Trivia / It Lives by Night

• Completely Different Title: Like many B Movies, It Lives By Night was released under multiple titles, causing headaches for at least a generation of horror movie buffs.
  • The movie's Working Title was Angel of Fear, which was retained for the opening credits song. Some sources indicate that the movie was released under this title in some European countries. Another working title was Winged Death, which was used in some newspaper ads and other promotional material.
  • AIP changed the title to It Lives By Night during filming. They changed it again to The Bat People early in the movie's theatrical run after the former title failed to attract audiences. It was released on video under both titles, leading to a mix-up when Mystery Science Theater 3000 screened the film as It Lives By Night but TV listings of the episode listed the title as The Bat People.
  • For further confusion, some second-run and drive-in theaters retitled the film It's Alive!, possibly to capitalize off another horror movie with that title released the same year. This confused at least one contemporary film reporter, who mistook It Lives By Night with yet another movie titled It's Alive, a 1969 flick by Larry Buchanan, wondering why it was being rereleased after five years when nobody had liked it the first time.
• Creator Couple: Lead actors Stewart Moss and Marianne McAndrew were married in Real Life as well as the film.
• Creator Killer:
  • Marianne McAndrew was briefly considered a rising star after her Golden Globe-nominated performance as Irene Molloy in Hello, Dolly!. Unfortunately, she could only find roles in B movies and a few television guest appearances afterwards. After It Lives By Night wrapped McAndrew largely retired from acting, never appearing in another theatrical release and only sporadically working in television, usually in shows with husband Stewart Moss.
  • For his part, Moss had a respectable career as a character actor in film, television and theatre, but this movie scotched any hopes he had of becoming a leading man. In an interview near the end of his life, Moss expressed regret that people often recognized him for this movie, which he called "not very good."
  • Averted with both Stan Winston and Tony Urbano, the film's effects artists. Both of whom would go on to have viable careers in special effects and puppetry afterwards.
• Dueling Movies: With 1979's Nightwing.