Customer Reviews

The Unborn (Unrated)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

My review is on the Unrated version. The Unborn kept me on the edge of my seat thru out and the movie runs at a brisk pace. There was very little gore in this movie but I think you find it wasn't necessary. It maintains a level of creepiness from the very first minute. Odette Yustman plays the young woman who is the target of a demonic spirit and Gary Oldman is the Rabbi who leads the failed Exorcism (does anyone think Gary looks remarkably like a young Peter O'Toole in this film?). I definitely don't think the film deserves all the negative critcism it received. Negative reviews tend to lower one's expectations - for me it was a pleasant surprise. I think you will find the 90 minutes viewing scary time well spent.

This was an okay horror flick. I love a good scary movie and I did leap from my seat in a couple of scenes, but I also like a really good scary story, and this one just kept confusing me!

***WARNING, SPOILERS AHEAD, ONLY READ IF YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE***

First, our main character is haunted by demonic visions... then she babysits a demonic child! Then we learn she had a twin that died in utero. So...ok... her twin brother is haunting her. NO! We find out it's a demon spirit haunting her and since her brother died in the womb, it's now after her. OK, so what's with the demonic child our heroine was babysitting? We find out that the spirit is trying to possess her because a twin is the easiest way for it to enter our world... but no! It's already possessed the neighbor boy. And continues to possess almost every other character in the movie except for the one that is suppose to be the "easiest". I didn't understand this plot hole or why Nazi experimentation caused demonic possession or why this girl's mother killed herself instead of staying to save her daughter from the evil she knew about. There were too many strings left dangling in this movie for me to really get into it although the visual effects were definitely scary -- it's story telling that really gives me the goosebumps, not crazy cgi effects and latex creatures!

This had the potential of being a good horror film, but as is the story with so many movies... the good bits are shown in the trailer! I really was disappointed not to have watched it in the theater b/c my brother was too scared to go! I waited with much anticipation for the dvd, only to settle down and be thoroughly disappointed. It isn't scary at all. Sure, some of the effects are good, but the story is lacking and leaves you wondering why you bagan watching it in the first place. Anyone want to buy my dvd copy? I'll give you a great price!

Better strap on some protection, UNBORN is impregnated with cheap scares, a convoluted plot, and pathetically squalid dream sequences. If you are feeling a kick from inside telling you to PUSH! this into your dvd player, I must advise you--ABORT!!!!! Grab a hangar and kill that idea quickly. It's films like these that have turned the U.S. into the red-headed stepchild of the horror industry. Nothing shocking, creepy, or interesting about this story, other than the basic premise.

Young Casey (Odette Yustman) was born with something missing--her twin sister. Damn shame too, Casey's hotter than global warming. Anyway, she's begins having some warped dreams and gets harassed by an evil spirit from another dimension. Oh joy.

Basically this feels like the spoiled little demonchild of THE EXORCIST and JU-ON. Demonically dumb, send this hellacious turd back down the sewage from which it came.

I basically rented this horror film because David Goyer (Blade, The Dark Knight) wrote and directed and because Gary Oldman was in it. Unfortunately, this flick was a disappointment on many levels. There are cliches abound in the script and Oldman's part as the Rabbi could've been played by anyone as well as fellow Brit Idris Elba's part as the minister--I guess they were both in for the paycheck. The only pluses in this film are Jane Alexander's brief turn as the heroine's grandmother, Odette Yustman in her undies looking like a Victoria Secret's model and the excellent Blu-ray transfer. If you looking for a better film in this genre, check out "The Midnight Meat Train" or "Candyman" (the original but not the sequels).

Watching 'The Unborn' is witnessing how unoriginal and formulaic Hollywood can be. There's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in this movie that's not borrowed from some other movie. Even some shots are exactly the same.

And Gee... jump scares? really? so cheap. so cheap. Simply embarrasing.

Two things kept me intrigued till the end of the movie, though: 1- Why did Platinum Dunes (a good company in the horror field) produce this movie and mainly, 2- Why is Gary Oldman in it?!?! Now that's scary.

There is nothing original about this Exorcist wannabe - same old story of young female being harassed by ghostly demon kid (well, kid with black hair and white makeup) who wants to possess cockroaches or humans - whichever is creepiest for the moment.

Same old story of people in abandoned church in a circle reading some religious text in non-English to scare the demon out of the female and into something that isn't quite clearly explained.

Demon as usual is a bit feisty and doesn't stay still so expresses his displeasure by tossing people and things.

Most everybody lives, things are fine except as usual female star is pregnant and guess what's coming out. Well, we don't know but Unborn II will tell us.

Conclusion: Acting was OK, script was tedious; story was redundant; effects were copycat impoverished.

David S. Goyer had written the first two "Blade" films and co-wrote "Batman Begins" with Christopher Nolan so I gave him an excuse for his lackluster directorial efforts in "Blade Trinity" and "the Invisible". Now that was before I found out that Goyer is also responsible for the script in "Kickboxer 2: the Road Back". Certainly, one wouldn't be hard-pressed to think that Goyer is a either a hit or a miss after his less than stellar resume. He has written and directed his latest horror film "The UNBORN", and once again, I wonder as to what happened to the talent displayed in the first two "Blade" films?

Casey (sexy Odette Yustman) is experiencing several bizarre and unsettling dreams. What's more casey had began to experience hallucinations and she had come to believe that a child named "jumby" is a guise for a demonic force called the `Dyubbuk' and that malevolent spirit is after her. Casey traces the cause of the visions through the clues left behind by her dead mother (Carla Gugino) and had found that she is also the grandchild of a holocaust survivor, Sofi (Jane Alexander). Sofi had experienced unfathomable experiences as a child during the holocaust and she believes that the `Dyubbuk' is after Casey. The demonic force slowly becomes more powerful as people around Casey begin to die. Now it is up to her along with her boyfriend (Cam Gigandet) to seek the help of Rabbi Sendak (Gary Oldman) to exorcise the `dyubbuk' and send it back to where it belongs....

"The Unborn" could have easily been mistaken for a remake of an Asian horror film; a creepy child--check, a pale-faced ghost--check, a family curse--check, a malevolent spirit--check. Yes, "The Unborn" has all the makings of a simple ghost story and David Goyer does try to go for a different route and adds several elements of Jewish mysticism such as the Kabbalah, family curses and even Nazi experimentation. The film does attempt to cover a lot of ground, that results in the film becoming a little too unfocused. Goyer's skills as a director isn't finely honed enough to pull off such an ambition and he is left a little lost within his own writing. I do commend the fact that Hollywood horror has tried to do something different in the film, rather than resorting to another remake; it also attempts to bring certain exorcism procedures into exposition than resorting to the usual Catholic overtones.

The problems with "The Unborn" are the fact that it throws in too many ideas but never really uses one as its central theme. What results is a screenplay full of gaping plot holes and too many variables that falter as a misstep. It also shows Casey trying to battle the forces of evil that feels like a minor genre implementation that ends up with the script becoming convoluted. It's not that the film made no effort to explain everything, it actually does but it ends up spending too much time trying to make sense of each of its plot elements that the film loses any of the `creep-out' touches it may have achieved.

The film is also co-produced by Michael Bay so expect a very visual experience that is a rehearsed practice of cheap and "jump" scares. The special effects do look very good and the film itself looks very pretty. There are a number of freaky images such as an old man crawling around distorting his own body, facial features are changed into something more feral and scary, convulsions and creepy mirrors--the film does have its moments, but the problem is the scare factor feels a little too cheap. The film suffers from visual overload, it is loud (not in a literary sense) with too much style that it forgot to become scary. Characterization is also a little too weak, and the viewer would have no time to get attached to its characters. Some may like the "in-your-face-no-nonsense" type of storytelling, but in a horror film, caring for the characters is essential. Goyer forgot to make the audience settle into his screenplay.

Goyer also leaves some grand behavioral missteps as with the character of Casey's friend Romy (Meagan Good); for someone who talks about believing in the occult, she sure spends an awful lot of time trying to convince Casey otherwise. He also leaves the subplot with Casey's child-stalker hanging out to dry and Casey's dad is curiously nowhere to be found amid the entire crisis (a simple phone call would've sufficed). Instead, the direction obsesses in showing a pale-faced deformed dog, more visual nightmares and an upside down senior citizen than developing the script. The acting is also a mixed bag and given the little elements the cast had to work with, I can`t really judge their acting abilities. Although I really liked the sight of Odette Yustman in her small shirt and panties, plus I did somewhat enjoy the fact that Gary Oldman managed to kick some dyubbuk butt.

"The Unborn" throws in so much substance than it actually really needs. It resulted with the storytelling becoming a little too convoluted and the special effects just taking over that made the film rather superficial. While it does have some freaky images, they were all pretty routine and it offers nothing methodical that may make a scene really stand out--it all seems like a rehearsed exercise. The film is a grand exhibit of too much style and substance that never went anywhere. But I am pretty sure that "The Unborn" may find an audience, but hardcore horror fans are better off staying away. At least, Odette Yustman is very hot.

Rent it. [2 Stars= Mediocre to Fair]

this movie had potential in the plot line, but the many twists and curves were covered so topically that the audience comes away dissatisfied. i could have done without some of the tense drama in lieu of real explanation or character development.

characters die for the shock value...in a movie that should be more suspense thriller/horror than slash flick. if someone tackled the screenplay with a stronger veto for the 'junk scenes', this could become far better than it was.

all in all, it was a disappointment.

This movie was easily one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Theacting was horrible. The script was uninspired. This was a movie that kept contradicting itself. The film was sloppy and unoriginal. I was very disappointed and angry when I left the theater. I only give it a 2 because Gary Oldman appeared in this excuse of a film. He is the only excuse to see this film. And thats not even a good enough reason, as he phoned in his performance. Its not like I was expecting a good film. Just something to give me a jump or two. This did not even do that. This film is not only not worth the ten dollars I paid to see it, but its was not worth the hour and a half I spent watching it.