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As far as horror films go, this one seems to be going in the right places for a plethora of scares, but leaves me shaking my head as the film direction and tone seems to start annoying me for being so predictable and passe'. The unpredictable sudden bursts of sight and sound made to startle the viewer, (i.e., when a train flies by the camera) was so totally startling, unnecessary, and annoying that it made me lose my focus from the story-line. The soundtrack was very poor and many things could not be heard because everyone was talking so low and secretive. This horror film had the best chance of making the biggest splash for the supernatural genre, but, even with director David Goyer (The Eye) at the helm, this film left me spinning from silliness. Our young college student Casey Beldon, played by Odette Yustman starts having crazy dreams that appear to us as real segments until we discern otherwise from seeing her awake from sleep in a startled fashion. The main theme seems to be about this poor spooky lad with bright blue eyes and dressed in early 20th Century European garb. The child's name later turns out to be Jumby (her unborn twin). It's very easy to say that all variables of timing, editing, special effects, ghostly apparitions, an evil Nazi experiment gone hay-wire, the Kabbalah, Jewish and Christian excorcism, and a totally cool haunted heroine, can deliver a powerful punch to the most discerning audience. The gruesome elements are all wonderful and fit well into the film at certain points, however, Casey Beldon, in my opinion, seems way too calm to actually pass off her character as taking this film very seriously. This automatically cheapens the film, since I found her true feelings to be very shallow and unreadable at the surface. If I had been acting in this film, I would have shown much more emotion and at least start sweating and get circles under my eyes. Odette Yustman looked wonderful throughout the entire film with only a few unusual points in the film where she actually screamed bloody murder. I'd have been shaking and catatonic when the kid tells her "Jumby wants to be born now." Casey should have freaked when she finds a photo of her dead mother and the same spooky child in the background of the photo as well. A news clipping prompts Casey to visit an old Holocaust survivor (Jane Alexander) in a nursing home, which turns out to be here grandmother. The woman clues her in to a dark family secret extending back to WWII, which causes her to seek counsel from the church. She is somehow led to Rabbi Sendak (Gary Oldman), who seems very apprehensive to get involved without additional help from another Christian social worker. The PG-13 violence is never too graphic, however, in the Unrated version, the kid stabs Casey's best friend. I don't necessarily agree with the decision of some movie-makers to use props in the film that advertise certain products such as Apple computers that are easily identifiable by their logos or a certain kind of pregnancy test, but these items appeared in the film or in deleted scenes of the film which are very distracting to the viewer. Overall, the last segment was way too predictable, yet the cues that were in place about Casey having morning sickness were not as identifiable as some scenes were taken out of the final cut. I'll give this film an overall rating of 3/5 for film completion, but with a producer such as Michael Bay, I was truly disappointed in the final product.Read full review
THE UNBORN suffers from the same malady as many horror films. The backstory, told in brief flashbacks, is far more intriguing than the present day action. In this case, college student Casey (who, regrettably, looks like a porn star and doesn't demonstrate much acting range) keeps seeing a creepy-looking little boy in her dreams. After about an hour of wondering what's going on, and recalling that her mother died in a mental hospital, Casey tracks down her Grandmother (Jane Alexander). Grandma does a great job of telling the whole story in quick flashbacks. Grandma and her twin brother were in a Nazi concentration camp when her brother was killed by a Nazi experiment. Two days later, the brother came back to life, but it was really an evil spirit, a Dybbuk, inhabiting his body. Naturally, all the concentration camp kids recognized this immediately (how?) and killed it (again, how?), and now the Dybbuk stalks the family, waiting for another person to possess. I would have liked to see a whole movie set at the concentration camp, complete with Nazi atrocities, and the events leading up to how a bunch of little kids killed the Dybbuk. THAT would be a scary movie! Instead, we get an exorcism scene with several adult ministers and occult specialists attempting to get the devil out of Casey. This is the scariest part of the film, but the exorcism doesn't work (so again, how did the concentration camp kids easily kill the Dybbuk --- under the noses of the Nazis?) This is never explained. The film ends with a "surprise" ending that most horror fans could have predicted in advance. THE UNBORN has its moments but overall is merely average.Read full review
The story is terribly contrived and goes through the typical horror story motions from start to finish: childhood trauma - check! Nightmares - check! It also takes so much content from other films its unbelievable. More unbelievable is the fact that it botches these 'homages' every time. The film plods on and on attempting to at least get a jump out of you (which it fails at) until finally you get to the finale. Needless to say, the finale is also terrible. More so because at least the one thing the film does manage to do is contain the odd decent special effect. However, the finale for some reason doesn't contain any of these effects and resorts to actors merely wearing contact lenses.
The Unborn was a feature film that I would not show my children. A better than expected horror movie.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
It was a good movie.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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