It’s getting harder and harder to frighten moviegoers these days. Most horror flicks that make it to theaters are either gore-porn or poorly executed American remakes of Japanese films.
For this reason, David Goyer should be commended for attempting something slightly more original in “The Unborn.”
The film follows the story of Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman), an ordinary college student who makes money babysitting, hangs out with her boyfriend Mark (Cam Gigandet) and walks around her room in her underwear.
What she doesn’t realize, however, is that she had a twin who died in the womb. And it seems this twin has taken to haunting her and attempting to kill her friends and family.
Yustman, a relative unknown in mainstream Hollywood productions, does a fine job as Casey, acting alternately terrified and clueless. She also spends relatively little time wearing all her clothes, which was a wonderful and wholly necessary artistic decision on the part of the director.
Her best friend Romy (Meagan Good) has just the right amount of sass to make her interesting without crossing over into the realm of stereotype.
And Gary Oldman, playing Rabbi Sendak, once again ably proves that a director can put him in any role and he will perform admirably.
As for the actual scariness of the movie, this is where “The Unborn” shines the brightest.
The film relies primarily on freaky things abruptly popping up on the screen and screaming, but it’s executed in such a way that it takes on the aspect of a nightmare more than that of a cheesy carnival haunted house. The horror builds gradually, from the first creepy notes to a gruesome crescendo at the movie’s climax.
The film has its less-than-subtle moments, but the finer aspects of the lurking horror overshadow these flaws.
The story has a few interesting, though predictable, twists that relate loosely to Jewish mysticism. Overall, things flow together pretty solidly.
Things take a sharp turn south when the ghost’s existence is somewhat nonsensically blamed on Nazis, but the film redeems itself relatively quickly with gruesome murders and creepy children.
The dialogue gets pretty hokey in spots and it’s easy to spot exactly which of the attractive young students will die in some horrendous way before the credits roll, but these are relatively minor hiccups one comes to expect from horror films.
Overall, “The Unborn” is an above average horror flick, with moments that are exemplary of both the high and low points of the genre.
It’s got subtle horror interspersed with scenes where unpleasantness leaps out and startles you, which is better by at least one leap and half a bound.
It’s not the greatest, but it’s far from the worst, and as such it is worthy of your attention.
