The Unborn
| release date | January 9 2009 |
| studio | Rogue Pictures |
| director | David Goyer |
| writer | David Goyer |
| starring | Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman, Cam Gigandet, Meagan Good, Carla Gugino, Jane Alexander, Idris Elba, Rhys Coiro, James Remar |
| rating | PG13 |
| site | theunbornmovie.net |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
0 Comments
I HAD NO IDEA WHAT IT WAS ABOUT WHEN I WENT TO GO SEE IT SOO I WAS OPEN MINDED. IT WAS TERRIBLE WAIT LET ME SAY IT AGAIN TERRIBLE! IT WAS LIKE THE RING AND THE GRUDGE AND THE EYE ALL MIX TOGETHER IN A POINTLESS WAY!
I also agree with Tex’s review. The overall pacing was sporadic, and very linear. I also thought that Goyer borrowed to much from Asian horror. I’m getting really tired of the “Scary child jumps out of the darkness screaming”, bit. Overall, I thought some camera work was interesting, but it still wasn’t enough to win me over. I was truly disappointed with the ending. It seemed that I had already seen about 90% of it in trailers and other scenes online. Even my wife thought the ending was lacking.
this movie looks gay, i hate horror movies nowadays, the movies back then were so much better
I’ll probably get slammed for saying this but…this movie was awesome. Especially for horror fans; what’s not to like? It was creepy, chilling, and disturbing without unnecessary blood/gore. It may have had several cheap “jump” scares but they were effective and so was the rest of the movie, which was scary even without the use of the jump scenes. The movie had a very interesting story, too, and the ending was pretty surprising (how can people say they could see it coming within the first 10 minutes? They must be psychic or something). With all of the crappy horror movies lately (especially last year), this was a breath of fresh air for horror fans, even without an R rating. The Unborn is the start of what looks to be an amazing year for horror movies.
Avoid this Teenie-Bopper, Hollywood, polished, corporate, piece of trash at all cost.
Blah. Disappointing start for horror in ’09.
I felt the movie was just “alright.” Not great, but not as terrible as everyone makes it out to seem!
By the way, ZakkAttakk327, actually view a movie before you rate it.
Thanks
This movie wasn’t as bad as everyone is saying. It’s not going to be the greatest horror movie ever but it’s definitely not the worst either. The story was interesting and I think tried to breathe some life into the Japanese eerie kid formula. My favorite thing from this movie was the imagery. The little jewish boy looked cool, the dog with the upside down head was well done and the old man crawling at the old woman reminded me of something from hellraiser. It also had some interesting scares and uneasiness to it. The only thing with little creepy kids is that their small children and you could kick their ass if you wanted too. Like the other little boy who she was babysitting just had this vibe to him that he needed his ass kicked. The best friend in this movie was annoying and acted like a retarded girl. The main character was alright but probably could of picked someone more believable as well as her jock boyfriend. I wish real looking people got parts in movies because not everyone looks like a model in Hollywood. All in all I’d give this a 6.5 because I find scary movies that are actually scary and suspensful refreshing after a bunch of scary movies that aren’t scary just filled with gore.
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
First, I just wanted to say this movie has the most broad casted trailer of all time, i swear. Every single commercial break on television there it is. Because of this, I felt like I knew so much of the movie even before seeing it. When some people say the trailers show too much (like many have said about the Friday the 13th 2009 Trailer) I tend to disagree, whether it be quick cuts so its hard to tell whats really going on or I’m just not paying enough attention to detail. But for this movie, the trailer did show too much, as almost all of the good stuff is shown in it. While watching this movie, I was just waiting for bits of action/horror sequences to take place, rather then being shocked by it. I feel that may have ruined it a bit for me.
Right from the get-go, we’re introduced to Casey (Odette Yustman) AND Jumby (wtf!?!) in a dream sequence. Jumby is Caseys twin brother who died at birth, which we find out a lil’ later in the movie, but thanks to the trailer, it was already known…Then we’re introduced to Caseys friend Romy (Meagan Good) who happens to be a superstitious person (which comes more in to play later on) and a bit of a dream expert while they’re discussing the dream. This discussion is taking place while Casey is babysitting Matty (this kid did a terrible job) who becomes possessed throughout the film. His scenes are laughable, like one where Romy hits him with her car in an accident, and he’s just standing there like nothing happened after smoking the windshield. Rabbi Sendak (Gary Oldman) doesn’t appear till the second half of the film when Casy is searching for help in her little problem of being possessed/haunted.
The acting overall is acceptable, I thought both Odette and Meagan (improvement over some of her other roles) did good. They’re both extremely hot, so that may be swaying my judgment a bit. Plenty of nice shots of them throughout, especially Odette, which enhanced my viewing experience. The cast was pretty good though, got a kick out of seeing Masuka (Dexter). The main evil kid did pretty good, they should have fired the other kid though.
The effects were pretty good, probably would have been appreciated more had I not seen them numerous times already in the trailer. I thought the bathroom scene at the club was well done, where the floors get flooded with bugs and the walls crack with bug like legs pushing through. The old man effects were well done also, well not when his head is flipped around but when he’s running on all fours after this one older lady.
The final exorcism scene seemed a lil’ anti-climatic. Like the evil kid throws some people around, breaks this one chicks back (which was nice), and then possesses a couple people until the final scripture in the exorcism is read, which just seemed a lil’ too easy to me. I did like the setup for a sequel at the ending, it was an obvious choice (Odette having twins) but it was effective.
Overall it was decent, nothing really groundbreaking here, but it was entertaining, it kept me interested throughout, i’d give it another watch down the road. If it does get a sequel, Hopefully Odette comes back for it or I prolly won’t even watch it.
7/10
I thought this movie was pretty enjoyable overall. The images were like creepy little montages strung together into a plot that made sense to me. Was it the best movie I have seen? Not by a long shot, but I will remember it, if just for the creepy dog with the inverted head. (But what is with the teens in the theater that can’t stop talking….they almost ruined the movie!! It’s just 2 hours, who can’t stop talking for just two hours?)
While the full-length trailer painted a highly action-packed paranormal horror-thriller which unveiled 95 percent of te film and was marketed well to draw viewership to theatres, the flick managed to score limited scares with the creepiness of its paranormal and exorcism factors along with its good budget and visual effects, and produced a nice historical tale to corroborate the reason for the exorcism. Furthermore, it revealed some comic relief in both the no more than adequate acting performances on part of Odette Yestman and Meagan Good and in some of the dialogue (which seemed intended) and as well as other small elements of the film. Honestly, not entirely did it live up to it’s amazing trailer, and neither was it a terrible movie or a waste of finance, but just about another film you could wait to rent out. As for a possible sequel of the movie, knowing me, I’ll likely give it look.
Had good jumps story ok worst ending!
The Unborn is definitely a big improvement over last year’s supernatural horror films. It is definitely not a grounbreaking movie but it is definitely worth checking out in the theater. There are alot of creepy moments and the acting is decent. Give this one a look.
The Unborn was a decent film, not awesome by any means, but decent. Odette is absolutely gorgeous and is a very good actress and the rest of the cast was great too! Unfortunately, the move theater I went to was packed and the audience was less than respectful, apparently they don’t understand being quiet in a movie theater is the common thing to do. Other than that, I enjoyed it!
I was laughing my ass off through this whole movie. I predicted everything that was going to happen, mostly because I had seen the trailer and because I was paying attention. I saw this movie right after seeing Eden Lake, and this was nothing compared to it. The scares in this movie were cheap thrills and jumps. There were so many things ripped out of Asian horror that it wasn’t even funny. I have to say, the acting wasn’t that bad, but I want my $10 back.
Oh well another horror movie that could have been great ends up sucking major ass. The ending was good but other than that it was boring and copied many things from those damn J-Horror films.
crap.
major disappointment.
however you do get to see camel toe.
I think the B-D review was a bit off the mark. Although this wasn’t a fantastic film, I felt it had a great creep factor going for it. Some of the acting was a bit underwhelming and the climax seemed to end a tad quick but, still, it was one of the more quality horror films put out as a wide release (especially for a PG 13). Would I recommend it to everyone? No. But if you’re looking for something new to watch (although it does borrow heavily from other sources), there are some interesting scenes–i.e. the bathroom and the old man.
It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. A few creepy moments, but so cliche. All in all, it was worth a look… once.
This movie took a bum wrap. Though the movie borrowed some from other movies I found the plot refreshly original. It had some really creepy moments and I’ll admit I jumped a few times. The ending was cool and unexpected. I recommend it to anyone who wants to be entertained and a little scaried
Films like this upset me even more than really crappy films, because
crappy films have no potential from the get – go. films like this have so much potential
with talented filmakers and seemingly interesting ideas, but in attempts to target the masses with a pg-13 rating
i feel the film holds back from daring to be something More special than it ends up being.
there are some good scares, there are some wonderful special effects, but too much confusion in explaining leads to
make the film pack less of a punch than the knockout it could have been. had this film been made in the late 1970s I feel
the film could have been great by either tackling more of the psychology of the film with weighing heavily more towards drama, or even
going the other way and heavily weighing in a straight up horror film in the likes of john carpenter’s the thing,
instead this film is confusing in that it doesnt know what it wants to be and during the process of unfolding the film by the
end of the film im left more with questions than answers and frustrated with a film that is average instead of being the potential great film
it really could have been.
6/10
This was shit. Bad acting, bad… everything. Shit. I really wanted to like this movie.
The Unborn is a good throwback to the 70s horror-dramas (The Changeling, Burnt Offerings, Audrey Rose) and one of the creepiest movies I’ve seen in a long time. Maybe not outright scary, but some of the images linger in the brain. Speaking of the brain, you’ll need one to follow the dense and interesting story (Jewish folklore, Dybbuks, Nazi experiments, suicidal mothers). Unfortunately, the worst part of the movie is Odette Yustman – clearly whichever straight male hired her didn’t really care about her acting. She could not emote the dire consequences or carry our interest for very long. (Platinum Dunes/Rogue Pictures: Please cast a real actress not just an ass.) I’m glad this wasn’t not another typical torture-porn horror film. This was a “big concept” movie and I wonder what it would have been like if it had a real cast (not the teen dead beats), if the filmmaker wasn’t limited by the PG-13 audience, and if there was more time to expand the rushed sequences, especially the finale. It could have been the Great Supernatural Horror Film we’ve been waiting for.
I Loved Thiss Movie. I Was Screaming The Entire Time. The Plot Was Good, But I Think They Should Have Focused On Jumbi More Than They Did. The Movie Started Out As The Antagonist Being Jumbi And Ended As Some “Evil Spirit” But Overall I Loved It.
Meagan Good who I suppose played Romi out-shined the lead character. The movie has cheesy lines, cheesy tone, everything about it was cheesy.
Was I the only one who seen a big CAMELTOE at the scene with the medicine cabinet?
I’m pretty sure I seen it. >.<
Meagan could a rising star.. she just has to work her way through some shitty movies.. this as an example.
This movie was perfect! i loved it. it was creepy and made me jump alot.
I actually found this movie hilarious with it’s predictability. I also found that one girl’s possesion hilarious as f***k. I like that they brought in the German Holocaust stuff. Interesting, very interesting. It didn’t make sense to me in the end….
SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN?
Good movie, i liked it.
CAUTION: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!
I must give credit to David Goyer for wanting to try his hand at directing a serious horror movie. Unfortunatly, The Unborn tries way too hard to be a serious horror movie and falls rather flat. With Goyer and Michael Bay’s influence behind the camera, it is better than most PG-13 horror movies, but we all know that’s not saying much.
I’m a sucker for surreal imagery, and this film I was suprised to find, has some very cool moments. The dream sequence in the beginning is a good example, as well as another dream when Casy is on the ceiling looking down at her body. This may not be the best horror film ever, but it takes some interesting ideas and makes them look cool. Goyer’s eye for images, and scenery are psychadelic which I think fit a horror movie nicely.
Cast wise, I thought it was a bold move casting relative unknowns (with the exception of Gary Oldman, Idris Elba, and James Remar bringing some much needed star power and fine performances to the mix). However, the weakest links are the ones who get the most screen time. Odette Yustman is an actress who’s beauty actually works against her. She really is so absolutely stunning, that it takes away from her performance. The whole time, you’re not really listening to her dialogue (which is typical ‘diet horror’ rubish) but instead, you just want to see her body more. Goyer knows this, and that bastard teases us with some very nice booty shots. Anyway, the rest of the cast was demon fodder from the get go, as usual in these types of movies.
As cool as it looked, and as good as it could have been, unfortunately, The Unborn doesn’t live up to my expectations, or it’s full potential. It has the makings of something much better and scarier, that a healthy dose of ‘diet horror’.
I thought this movie lived up to my expectations i thought it was pretty good! its the best horror i have seen in a long while… it has its jumpy moments….and images that stay with you…. just that little boys face oooghhh gives me the chills… he is creppy, anyways go see this movie it was well worth the 5 bucks i spent on it
this movie was ok but it was like a mix between the eye, the grudge and an exorcism
Eh, bodjklxjf? lol
Borrowed a lot from previous horror movies, but certainly had some interesting religious themes. Decent acting, decent storyline, but the last 30 minutes were the best part. Recommended to horror fans but not one of the best horror film out there.
It was okay. I really liked the surreal quality of the dreams, especially the way the movie starts out the the main character jogging down a frozen winter landscape, coming across the dog in the mask, then following it into the forest to find the frozen fetus. The jewish aspect of it made it unique. Not as horrible as people claimed.
Upside: Odette Yustman’s ass
Downside: Everything else
BD review was pretty accurate. the old man with the twist-around-head really scared the shit out of me. scary images, senseless plot.
while this was one of platinum dunes not so good horror movies i really enjoyed it!!!!! I loved odette yustman in this movie and meagan good…i didnt get that into the action until the excorcism started going wrog and i thought there would have been a longer and more intense ending and i predicted that she would be pregnant when she first saw the dream about jumbi going inside her…..that was a flaw that was 2 obvious byt everyone else in the room was so shocked and gasped while me and my friend were like no shit!!!! but besides that i enjoyed the movie and cant wait for more platinum dunes movies in the future!!!!
No no no no no….
Let me start off by saying that I was so excited for this movie. I saw a preview and footage at last year’s Comic-Con, and the way the actors and director talked about it, I was expecting something along the lines of this year’s The Ring. At least this was an original story, and not a remake, how bad could it be?
Then the reviews started coming in. I grew wary but hoped and prayed it would be entertaining. I was wrong. This movie is abysmal in so many ways, with hardly anything at all for me to cling onto.
The bad: The entire premise, while new and fascinating, comes to a head in the most perplexing and ridiculous ways possible. A Holocaust survivor long-lost grandmother? Give me a break. The script is as dull as a decades-old penny, with cheesy lines and ridiculous “why the hell are you doing that?” eyeroll-worthy moments. Each and every character is shallow, underdeveloped, and a walking cliche, played by an equally shallow, lackluster cast. The one recognizable face, Gary Oldman, barely has any screen time for his name to at all appear on a poster, and is given absolutely no material here to shine. If you think the trailer was scary, then you’ve seen everything worth seeing here. The film relies on cheap “jump” tactics to scare you, while the only creepy imagery is used and overused (the blue-eyed unborn Jumbi) in such a way as to eliminate the only reasons why it was scary in the first place. The now-infamous turning-head-upsidedown old guy scene is a long, uncut take where you see the entire thing happen, and is lit brightly on the actor as to show you everything. The scariest things are the things you never really see, and I wish that could be said for the creatures and characters in this movie. And the ending? Suffice it to say it never really makes sense, and leaves a groan-worthy line that opens it for a possible sequel.
The good: There’s hardly much I can say here. The imagery of this film is creepy, unique, and cool-looking. Jumbi’s glowing blue eyes are excellent, and there is a really excellent image of a dog in a mask with human eyes behind it that made me shudder. (However, the next shot was a reverse angle where you can see the bull terrier’s head from behind with a mask pasted on.) The upsidedown-head-guy is unique sort of monster that I wish had been more successful in being scary.
All in all, I wish I had saved my money for several rentals than this worthless piece of celluloid.
it was good
A surprisingly descent movie. There was a fair mix of scenes that make you jump mixed in with general scary and creepy scenes. One original aspect of the story is the use of the Jewish religion’s more archaic practices and beliefs instead of always falling back on Christianity. If you enjoy a good (not great) horror movie you should enjoy The Unborn.
wow! What a horrible piece of crap this movie was. just another hollywood scary movie that failed to scare anyone. i want my 9 bucks back please! The only bonus was seeing that girl in her underpants.
pretty decent…
Terrible film. The idea was intriguing, but execution was horrible… and ‘Jumby’? That alone got more laughs in the theater I saw this with than any comedy movie I’ve seen in a while.
Mostly good the only problem i could see with it was the directing. If they would have got Goyer to write and someone else to direct it would have been better.
Even if you have never watched the unborn, you’ve seen this movie. The girl was hot and in her underwear alot, that’s the only reason this doesn’t get a 0.
Let me ask you a question. What year is it? Most of you would say 2009. Let me ask another question. How long did it take you to recall that it was 2009? Most of you would say that you didn’t even have to think about it–you just knew. Now that we have the year settled, I’m going to change topics for a paragraph, and then I’m going to return to my original statement.
Desensitization, as dictionary-defined, is: the elimination or reduction of natural or acquired reactivity or sensitivity to an external stimulus. Or in other words: being exposed to something so much that you can genuinely care less about it. I think a good example of this is the sickening feeling you get when you listen to a song repeatedly, day after day, years on end. Eventually over time, even if it’s a great song, just hearing it will make you cringe. And even if your desensitization never gets to that extreme, given that your life hasn’t profoundly changed, the song will never have the same emotional impact on you as it did the first time you heard it. This is why we listen to hundreds of thousands of different songs in our lifetimes.
The two statements I made above–the year and the fact we listen to a lot of different songs–seem kindergarten to us. Common sense. And maybe to us, the viewers, they are. But, for the love of God, why don’t filmmakers understand them? We live in 2009. The simplistic ghost story, like The Unborn, has been around even before semi-modern society. It has been a filmed concept since 1896 (The House of the Devil). We’ve had over 120 years of desensitization to the filmed subject matter. The only people who will find it scary are the pre-teen girls who peed their pants during Juno. (Teehee-hee. That off-screen birth scene got the best of me, hehe.) The only people who will find it interesting are the people who have lower standards for film than the standards a severely starving whore has with men.
In case you missed the trailer, the story is a mash-up of Japanese gobbledygook and (unintentional) American cheese-horror. Scene by scene, it is the same exact plot as: The Ring, The Grudge, Mirrors, Dark Water, The Omen, One Missed Call, Candyman, The I Don’t Care, Stop Making These Stupid Movies, Urban Legends, Darkness Falls, The Why Did I Sit through That for the Hundredth Time, Session 9, etc., etc. The Unborn isn’t homage. It isn’t a work of art that we should all try to find something good in, as Roger Ebert would say. The Unborn is a 2-year-old effort from a man who just wants to pick up a paycheck handed to him by Juno-fearing teen girls and pansy-minded “I don’t care about originality!” horror fans that end up committing suicide by the age of 40. There is not a single scene in the movie that isn’t a cliché in some shape of form. This just makes the entire movie a self-parody of how low the horror genre has become. And if you somehow don’t believe that, I can tell you firsthand that I heard more laughter in my theater with this “horror” movie than I’ve ever heard during a comedy in my life.
Because of this unabashed lack of originality, creativity, or even lesser-used clichés, The Unborn is painfully boring. I started to fall asleep, then stopped myself so I could write this review, close to ten times–I counted. The plot pulls along on autopilot through the most generic horror plot you can think of. If there is even a single scene, a single line of dialogue, a single MOMENT that you have never seen before, you are not even a casual horror fan.
The other problem with The Unborn is the blatant stupidity of the entire thing. Believe in ghosts or not, I have yet to read or watch a single account that has ever been this laughably stupid. The Unborn mixes unknowledgeable clichés about religion to create possibly the stupidest plot in horror history. It’s all the plots from the movies I listed above mixed together, then dumbed-down even further than they already were.
I paid $2 to view this movie. After viewing it, I wouldn’t watch it again unless they paid ME at least $100. If there is a single movie in the history of cinema that perfectly displays every single thing that is wrong with movies, regardless of genre . . . it’s Fernando Meirelles’s Blindness. The Unborn comes in a close second.
Wasn’t THAT interesting, or THAT bad of a movie.. but it WAS creepy as shit. Definately had me checking my bathroom mirror .. and my closet.
Scary as shit. I had so many high expectations going into this movie as ive wanted to see it for ages. These expectations were not only met, but were exceeded beyond my belief. I’m not usually the ones to jump out of my seat in the cinema, but this made me do it so many times. It’s scares were genuine and 90% of the tiem, you didn’t see coming. The film itself is original, and the few cliche moments, gave the film an extra effect. The special effects, were also very well done, and yet again Platinum Dunes has delivered another great movie. Key elements in the story, were made very clear, so the audience didn’t get lost. The cinema was packed with a huge range of age groups, and everyone jumped at the same bits. The film has totally arisen anything 2008 had come up with, and shits all over any film released in 2008.
The plot was very original, and many parts of the film were so creepy, it makes me shiver. The plot wasn’t too complex, but it did make the audience think one or two times. It was solidly built and had times of excellence, and was very well made.
The acting was above average, and not once did I actually think what the hell are they doing in this movie. “Odette Yustman” is a very sexy woman, and her character is very well acted, and i think “odette” really was born to play her. “Meagan Good” was also good as the best friend. She had humour, which is always good to have, to brighten the always dark mood.
Overall “The Unborn” is a definate must of 2009, and is one of the most genuinaly scary films ive ever seen. My rating is 4/5
Typical PG-13 “horror” movie.
Terrible movie. Boring, lucking any personality, and not scary AT ALL! Unnecessarily complicated (in a desperate attempt to hide it’s glaring weaknesses and the many movies it has copied)the movie tries to scare you with sudden loud noises and other petty tricks. Oh, and it has the WORST exorcism EVER!
This ‘Unborn’ needed an abortion! Desperately!
Pretty, and had some cool scenes… but overall nothing special. I fell asleep a couple of times.
omg this movie was so horrible!
loved it! love possesion movies…top three date movies of all time for me…good story and good follow through what more can you ask for?
Had some very cool moments and some nice touches but I can’t recall seeing a film in recent memory that was so horribly structured. You know those pre-credit shock sequences made popular by Scream and used in nearly everything since? (Before you start, yes, I know Scream didn’t invent the concept) This is a movie made up almost entirely of those scenes. Goyer throws everything AND the kitchen sink into this one, but your chief memory after watching this will probably be how abundantly clear it is that he can’t write dialogue for teenage girls, a fact that Odette Yustman deserves credit for overcoming. I don’t like to knock Goyer too much, he took a kicking for The Invisible, which I actually don’t think was deserved at all, and this film has some nice flourishes, but suprisingly his writing lets it down. Plus, anyone who wastes Oldman this badly seriously needs to take a look at their priorities.
This is your typical run of the mill pg13 worthless kid geared horror. There are no real scares, a bunch of cheap “jump” moments, and a very dull story. I wouldn’t reccomend it to anybody over the age of 16.
Much better than most of these asian remakes we’ve been getting recently. It actually had a good, original story and I thought it was a pretty good supernatural horror flick. Not as ‘horrible’ as people make it out to be.
The Good:
-Good marketing.
The Bad:
-Rediculous Plot.
-Terrible Acting.
-Everything you could think of.
Overall:
I film I wish was never born.
I have some mixed feelings about this film. It did scare the shit out of me while it did most people but all the scares are cheap pg 13 jump out crap. I liked the acting and the plot was alright. Knowing that it was based of an asian film i didnt expect5 that much. Its worth at least renting.
Out of all the movies released this year so far, The unborn is a contender for the worst film this year. It’s a cliched-driven mess. The advertisements looked promising and I decided to impulsively purchase my ticket and see the film, but was reluctant, hence the negativity. Boy am I glad I didn’t. This was a boring, atrocious piece of garbage. Good thing I waited for the home video release and only paid a buck for this piece of crap.
People may think saying The unborn is a contender for the worst movie of the year is too harsh and is a hyperbole, but I beg to differ. Even the One missed call remake had some potential and actual jump scares going for it, this had none. And yes, I attended the premiere of Transformers: Revenge of the fallen and you know what, it’s actually the best movie I’ve seen this year. Even Bride wars that is absolutely terrible and a complete mess has at least some potential. Again, this has zero.
I expect little from PG-13 horror flicks because I know that they can’t be gritty or as bloody as R rated films are, but maybe that’s partially the reason it didn’t work. The scares were so cheap and forced in, I even laughed, which is the film’s unintended purpose. Okay, I admit some scenes were down right creepy but even those are cliched and scenes taken from previous films such as the infamous head-spin in The exorcist.
It’s even more depressing that a talented writer and director David S. Goyer, can make an atrocity like this. What was he thinking? Speaking of that what the hell is Gary Oldman doing in this piece of trash. Excuse my language but I make a valid point. I think the writers were so desperate and didn’t want to feel guilty about their piss poor script and awful characters, that they thought Gary Oldman can replace it and then attach “the writer of the Dark knight” and bring audiences in to see this drivel. And you know what? It raked in 20 million at the box office which means America has officially lost their intelligence and integrity.
Overall, The unborn was the crappiest and most awful piece of trash I’ve seen this year. It’s cliche-driven and so boring and tedious, at parts I almost fell asleep. The film was never scary and at times even unintentionally hilarious. You know the old saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. The unborn is a perfect example. An overall total wash and the worst movie I’ve seen this year. And that’s not a hyperbole. It’s that putrid and distasteful.
Horrible plain and simple.PG-13 horror sucks and it’s given horror a bad reputation.Shame this crap open with a 20 million opening.Goes to show that today’s audience don’t know good horror if it threw up in their faces.
Terrible acting and ridiculous plot. If you’re looking for something silly to watch at 2 AM on a Friday, I say go for it. But if you’re want to see a good horror film, look elsewhere. This is not it.
People keep saying this is another remade Japanese horror film…IT’S NOT! You’re confusing it with The Uninvited! The Unborn is fun, if standard PG-13 horror fare. Some pretty awesome visuals though.
I’m sorry this movie is just a big piece of crap. It’s uintentionally laughable at its best. the acting and storyline is absurd and it’s neither shocking, funny or scary. In fact the only thing it has going for it is sexy ass Cam Gigandet in his undies. Gary Oldman you should be ashamed of yourself. I saw this in the movies and it was bad and thought I should check it out again on DVD just to make sure and it was even worse. Crapfest 2009.
Platinum Dunes worst movie yet. And by far David Goyers Worst. A man a many talents should just stick to makin superhero flicks. Because he fuckin sucks at doing horror any justice.
The plot it’s self was cool, the way it was filmed was so so. It’s the same shit you saw before.
And a lousy fuckin ending. I am glad I didn’t pay the cash to see this in the theaters. And unrated. Hmmm didn’t see anything worthy of that title. But is it just me or does oddette look like megan fox… She’s hotter in cloverfield and thats a way better movie. By miles and miles. I jumped like crazy in that, this I was like oh wow what the fuck like 8 times. only to be brought by a shittastic ending. I knew it was goin to end bad but I never epxect that shitty ending.
Horrible ALL THE WAY.
Not terrible like most have posted, but not great either… This most offers a good cast, good plot, no grizzley anything, and isn’t unrated by no means… The ending well it definitely wasn’t to my taste, but maybe for somebody..
Absolute garbage. It was a seriously pitiful attempt at horror.
Not Bad Descent Set up Good Creatures And Good Acting Well Mediocre
what could of been if David Goyer would of let somone else direct this film it had its moments and in the right hands who knows? ghost movies are the hardest to get right and make scary. The acting was preety well terible so it came out to be a average possesion film with a little bit of good eye candy.
when the main actor can’t even pull off a believable character, it makes for a pretty bad movie. i had to stop it and start it twice it was so boring. terrible ending i don’t know if they were going for a surprise ending or not, either way it was no shocker, don’t bother with this crap.
The Unborn- 2009
Good Parts- i guess the main actress was cute
Bad Parts- crappy acting, stupid plot, not scary at all, effects were lame, boring and dragged on
Overall a pile of crap, just another PG-13 ghost story thats another wretched offspring of the chain of films that the Grudge(2004) started
2/10
This was an alright movie. It was kind of boring, it took to long to go nowhere. I did like the twist at the ending, that was pretty good. buut overall it wasn’t that great.
i didnt think it was that bad sure its not that scary but what do you expect
no atmosphere, no suspense, no originality – just boring, boring, boring.
Wow, this ended up being a disgrace for horror movies! The acting, writting and the effort were all bad and it’s a shame because it really had an intriguing story going for it and a hot female lead but the rest of it was generic. There was no scary, suspenseful or even thrilling moments of terror that I can think of and I really don’t think anyone will find this scary above the age of 12. Nothing about this supernatural/horror movie is special and it’s a shame coming from the guy behind The Dark Knight. Overall a bad start for horror movies in 2009 and a very disappointing, lackluster movie to me. Avoid!
super duper shitty movie!!
Absolutely god awful. I have nothing good to say about this one.
It was alright….The previews were way more scary
2 things this movie has going for it:
Odette Yustman half naked for about half the movie and the ghouls. Both are superbly captivating.
Seriously though, all the possessed people in this movie are so damn freaky. When she stumbles across her mother in the rocking chair for example, or when the little boy she babysits looks like a Critter hybrid.
Aside from some wicked visuals though, this movie is pretty much garbage. The whole movie is essentially someone walking slowly toward something, followed abruptly by a jump scene that is usually just a figment of their imagination. I hate that crap and this movie’s full of it.
Not to mention the twist ending was lame and illconceived; can’t explain what I mean without ruining the ending, but it’s chronologically screwy.
And what the frig’s with all the damn potato bugs?
If you see a woman on the front of the DVD box half dressed, you know what this film is going to be like. The Unborn is a stylish, sexy thriller, with a great star and some great acting. But that’s it. That’s damn it. It isn’t scary, suspensful, or fun in any way. It’s boring and uses old ideas to try and scare you, which just doesn’t work at all. The Unborn is a poor atempt at a great, spooky thriller. Horrible special effects and lame sets, with a load of stupid one liners, The Unborn is a big failure.
3/10
This was a not as creepy as i thought it would be but it was still pritty good.
Extremely disappointing, once again, good looking people that cannot act, besides Gary Oldman WTF?
The story was completely weak and not scary at all, done well, it had such potential but failed miserably, we lost interest halfway through and decided to make coffee and chat about the Friday the 13th remake that followed this and realized that perhaps Platinum Dunes was being a bit “cock sure” by churning out flick in the horror genre forgetting that horror fans need quality these days!
We advise you to watch it if there is absolutely nothing left on the dvd store shelf, High School Musical 8 would be a better choice … or perhaps not.
David
On Screen
Not bad . Not bad at all
Not bad… Not good… I think I expected wayy!! more!!, Overall it’s worth a watch at night time of course, It’s like the grudge but more teeeennish!, It’s okay I guess…
The story was what gave it the 2 stars. But the acting was……. terrible. It wasn’t too good altogether.
Decent, Good story and pretty creepy at times. Definitely worth checking out!
The Unborn gives many reasons to expect a satisfying horror film, just two being that it stars the incredible Gary Oldman and is written and directed by David Goyer, one of the writers of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Unfortunately, these expectations only add to the immense disappointment one feels after seeing it. Goyer’s previous directing forays, The Invisible (2007) and Blade: Trinity (2004), could have foretold all of this, though I had hoped that after the Batman reboots he would have learned a few new tricks. He did, but far too few. This film had some promise. The cinematography is moody and nicely shot, some of the creature effects are impressive (if not entirely original), and the story, though deriving inspiration from Kabala mysticism, nobly attempts to not be confined by any one religion or creed.
However, in the end The Unborn is formulaic and utterly forgettable. After a decent first-third the movie loses steam and becomes dull and convoluted. It relies on tired clichés and ineffective jump-scares to irritating degrees. For instance, in the opening scene we see a dream sequence with an intriguing masked dog, by at its finish we are shown a red fetus whose eyes suddenly open, coupled with loud music. This tactic has been rehashed countless times that even casual horror fans are completely desensitized to it, and I wonder why Hollywood still feels compelled to rely so heavily on these methods. Rather than make the audience jump it instead clues us into the fact that what we are about to watch is stale and unimaginative. Making the audience jump is not impressive, it is cheap and annoying. When this is done over and over early on in a film before we even know the characters or what we’re supposed to be afraid of, it becomes infuriating. Sadly for The Unborn, the characters are so thin and clichéd that we never fear for their well-being or care for their fate – tension and true horror is therefore lost. It does not help that the acting is also poor, including the uneven performance by Odette Yustman, who plays the lead, Casey, a role that has her posing between scares in her underwear. After seeing the movie, what do I remember about Casey? Her nice ass.
The plot follows Casey as she begins to be haunted by a ghost child who repeatedly tells her, “Jumby wants to be born now.” This attempt at a memorable catchphrase, seeking the same reaction of dread that “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy” can still create after decades, fails. Casey begins having a pigmentation change in her eye, leading her to discover that she was a twin and that her brother (Jumby) died in utero from her umbilical cord. Her reaction to this news is but one instance of overacting. It does not help that the filmmakers constantly change which eye is pigmented from scene to scene in an obvious continuity error.
We assume that the “creepy” ghost child, and I use quotations because there is nothing creepy about it, is Jumby until we meet Casey’s long lost grandmother, an Auschwitz survivor, who tells her it is a dybbuk, an evil spirit wanting to inhabit this world. Actually, the grandmother seems to be living across town in a nursing home, though for unexplained reasons nobody, even her father, seemed to tell Casey. The grandmother explains that her own twin brother was possessed by the dybbuk, perhaps after the experiments of Dr. Josef Mengele (though he is not named), in the concentration camp before she had to kill him. It shows great directorial weakness when not even Auschwitz looks scary. The dybbuk has been haunting the family ever since, even driving Casey’s mother to suicide.
So just forget about all that Jumby stuff, I guess. As the story progresses, it becomes evermore of a struggle to buy into it, and makes me think that Goyer started off with a good idea but ran into a wall when he needed a closure, which American horror films cannot do without. Speaking of the ending, there is a surprise twist which is neither a surprise nor a twist. Not even Gary Oldman, who effortlessly phones in his role as an exorcist rabbi, can elevate this movie. There are so many clichés and borrowed elements that it is difficult to know when Goyer is paying homage to the genre’s alum or plagiarizing them. The Unborn does not live up to its name; it’s dead on arrival.
D
it was a very bad movie, I know that it Redundant to say that a movie was not original but you can see that this was filled with unoriginality and it just could not deliver.
I couldn’t even watch this one to the end. What a mess. Not even the beautiful and scantily clad – what a bad acting job – Odette Yustman could maintain my interest. This was like a bad Asian horror mash-up. Simply horrible.
I thought that this movie was actually really good. I was hiding behind my hands many times throughout the movie, and i also jumped a few times aswell. I think the acting was good, not the best I’ve seen, but certainly not the worst. All in all a good horror movie
One word CRAP
Well the world has come along way form the depths of making good horror movies and for awhile up till Friday The 13th i was pretty much dissapointed with every horror movie i saw. This is sort of one of these movies. Now i will admit i was scared a little bit because i did jump because there were some scary parts!!. Now the lead in the movie whose name i can not spell have the time i think she is Eye Candy just like Megan Fox was in Transformers. This is a an ok movie it prolly would be ok to Rent this movie it prolly would not matter!!
The Story is pretty simple this girs is babysitting these two kids one of the kids is not even a year old and the other is only 8. Well i guess the lead girl is a twin except that her twin brother died in the loom with her and she finds out because she goes in for a eye checkup because one iris is a different color than the other one!.
But the thing i don’t get is that this baby would prolly be at least 18 so why is the baby coming back as a 7 year old kid????…It was nice to see Gary Oldman in this movie i had not noticed him since when i saw him in The Dark Knight
And Idris Alba i fell he is making it somewhere in the world he is really doing well for s sort of new actor, and in this movie you will not believe your eye’s when you see him Whoa!…This movie is Decent In My Book!
Overall: C
What To Do:
See It-Does Not Matter
Skip It-Does Not Matter
Rent It-Yes
Wait For TV-Yes
Rated PG-13
Run Time: 88 Mins-(Rated)
Run Time: 89 Mins-(Unrated)
Thanks For Stoppin Buy!
alright
decent movie, nothing special
A fun failure.Kind of a Jewish Exorcist flick with a scary kid thrown in.Not a great film but it’s unintentionally hilarious.Watch intoxicated and it’s a comic gem.Sober it’s still funny.The lead actress is easy on the eyes.Gary Oldman under used but is good as always.6 rating just for the laughs alone.
tottal Shitfest
Plot or not plot, this film had it’s fair share of disturbing imagery. Sadly, it definitely falls on the “no plot” side of the coin, and nothing really comes together. Throw it in, put it on mute, and enjoy seeing a poor man’s Megan Fox in her underwear. More details here:
http://thewolfmancometh.com/2010/05/03/the-unborn-2009/
It’s sad when the scariest part of a movie is the size of a bug that comes out of an egg. To all future movie makers: if you want to make a movie scary, do NOT name the antagonist JUMBY.
A decent flick fueled by multiple possessions, creepy crawling visuals, and exorcism. Enjoy the back breaking head banging finale! Have to mention horror icon Gary Oldman is in this.
OK, OK, not the best horror movie out there and I’m not a big fan of demonic toddler killer’s anyway (thank you ‘Pet Cemetary’.)
However, let’s look at a few awesome aspects shall we…
1) Gary Oldman (’nuff said)
2) DYBBUK! Helloooo how often do you see Dybbuk’s in horror movies?! Never! Long live religious folklore.
3) Gary Oldman (It bares repeating, all right?)
Though it failed by making me irreparably pissed at the protagonist with her idiotic running back and forth to the bathroom cupboard until there finally WAS something there to scare the daylights out of her. (And doing it in the I’m gonna sneak up on and surprise the ghost fashion no less.) One aspect of the movie DID succeed in scaring me so bad I almost hit the ground…
… the official website. I was preparing for the opening night and reading on the website when something flickering in the window behind the girl caught my eye… so I lean in closer to my laptop… just in time to have that freaky kid with his too blue eyes and the biggest baby teeth I’ve ever seen fill up my screen and scream!!!!!!!!
… shoot me for my cowardice, I care not.
To its credit, “The Unborn” is some of the best anti-fun you’ll have with a horror movie in quite some time. While a lot of horror movies are bad, few (in 2009, especially) are so tame, bleak, and art-less as this one here. It’s a joyless “thrill-ride” about demons, Judaism, and how actors can be put in such uncomfortable positions; ones which they were not born to be in. There’s problems on every end of this film, from the writing, to the characters, to the distinct lack of smart scares. In fact, “The Unborn” is full of laughably lame CGI-scare-attempts. It fails where other films before it have so miraculously succeeded, and it’s stupid, but not in an entertaining way. In the end, it has a lot of ideas, some good, some bad; but ends up being an unforgivably unwatchable mess. Horrific, yes, if only for the fact that such accumulative crap shouldn’t exist, and since it does; its scary “bad”. I was willing to like the idea behind “The Unborn” since it is a good one, but this film only has one right: the right to be lame and unbearably poor in its “craft”. Coming from the guy who (helped) pen “Batman Begins”, and this man’s name is David S. Goyer, you’d expect a tad more. I know that I did.
The story concerns a girl named Casey, who at the beginning of the film, it tormented by a horrific nightmare. She feels that this could mean something, since she keeps seeing similar images (a ghoulish little Gothic-horror kid, a demonic dog wearing a creepy looking cat-mask) in her visions/dreams. Somehow, she comes to a mysterious conclusion, consults an eye-doctor, and learns that she has the irises of a person who may have a twin; although she is very certain that she does not. And then, she learns through an old woman that her family is haunted and stalked by a vengeful spirit; a Dybbuk, to be precise. Now, I Dybbuk is a demonic entity in Jewish mythology. Thus comes some jibber-jabber about Judaism. Enter a Rabbi, and we’ve got a movie!
The characters in this story are a bore. The leading lady is played by the beautiful but deceptive Odette Yustman, who should not be in this film, or any other, for the matter. Gary Oldman plays the Rabbi competently enough, and he’s the only one here who seems like he’s actually trying. But alas, he’s not trying hard enough. His character is incredibly under-written and plagued with the kind of simplicity that has haunted horror characters from the beginning of time. The story, by all means, works well with these characters; if only because both are stupid to great, unimaginable ends. I’ve seen some pretty shit horror movies, and this is one of the worst ones I’ve seen in quite some time. But of course, most horror remakes and/or original projects suck anyways. This is one of those “original” horror films, not based on a foreign/classic film, that separates itself from the genre through a lack of inspiration or entertainment. It’s not indulgent to horror fans, and will most likely insult them. It’s not scary, freaky, particularly jumpy, and in the end, it feels cheap-as-hell.
The CGI-work here is not the work of a strong imagination; it is the work of a strong computer that alas, does not use all of its power. The CGI looks bland, cheesy, and anything intended to be scary or horrific ends up being, quite frankly, silly and pathetic. Other than that, the cinematography is fairly average, although this film is all-around a visual disaster. That’s the truth, mates; and it’s a damn ugly one. But really, when horror films like this can be made, sent out into theaters, and make as much money as they’re making, then we have a bug that needs squashing. “The Unborn” is a pretty big bug, but that does not mean that it’s hard to splat. My suggestion is for you to lift up your boot, splat the rat, and forget about this messy piece of crap.
*I also forgot to mention that the hallucinogenic scenes feel like very bad acid trips. But wasn’t “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” designed as a “bad acid trip” film? Why yes…yes it was. But this one is meant to be psychedelic, psychological, and intelligent; but alas, it’s just stupid and pretentious. Once again, even if you enjoy an ol’ hallucination, move along.
not a terrible film, had a great story and the film was tense all the way through. the only thing i felt was that while i was watching it there was just something constantly missing. give it a try at least.
Eh, after watching it I don’t really see it as a great movie, but it was entertaining to watch at least. I always get creeped out when people move in awkward positions so that definitely gives it some chill factor! Storyline was ok, I thought a bit repetitive and didn’t really go much of anywhere. Not horrible, but not amazing overall. Like I said straight away, eh…
This movie sucks. Dont waste your time watching this crap.
This movie was pretty good, though I had higher expectations and the previews were scarier than the actual movie.