 RED does not mean "stop." GREEN does not mean "go." Click on the CAPCon Alert image for explanation |
A ministry of the ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP Ministry) A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Christian Ministry. www.capalert.com/ Entertainment Media Analysis Report A service to His little ones through you in His name by His Word MAR29019  (2009), Unrated [Hardcore R*] (1hr 21min) The #1 Christian entertainment media analysis service on the Internet. We give you OBJECTIVE tools NO ONE ELSE CAN to help YOU make an informed decision for yourself whether a film is fit for your family. Over 1200 analyses for parents, grandparents, pastors, youth leaders and more. |
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(While the Scriptural references are certainly not subjective, my commentary may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)
 Cast/Crew Details Courtesy Internet Movie Database Production (US): Relativity Media, Rogue Pictures, Platinum Dunes, Phantom Four Distribution (US): Universal Studios Home Entertainment Director(s): David S. Goyer Producer(s): Michael Bay, William S. Beasley, Jessika Borsiczky Goyer, Andrew Form, Bradley Fuller Written by: David S. Goyer Cinematography/Camera: James Hawkinson Music: Ramin Djawadi Film Editing: Jeff Betancourt Casting: Juel Bestrop, Seth Yanklewit Production Design: Craig Jackson Art Direction: Gary Baugh Viewed on Universal Studios Home Entertainment DVD This analysis is sponsored by the generosity of E&HP and C&EZ. I have an IQ of 139 but the minute details of connectivity of an evil-oriented plot and story such as The Unborn sometimes escape me. So, I am not going to try to discuss the story or plot in any great detail. I don't have the mind-set to figure out what all the subtle hints and suggestions evil programming tries to say. I suppose it makes sense that story holes and gaps occur when trying to build a story involving things that simply do not exist. But I will do my best to give you enough information for you to be in a better position to make an informed moral decision on your own whether this film is fit. In the COMING SOON enewsletter announcing the upcoming analysis of The Unborn I reported that the DVD comes with both the unrated version and the PG-13 version: that I would prepare a separate analysis of the PG-13 version following the analysis of this unrated version. This report is analysis of the unrated version. I will prepare an analysis of the PG-13 version and in it will prepare a scoring distribution comparative of the two versions for your information. Comparative analysis of an unrated and rated version of the same film will be at least interesting to find out the content differences. To be unrated means the MPAA did not see or rejected a version of a film. They apparently deemed the PG-13 version acceptable for 13 year olds and older. But what is it about this unrated version? "Unrated" means anything goes. Were parts chopped from the unrated version to permit the MPAA to slap a 13-year-old-acceptable label on it? We'll see. An unborn son of Gordon and Janet Belden (James Remar and Carla Gugino) died while in utero. Gordon and Janet gave the boy the nickname of Jumby but gave him no surname since the time he died was so early in the pregnancy. Along with Jumby in mom's uterus was Casey, his twin sister. Jumby died because Casey's umbilical cord wrapped around Jumby's neck. Apparently Jumby did not like that. By the way, I have been an emergency medical technician for years and I know about prolapsed cord (the umbilical cord appearing before the baby) and a baby's own cord getting wrapped around his/her neck but I've never heard of a baby's cord getting wrapped around a twin's neck. Besides, babies do not breathe while inside the womb. It is now years later and Casey is in college. Jumby's spirit, or dybbuk (a soul barred from Heaven), has been circling around, bouncing between hosts for all those years -- waiting for the right time to get his sister. Jumby is ready to be born now. At least, so sayeth four year old Matthew Newton (Atticus Shaffer), so sayeth the hand written text on a college classroom chalkboard, and so sayeth Casey's class notes. Jumby is dead but he is ready to be born. I guess this is supposed to make sense since Jumby never got the chance to be born and his dybbuk is grasping for anything he can find to enable him to live since he is barred from Heaven. I guess. But the fact is that if one's soul is barred from Heaven there is only one other "place" it can go. Especially since the story says the dybbuk is a condemned soul. Condemned? To where? Unless I missed it Hell is not mentioned anywhere in the script except as an expletive. And on top of that, a baby's soul is never condemned. It is blessed. Just another hole in the story I guess. We all need to get some wind chimes and hang them in our windows (the story claims wind chimes detect dybbuks). But how can a dead infant be born? According to the story, by its dybbuk possessing the body of a host, be it insect, animal or human. Typically (typically?) the host becomes one of the most grotesque demonic creatures ever to invade the big screen. And the only way for the dybbuk to be "kilt" is by exorcism. Much of the screen time for this film is spent portraying trying to exorcise Jumby's dybbuk out of Casey, then out of Episcopal priest Arthur Windham (), then out of Casey's boyfriend, Mark () ... By the way, the writers' use of Psalm 91 as the exorcism chant is fairly true to the Bible but not 100%. True to the text of Psalm 91 anyway but not to the purpose of it. I suppose to a lot of viewers Psalm 91 will now be known as the exorcism chapter. Remember the "chant" Jesus used to cast the demons out of the men into the pigs? "Go." That is it. [Matt. 8:32] Such is the entire theme of this Exorcist-like horror film. Indeed, this unrated 2009 film with a 2009 brother rated PG-13 earned a much more severe final score than the R-rated The Exorcist (Remastered) of 2000 and nearly as severe a final score as the likewise R-rated Exorcist: The Beginning of 2007. I have no doubt at all that the PG-13 brother of this film will earn a hardcore R-13 final score. I'll let you know. But just for comparison purposes since The Unborn seems to have the same theme as The Exorcist films, below is the scoring data distribution for The Exorcist (Remastered) of 2000 and for Exorcist: The Beginning of 2004 pus the scoring data distribution for this film.  Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 Violence is rampant. Terror sequences and horror images of demonic critters abound. I say "critters" because demonic possessions in this film are not limited to humans. A "possessed" little boy is seen lying on a bed next to a woman, the boy then pushes up the woman's t-shirt to expose her abdomen then shoves his hand into her abdomen. The same boy also impales a woman with a butcher knife in another scene. The evilness notwithstanding, such violent behaviors can and may serve to desensitize the viewer from appreciating the gravity of such decisions of behavior choices. God thinks so. [Prov. 16:29] Impudence/Hate (I) - 71 out of 100 Six times someone utters one of the three/four letter word vocabulary words but none of them were the most foul of the foul words. A lie tops off the loss of 29 of the starting 100 points in this investigation area. God speaks of profanity as "filthy communication." And there is no rationalizing it. [Col. 3:8,, Isa. 13:11, 2 Tim. 2:16, Prov. 8:13] About lies, God is particularly stern about lying. So stern that the unforgiven liar will not make it into Heaven. [Rev. 21:8] Sexual Immorality (S) - 25 out of 100 There is intercourse in this unrated film. It is without exposure of the gender-specific parts of the actor and actress but it is intercourse nonetheless. And it is outside of holy matrimony. God is also quite stern about sexual immorality in many verses. They can be summed up as any sexual contact (including visual), conduct or activity outside of a monogamous heterosexual marriage is sinful. That is hard to accept in this day and age [Prov. 30:12] but I didn't write the Rules. The One whose Son spent three days in Hell so you and I would not have to spend one moment there did. There are crude anatomical references, a nude woman in a shower (rear view from the hips up), an invitation to have sex, a little boy lifting a woman's T-shirt to rub her nude abdomen (and lightly touching the underside of her left breast) and more. Enough to lose 75 of the starting 100 points in this investigation area. [Hebr. 13:4, Col. 3:5 - 10 and many more] Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 83 out of 100 The only instances of abuse of controlled substances in the entire 81 minutes of the film were one instance of drunkenness (buzzed) and one instance of suggesting abuse of prescription drugs. Offense to God (O) - Zero out of 100 God's holy name is abused 12 times, each time without the four letter expletive. [Deut. 5:11] By demonic forces the head of a dog is rotated to upside down. Likewise is the head of a man rotated to upside down while he is down on all fours. But these are relatively "tame" examples of the graphic horror imagery of The Unborn, all of them of the unholy nature: appearance of the dead and the dead speaking to the living; creepy-crawlies oozing from the walls, floor, water, sewage, a mouth, more; a dead boy rising; hideous beings and demonic possessions. [Phil. 4:8, Deut. 18:10] Murder/Suicide (M) - 30 out of 100 There are at least eleven murders by beings of unholy nature. Many of the actual murder mechanisms were unseen but oft times suggestion is more influential than visual observation. A woman is folded backwards at the waist. A woman is murdered by a butcher knife. A young man is murdered by a great fall. One of the murder victims, an old woman, is seen after-the-fact in such a way as to be a more powerful an influence than seeing how the demon possessed man did the dirty deed. SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S) If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ] or bold. 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. CHAPTER/VERSE ***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) - Zero out of 100 Impudence/Hate (I) - 71 out of 100 Sexual Immorality (S) - 25 out of 100 Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 83 out of 100 Offense to God (O) - Zero out of 100 Murder/Suicide (M) - 30 out of 100 |
| 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 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. |
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