Cast: Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman, Meagan Good, Cam Gigandet, Idris Elba; Director: David S. Goyer; Producers: Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Bradley Fuller; Screenwriter: David S. Goyer; Music: Ramin Djawadi; Editor: Jeff Betancourt; Genre: Horror/ Suspense; Cinematography: James Hawkinson; Distributor: Rogue Pictures; Location: Chicago, USA; Running Time: 86 min;Technical Assessment: 2.5
Moral Assessment: 2.5
CINEMA Rating: For viewers 14 and above
Casey (Odette Yustman) is constantly having bad dreams (i.e. a scary little boy turns into an ugly dog wearing a mask that leads her in finding a fetus inside a bottle of formaldehyde). And even if she’s awake, she still sees things both crazy and strange (scorpions on her eggs and the scary little boy seems to appear everywhere she goes). The fear starts to manifest in her eyes so she consults an eye doctor who later reveals to her that she could have a twin brother or sister because her tests show a genetic irregularity usually seen in twins. Casey confronts her father who later reveals to her the truth and this may have something to do with the death of her mother. She conducts her own investigation and the mementos of her mother lead her to an old woman (Jane Alexander) confined in a nursing home. She turns out to be her Holocausts survivor grandmother who reveals to her the evil truth behind her twin brother and the mysterious death of her mother. A mythical Jewish demon named Dybbuk is out to get her so Casey turns to a Jewish Rabbi (Gary Oldman) for some sort of exorcism.
There is a certain level of creepiness in The Unborn. But the incoherent storytelling makes all the creepiness ineffective. The characters and images seem not to connect to create a cohesive flow making all the thrills and scares less impactful. Yustman projects well on screen but she lacks the substance and depth needed for the character. The other stellar casts like Oldman are such a waste with their underdeveloped characters. Most scenes are nothing more than functional and less incidental. Although the editing is tight, it fails to create a sense of urgency and suspense. The mood and composition is consistent but somehow something is certainly lacking in entirety. Perhaps it’s the clichés scattered all over the place that make the entire feature crappy.
Evil attacks and succeeds if one is weak. This is the driving message of The Unborn amidst all its inconsistencies. The demon may have all the arms and weapons to succeed but human beings need only one thing to survive – faith. Faith in oneself and faith in one true God, that is. This kind of faith is depicted as the human strength in the movie though it is not clearly defined. The mythical demon moves in a universe far beyond control of human beings. It is as though evil rules in a certain place where God is absent. Such superstitions distort the real message the movie wants to convey. In the end, love saves Casey from evil possession but that same love brings her to a more horrifying situation fit for a sequel. This makes the message all the more confusing not to mention incongruent. The sexual connotations, some scenes of brief slight nudity and alcoholism and exorcism as a theme along with scary images make the film appropriate only for viewers 14 and above.
