The Unborn (Blu-ray Disc, 2009)

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.

Someone else said it perfectly -- this kind of film is what's turned the American horror film into trite, unscary sludge. The film starts out with an interesting premise, but almost immmediately gets bogged down in the director trying to make it "scary." Borrowing (that's the polite word) visuals from Exorcist, Grudge (not that that was any 5-star film in itself), and Jacob's Ladder, the film ends up being laughable rather than creepy, and borders on boring in most cases. Not one you'll regret missing. Guess Oldman needed a paycheck; what he was doing in this is beyond me.

it is a blu-ray dvd movie i like blu-ray movies better quality picture better sound like being inthe movie your self

This movie is getting bad reviews but I like it! This is a must see scary movie! 4/5 Stars! Watch it!!!
Vote "YES" if you found this Review was helpful!

this movie has a few cheap jump scares in it and some pretty good ones but the creepy atmosphere and strange scenes make this movie. it also has some pretty good acting which is great considering it is a horror movie. it is a solid horror movie that is a must for any horror collection.