Fantasmo Cult Cinema Explosion is not merely the area’s finest celebration of genre, cult, and exploitation film, from time to time it finds opportunities to address more serious issues and quandaries, such as: “What if my baby turned out to be a clawed monster just killing people up, down, and all over the place?”

This is the question B-movie auteur Larry Cohen posed in 1974’s It’s Alive, paying expectant mothers across the land the favor of giving them something else to worry about it. I’m not sure, but I suspect the horrifying (and horrifyingly plausible) events depicted in the movie may have had a hand in the improved prenatal care of the past 30 years. Apparently, back in 1974, ultrasounds were unheard of and the mother’s concerns were treated primarily by smoking cigarettes and condescending to her. This, among other factors, contributed to a toxic environment that facilitated the terrifying occurrence of an It’s Alive baby. In addition to Cohen’s always entertaining and way-more-intelligent-than-he-has-to-be touch, the film boasts contributions from a few bona fide legends in composer Bernard Herrmann and make-up artist Rick Baker.

By 1978, Cohen, and presumably the world, was still haunted by the nagging question: “Could anything be more frightening than the existence of a homicidal mutant infant?”

With It’s Alive 2 (aka It Lives Again, which isn’t entirely accurate because the baby from the first movie stays dead), Cohen finally answered his own question by realizing that 3 killer babies would probably be scarier than just the one. And it was with these two movies that what is doubtlessly the most famous, popular and beloved trilogy in the history of cinema began. They also inspired a DTV remake last year starring Bijou Phillips, unseen by me but of possible interest to idiots who like DTV horror remakes starring Bijou Phillips.

Doors open Friday, August 14th (day after tomorrow if yr nasty) at 7pm at the Chesapeake Central Library. The original classic screens at 8pm and the original sequel follows at 9:45. If you have never seen an It’s Alive movie or attended a Fantasmo night, do yrself a favor and check it out. Not only is it a chance to see rare classics projected on a big screen in stere ere o for the low low price of free, it is also a rare chance to see hard R movies with children in a public library as you indulge carefree in food and drink. There’s almost no end to the thrilling taboo violations there. The Fantasmo team, it should be noted, always has some atmospheric surprises in store as well as door prizes, snacks, soda, all that ish. Throw a few bucks into the plastic pumpkin and make yrself sick on a balanced binge of popcorn, Twizzlers, and Coca-Cola. Cheers.