Monster Scholar

With all the good reviews of Grace going around, horror seems primed for yet another killer baby movie. This time it’s It’s Alive and the trailer has got me as scared of motherhood as I’ve ever been.The plot of the original is simple: a mutant baby born to unsuspecting parents goes on a killing rampage whenever it feels scared. Don’t wake the baby. The birthing scene reminds me of the alien autopsy in I ndependence Day , an appropriate parallel considering Lenore’s baby is an alien menace that kills at will and a commentary on the nature of birth. It is also interesting to note that Lenore’s repeated concern that there is something wrong with the baby goes unheeded by the male medical establishment that dismisses her female intuition. I enjoyed the near-closing dialogue of the trailer. Someone tells the father “It’s dead Frank,” to which he replies “No. It’s alive” This snippet is of course referring the film’s title, which riffs off of fears of the in-between nature of newborns. For ...

"She's special. She needs special food."--Madeline Matheson Grace I caught the trailer for this film on Fearnet.com . Grace plays around with fears about the relationship between mother and child that can sometimes turn from nurturing to parasitic. Madeline Matheson is in a car accident that causes her to miscarry her fetus, but decides to carry the child to term anyway. After giving birth to a stillborn baby in the bathtub, Madeline somehow wills the baby back to life. But her unnatural and undying love is not enough, and she soon discovers the horrible price of keeping little Gracie alive . Grace capitalizes on the notion of children as parasites both inside and outside the womb. How many times have we heard mothers tell their older children "I've given you the best years of my life" as they complain about lost youth and their figures? These kinds of sacrifices are made into the subject of horror, as Madeline realizes what she must do (i.e. kill, dismembe...