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Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP Ministry) www.capalert.com/ Entertainment Media Analysis Report A service to His little ones (which includes at-home teens) through you, their parents and grandparents, in His name by His Word MAR24004  (1974), PGINCLUDES comparative with R-rated Scream 3 (2000) |
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ALERT: To fully understand this report you should first visit the topics suggested by the CAP Site Map (Table of Contents). Further, if you do not want the plot, ending, or "secrets" of a movie spoiled for you, skip the Summary/Commentary. In any case, be sure to visit the Findings/Scoring section -- it is completely objective to His Word and is the heart of the CAP Entertainment Media Analysis Model applied to this movie. |  |
 (1974), PG [13-PG] -- I can't wait until we find enough money to analyze many more older films.  Cast/Crew Details Courtesy Internet Movie Database Production (US): Larco Productions, Inc., Warner Bros. Distribution (US): Warner Bros., Warner Home Video Director(s): Larry Cohen Producer(s): Janelle Cohen, Larry Cohen, Peter Sabiston Written by: Larry Cohen Cinematography/Camera: Fenton Hamilton Music: Bernard Herrmann Film Editing: Peter Honess Wow! A huge total of nine uses of the three/four letter word vocabulary in this PG-rated 1974 horror classic of yesteryear! But it earned a middle-of-the-road PG-13 final score! The last PG-13 I analyzed, My Baby's Daddy (2004) had 97 uses of profanity [2 Tim. 2:16]. That says that PG-13 movies of today are more than 10 times more profane than a PG-rated film of thirty years earlier. After more than 1200 movie analyses since 1996 of incredible reliability and consistent results (the credit goes to the Designer of the model - Jesus, not the engineer - me), I suspect there is at least a smidgen of credibility in our findings. By the CAP analysis model, It's Alive earned a score of 61 out of 100, equivalent to a "middle of the road" PG-13 of the comparative baseline database of movies circa 1996/7 (which does not incorporate that more than half of the PG-13 movies made since 1996/7 earned R-13 scores Beverly Hills Public Relations executive Frank Davis (John P. Ryan), his wife Lenore (Sharon Farrell) and their 11 year old son Chris (Daniel Holzman) are about to welcome a newborn into their home. However, Lenore keeps saying there is something different about this pregnancy. After consuming unapproved birth control pills for 31 months, Lenore announces that the baby is coming. Prematurely. Frank zips his wife to the hospital after dropping off Chris at a prearranged stay with friend Charley (William Wellman Jr.). In the waiting room, Frank participated in gambling with other expectant fathers and discussing with them all the harmful effects of so many pesticides. Soon, the unusual baby was born. Within minutes, five hospital staff are dead. The police note a hole in the delivery room skylight that a "normal sized" person could not get through. The unnamed infant that just killed five people is now on the loose in Beverly Hills. It must be killed to stop it from killing more. Now there is a dilemma. It is an infant. A baby. It is killing people. Though it is a killing monstrosity it is still a baby. Who could kill it? Frank could. How is this infant different? It has fangs. It has claws. And at one day old it can walk, run, jump to shame Olympic athletes. It can live off frozen meat, milk left on doorsteps by the milkman, the milkman, a cop or two, Charley, a musician, a mini-skirted woman, a cat, ....... The most invasive sexual matters in this film were Lenore asking Frank to make love to her (Lenore and Frank were "married", but Ryan and Farrell were not) and an actor patting a towel against Farrell's most intimate parts while she was lying in a childbirth position [Hebr. 13:4; 1 Cor. 7:1-2]. The portrayal of childbirth is non-invasive of Farrell's privacy, however the amount of leg exposure is a bit much. Though unavoidable in actual childbirth, this is a movie and ALL scenes are 100% controllable. How much is controlled is dependent on the level of morality of the filmmakers. [Ps. 12:8] There were a grand total of two uses of God's name in vain, once with the four letter expletive (which is unusual fo a PG-rated film) and once without it. Though It's Alive (1974) uses much lesser profanity than most modern films, even one use of His name in vain is sinful. [Deut. 5:11] The gore of today is not presented in this horror film of yesteryear. Today's gore was not within the technology of 1973 (the film's release date was October 1974 but the content carries a 1973 copyright). Yesterday's gore consists largely of obviously dripped-on fake blood, sheets of red plastic draped over appendages, and animal flesh. Gore in this horror flick was lite. No gaping holes or rips in flesh and no body parts scattered around. Just for the fun of it, I decided to compare the analysis data of It's Alive to that of a more recent R-rated film. To find a more recent R-rated film to compare to It's Alive, I opened our CAP Reports page (the one with "All Analyses" - more than 1200) and randomly selected a more recent film rated R by unobserved scroll-down through the entire list, stopping wherever I let go of the mouse button, and then blindly rolling the cursor around the resulting screen. I repeated this process until I hit an R-rated film of 2000 or later. Lo and behold, Scream 3 was selected! How serendipitous! Scream 3 is a horror flick, too! And in nearly the same genre as It's Alive. It's Alive is not a comedy while Scream 3 is, but since the CAP analysis model could not care less about such subjective matters, there is no skewing of the comparative. So, Scream 3 was the more recent R-rated film selected as a comparative for the 1974 It's Alive data. Below are the CAP Thermometers for both films. I dare say that for the open minded of you there is little I can say to augment what is revealed in the comparative display below. But I will say there sure seems to have been a lot added to R over three decades. Or maybe this comparative is evidence of "We have become so drugged by the narcotics of extremees that what once was morally unacceptable has become morally invisible." -TC- [Ps. 12:8; Jude 4]  Another little tidbit in view of some recent developments. There was not the slightest hint of the practice of homosexuality in It's Alive (1974). Not even a mention of the topic, positive or negative. I will let the Findings/Scoring section tell you all that was found in It's Alive.
SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S) If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ]. If you wish to have full context available, the Blue Letter Bible is a convenient source. If you use the Blue Letter Bible, a new window will open. Close it to return here or use "Window" in your browser's menu bar to alternate between the CAP page and the Blue Letter Bible page. ***Selected Scriptures of Armour against the influence of the entertainment industry*** As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie. |
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 Wanton Violence/Crime (W) Impudence/Hate (I) Sexual Immorality (S) Drugs/Alcohol (D): Offense to God (O) Murder/Suicide (M) |
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| There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our more than eight years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings. |
