairpiece.
ISLAND OF THE ALIVE was the third film that Larry Cohen and Michael Moriarty did together. In Q and THE STUFF, Moriarty had put odd, intense spins on what would normally be stock anti-heroes, turning them into fascinating characters that still felt like they belonged in the worlds in which those films existed. The marvel of Moriarty’s work here is that he feels like he was dropped into a cash in horror sequel, yet he acted as though he was a long-lost Marx Brother.
As written, Steven Jarvis (Moriarty’s character) is a bitter ex-actor whose career was ruined when he and his now ex-wife (Karen Black) had one of the mutant babies. Although Jarvis successfully convinced a judge to stop the summary execution of his child and a few of the other final mutant babies, that moment of redemption only caused him more misery with the end of his marriage and legal debts. When the opportunity to travel to the island where his child and the other babies have been living for several years comes along, Jarvis takes it in an effort to protect them from the expedition of scientists who are interested in experimenting on the exiles.
As part of a ruse to keep everyone from suspecting him of sabotage, Jarvis acts mentally unstable. But Moriarty commits to the ruse so completely that the audience cannot tell if Jarvis is putting on an act or if his true colors just shine through once he’s out of civilization and stuck on a boat with several people who hate his guts.
While the character of Jarvis sabotages the expedition, Moriarty the actor sabotages the movie and saves it in the process. He randomly sings sea shanties, uncomfortably invades the space of every actor around him, and gives maximum lasciviousness to every line of dialogue that has him hitting on the lone female member of the expedition. While Cohen does orchestrate this madness, it is Moriarty who goes for the throat with every line, gesture, and unhinged warning of danger. By comparison, the “adult” mutant children are almost tame when compared to the leading man’s feral turn.
Once the movie leaves the island and the mutants reach civilization, Moriarty’s over-the-top performance dials back in service of wrapping up the plot. It’s a shame because the movie suddenly becomes the perfunctory cash in that Moriarty kept it from being. He’s fine as he slides into a traditional hero role and brings some gravitas to the enigmatic ending. However, the sudden change in energy is so abrupt that the third act might as well belong to a different film.
Despite the plot letting down the film and Moriarty’s performance in the end, I still have fun revisiting the first hour of ISLAND OF THE ALIVE. It’s a great reminder of the magic that could happen when Cohen and Moriarty teamed up and brought out the goofiest in each other.
Tags: Art Lund, Babies, Bernard Herrmann, carlos palomino, Daniel Pearl, Gerrit Graham, Horror, James Dixon, karen black, Larry Cohen, Laurene Landon, Laurie Johnson, Macdonald Carey, michael moriarty, Neal Israel, scream factory, Sequels
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