While there are elements that are able to keep your interest, The Unborn features such an extremely familiar plot the film struggles to keep you entertained or bring any kind of chill while watching it.
It might be enough to please the occasional viewer, but horror fans will find themselves bored well before the final credits finish rolling.
Borrowing from past horror films is nothing new, but it kills any chance The Unborn has of being scary since the viewer is too busy playing “spot the other horror film.” This is something I would normally not mention in a review, but the various scenes ruin any chance a horror fan will have of getting into the movie.
Watching the movie with my wife, the copying of past horror flicks became a massive distraction as we were constantly saying “Hey, that scene is from …” (such as the “spider walking” scene from The Exorcist). There is a lot of borrowing here ranging from Candyman and Pet Sematary to Army of Darkness and The Dark Half.
Written and directed by David S. Goyer (who has proven to be a solid screenwriter but seems to struggle in the director’s chair), the film stars Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman (proving he can do any role taking on a Jewish Rabbi here), Cam Gigandet, and Meagan Good.
The film has some sparks of plot that could be of interest (German Nazis do experiments on twins and bring back a demon in one of them that decides to stalk the female twin’s child and grandchild), but nothing really seems to gel.
It starts off with the predictable kind of creepiness – a hot college girl starts to see a strange kid (who looks like he stepped off the set of Children of the Corn) and a dog wearing a human face. She also has to babysit a little boy who tells her Jumby wants to be born now.
Next thing you know, it turns out that she was going to be a twin, but her brother died in the womb, her eyes start changing colors, she starts having more illusions, and she fills a paper with the same sentence (kind of like Jack Nicholson did in 1980’s The Shining).
She also discovers that she has a grandmother who is a Holocaust survivor, her mother committed suicide to keep Jumby from getting her, and that she needs to get a book and a Jewish rabbi so she can have an exorcism done to get rid of little Jumby.
The final minutes of the film is kind of like watching The Exorcist meets Ghostbusters as Oldman (in the role of the rabbi) and the rest of the film’s cast try to get rid of Jumby – who starts jumping through different people’s bodies.
Goyer’s writing abilities helped bring Blade to the screen, and get Batman back on track with Batman Begins. Unfortunately, his directing skills brought us the miserable Blade Trinity, and 2007’s The Invisible.
The film also suffers from some less than stellar acting as the good looking cast tries to bring something to their characters, but fall very short. Much of the film rests on Odette Yustman’s shoulders, but the actress never really steps up to the plate and seems to simply be going through the motions.
She isn’t helped by a rather bland performance by Cam Gigandet as her boyfriend. Gigandet’s character seems more like an afterthought or plot device and for most of the film he seems as interested in the role as I was watching it.
Oldman does his best to breathe some life into the film, but he becomes laughable by the ending. The film also benefits from the talents of Idris Elba – who was unfortunately wasted in the movie and made me wonder if he thought he was in a comedy.
The film does benefit from a slick production (it was produced by Michael Bay after all) and a few moments of intensity - mostly thanks to the lighting, visual effects, and camera work of James Hawkinson.
Even with a few good elements, the film never really delivers on what could be a good story. This could also be due to the PG-13 friendly rating that the film was saddled with for its theatrical release. The Blu-ray arrived unrated, but still feels a little light for the story.
The Blu-ray comes loaded with a few deleted scenes that don’t add much to the movie. It also has BD Live and My Scenes – which lets you pick your favorite moments from the movie.
David S. Goyer had a decent idea with The Unborn, but it didn’t translate to the screen well. Rather than deliver a movie that gets into your head and scares the hell out of you, Goyer and company delivered a film that just reminds of some other great horror movies. I would suggest just watching them instead.
The Unborn [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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