Release Date:
01/09/2009
Directed by: David Goyer
The Skinny: Years after her mother committed suicide while tucked away in a loony bin, a young girl starts having visions of creepy children, bugs, dogs wearing masks, and fetuses in jars. When these visions start physically attacking people, her concern intensifies.
The Good: Goyer, who wrote Batman Begins and the three Blade movies, does a decent job of setting up the creepiness, and several of the sequences succeed in either scaring the crap out of you (don't EVER check behind a bathroom mirror when you hear knocking sounds) or seriously creeping you the hell out (the "Eli" scene is by far the movie's strongest moment).
The Bad: Unfortunately, The Unborn seems determined to undo its positive points by following up every decent moment with forehead-slapping idiocy, huge leaps in logic, and piss-poor acting (we're looking at you, Meagan Good and Cam Gigandet). Case in point: Our troubled heroine's only hope to drive away the evil spirits is an ancient Kabbalah manuscript…which, apparently, you can check out of the downtown Chicago public library. Gary Oldman (as a preternaturally patient Rabbi) and Idris Elba (as a priest who gets one friggin' scene) deserve better movies around them.
However…: Star Odette Yustman is like some miraculous cross between Jennifer Connelly and Megan Fox, which is why A) The Unborn is watchable even at its worst parts and B) it was THE BEST POSTER EVER.
Theater, DVD, or TNT in Five Years? It's a rental for those nights when you want your girl to huddle close to you in terror and start thinking about baby-making. Score!
The Skinny: Years after her mother committed suicide while tucked away in a loony bin, a young girl starts having visions of creepy children, bugs, dogs wearing masks, and fetuses in jars. When these visions start physically attacking people, her concern intensifies.
The Good: Goyer, who wrote Batman Begins and the three Blade movies, does a decent job of setting up the creepiness, and several of the sequences succeed in either scaring the crap out of you (don't EVER check behind a bathroom mirror when you hear knocking sounds) or seriously creeping you the hell out (the "Eli" scene is by far the movie's strongest moment).
The Bad: Unfortunately, The Unborn seems determined to undo its positive points by following up every decent moment with forehead-slapping idiocy, huge leaps in logic, and piss-poor acting (we're looking at you, Meagan Good and Cam Gigandet). Case in point: Our troubled heroine's only hope to drive away the evil spirits is an ancient Kabbalah manuscript…which, apparently, you can check out of the downtown Chicago public library. Gary Oldman (as a preternaturally patient Rabbi) and Idris Elba (as a priest who gets one friggin' scene) deserve better movies around them.
However…: Star Odette Yustman is like some miraculous cross between Jennifer Connelly and Megan Fox, which is why A) The Unborn is watchable even at its worst parts and B) it was THE BEST POSTER EVER.
Theater, DVD, or TNT in Five Years? It's a rental for those nights when you want your girl to huddle close to you in terror and start thinking about baby-making. Score!