The Unborn Review

Written by: moviemaven   

So if you read my latest article then you are aware that I was hoping for something good to start off my new year and I was hoping it would come from The Unborn. I will just go ahead and tell you it did not. I thought perhaps with the inclusion of Gary Oldman and James Remar, they would at least have to try. Sadly they did not. As a matter of fact, I have deducted points for under-utilizing decent talent.

My biggest problem with this film was really that it made no sense. Pretty much all of it made no sense. Without giving too much away (like it matters) I will attempt to give a short synopsis. Casey is a college girl who lives at home with her dad. One day she goes jogging and finds a glove in the street. For some reason this intrigues her. I still have no idea why. Then she begins to have strange visions of a dead-ish child. Then she goes babysitting and gets walloped on the noggin by a four year old who says strange things. Her eyes begin to change color and it's all downhill from there.

It turns out that her mother was a bit of a nutcase so of course she does some background checking and finds out some interesting things about her past....although I am playing it rather fast and loose with the word interesting here. I did have a glimmer of hope when the experiments of the Nazis at Auschwitz came into play...until I realized that it was for naught. You are mercilessly teased throughout with the promise of folklore but even though the word "dybbuk" is used rather steadily, it doesn't garner more than allowing you something to use the next time you have two B's in Scrabble. If properly played up, the story could have been much better. But in the end it only felt thrown together as an excuse to use color contacts.

Basically this film relies on some tired creepy images and a few gotcha scares...which only "got" the set of twelve 13 year olds in front of me. At least I got a chuckle from that. There is some nonsensical backstory telling, a rather boring exorcism, a completely useless shower scene (in a PG 13 movie...what use could it be?) and more of the same that we see all the time. Other than the fact that I will give them kudos for basing it on Judaism rather than the usual Catholic fare, this movie is pretty much forgettable. It's just another example of a film where everyone looks the same and nothing really matters. I guarantee it will fade from memory in a couple of weeks then end up with a mediocre rental score. At least I hope so. I would love to get the taste of this one out of my mouth. If you manage to care enough to make it through the credits, the highlight is the giant "WORD" at the end. I like to think that is a nod from the film makers to all of us who stuck it out.

I was even looking forward to an opportunity to enjoy a Platinum Dunes outing for the first time.  I have yet to do that.  So at least I can say they are consistent for me.

The Unborn is this year's first poster child for planned parenthood. It should have been drowned at birth.