It's Alive (1974) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The baby was born as a mutant due to Lenore's use of birth control pills manufactured by a pharmaceutical company. The company's executive privately revealed to Dr. Norton that Lenore had taken their contraceptive pills, which apparently caused the child's horrific deformities. This explains why the pharmaceutical company was so desperate to cover up the incident and destroy the baby's body.

Foreshadowing: Earlier in the film, Lenore mentions during labor that this pregnancy feels different and more challenging than her previous one.

• mutant baby
• birth control
• deformities
• pharmaceutical cover-up

A pharmaceutical executive met with Dr. Norton and ordered them to suppress all knowledge of the incidents and destroy the baby's body. The executive revealed that Lenore had taken birth control pills produced by their company, which may have caused the child's deformities. They feared a scandal that would damage their reputation and potentially lead to lawsuits.

• pharmaceutical cover-up
• birth control pills
• company scandal
• secrets

Despite the baby's violent nature, Frank experienced a moment of empathy when he found the infant crying and reaching out with its clawed hands. He pleaded with the police to spare the child, arguing it should be studied and understood rather than killed. In a final desperate act, Frank threw the baby away from the police line of fire trying to save it, though the baby ultimately killed Dr. Norton and was then shot dead.

Foreshadowing: Frank had already shown hesitation about the hunt, having been assured by Lt. Perkins that the authorities did not hold him responsible for his child's actions.

• Frank Davis
• sewer
• empathy
• police shootout
• parenting

Lenore's strange behavior of stocking the refrigerator with excessive food was meant to prepare for bringing Chris back home, as she desperately wanted her older son to return. However, this normal maternal instinct in the face of the extraordinary horror around her highlights her psychological deterioration. Frank noticed the oddity and grew more suspicious of her mental state.

• Lenore
• food
• refrigerator
• psychological breakdown

Chris was left at Charley's house when Lenore and Frank rushed to the hospital. Later, he escaped from Charley's and ran home. In the basement, Chris discovered the family's deceased cat, indicating the baby had been in the house. Frank tried to protect Chris from the monstrous infant during the confrontation in the basement.

Foreshadowing: Frank had told Chris a lie that the baby was sick, keeping the child away from the truth.

• Chris
• Charley
• escape
• basement
• family cat

The mutant baby attacked and killed a milkman while he was making deliveries, feeding on the milk from his truck. The baby, driven by primal instinct and hunger, encountered the milkman during its wanderings and brutally murdered him. This was the second killing attributed to the infant, following the hospital massacre.

• milkman
• killing
• milk
• attack
• primal instinct

During the police interrogation, detectives specifically asked about the couple's prior inquiries regarding abortion during Lenore's pregnancy. This questioning suggested that authorities suspected the parents may have known something was wrong with the fetus. Frank clarified that they had only briefly considered abortion but ultimately decided they wanted to expand their family.

• police
• abortion
• interrogation
• investigation

During the chaotic delivery room scene, everyone was killed except Lenore, who was left alive but in hysterics asking about her newborn. The baby vanished mysteriously during the carnage. While the exact method of escape is not shown on screen, it presumably fled through the hospital in the confusion, eventually making its way outside where a woman discovered it crying with its horrifying fangs and claws exposed.

• hospital escape
• birth
• violence
• delivery room

Frank lost his position at the public relations firm due to the scandal generated from the disastrous events surrounding his newborn. The violent nature of the hospital attack and subsequent killings became public knowledge, and the stigma associated with the monstrous child made Frank a liability to the company. The scandal directly impacted his employment.

• Frank
• job
• fired
• scandal
• public relations

At the end of the film, as Frank and Lt. Perkins drive away from the scene where the baby was killed, Perkins receives news that another killer mutant baby has been born in Seattle, Washington. This chilling revelation suggests that the horror is not an isolated incident but part of a larger pattern or epidemic, implying the terror is destined to repeat itself elsewhere and offering no resolution or hope for an ending to the threat.

• Seattle
• ending
• twist
• mutant baby
• cycle
• sequel teaser

After escaping from the hospital and going on a killing spree, the mutant baby was eventually located at a nearby school. The authorities tracked it there, and Frank was informed via phone call. When police attempted to corner the baby at the school, it attacked an officer and escaped into the surrounding woods, demonstrating its continued threat to anyone in its path.

• school
• escape
• woods
• police chase

When the baby attacked Charley in the Davis home basement, Frank grabbed a gun and instinctively fired at his own mutant offspring in an attempt to protect his family and friend from the deadly creature. The baby escaped through a window, but this moment showed the extreme conflict Frank faced between his role as a father and the need to protect his family from the monstrous threat.

• Frank
• gun
• basement
• shooting
• family protection