The Worst Film Ever

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

A lot of fun.

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

In Chicago, Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman) has disturbing dream of a boy, a dog and a baby. She's babysitting Matty when he tells her that Jumby wants to be born now. Her doctor explains that she was a twin and genetic material was transferred to her affect her eyes. After work is done on her eyes, she starts having visions. Her father tells her that her twin brother died in utero and they named him Jumby. Sofi Kozma is a Holocaust survivor and she turns out to be her grandmother with a scary ghost story.There may be a good ghost story here. The dead twin's spirit is a good start. Then Goyer adds in the Holocaust and Jewish mysticism to muddy the waters. The movie becomes undecipherable. The movie is sold with Odette in her underwear. It also has some interesting possession stuff but mostly it's a mess.

After watching this for the second time (first time was a couple of years ago so I've forgotten most of the details), I finally get around to reviewing this excellent film. Why do I start by saying excellent without any exposition or preparation? Because I'm disappointed and frustrated with the IMDb rating community. At the time I'm writing this, The Unborn is rated 4.8, proving once again that a true Horror fan can never trust raters and reviewers, only themselves.Not unlike this review, The Unborn also lacks an exposition, throwing the viewer into the hardships of the story from the first second. We are not presented with the cliché corny stories of a visit to a graveyard, an after hours game with a Ouija board or a new house where take-your-pick-what-bad-things happened. Instead, the nightmares and haunting are already there. The beginning reminded me of Saving Private Ryan, where the death and carnage of war descend upon the viewers from the first moment, although here in The Unborn the first scenes are much less intense, allowing the story to build up slowly enough to create suspense and on edge sensations, yet not too slow to be boring.The idea behind the haunting story is original and beautifully innovative, traits sadly absent from most of today's haunting stories. In addition, we are finally presented with an exorcism ordeal which isn't fundamentally Christian, but Jewish! As a Jew, I might be slightly biased here, but seriously, hasn't anyone else been aching for exorcism films which go slightly beyond the regular "the power of Christ compels you" ceremony? I would also love to see exorcisms involving Muslim mysticism, or Hindu or Pagan, anything that would attempt to renew the all too familiar frame story of the classic The Exorcist. It's been long enough, Hollywood!Also, I found the connection to the Holocaust, Dr. Mengele and his twins research to be right on the spot. The writers have succeeded in using these references without making them cheap, and the focus on the Occult studies by the Nazis was a great addition to the overall eerie and frightening feeling throughout the film.As for the phantoms / demons / ghosts, The Unborn uses the Asian method of pale skin, big dark eyes and growing gaping mouths, just the way a phantom should look in my opinion. There is no shame in learning from the best, and when it comes to showing phantoms on screen, the Asians are the masters. The use of some jump scares involving these ghosts was also done in a satisfying manner - not too many and not too few. True, jump scares are cheap tricks, but not everything cheap is necessarily bad and out of place, especially in this sub-genre.I don't have much to say about the acting or cinematography. Nothing special about the use of camera and effects, nothing too noticeable about the acting. I do have to say two things: First, Jane Alexander was absolutely marvelous, using body language and accent like a real Holocaust survivor (and I say this as one who has met a few in my life). With different lighting and scenery I would have believed her to be an actual survivor from a documentary about Auschwitz. Second - I'm not sure if casting Cam Gigandet for such a secondary role was the right choice. Even without seeing him in Never Back Down and others, it is obvious that his screen presence is undeniable and his acting charisma is superb, surpassing that of lead actress Odette Annable and overclouding her at times (not to say she wasn't good, I have no criticism about her acting here).When I watch a Horror film, the story is the most important thing for me, and the story here is excellent. I'd love it even if it wasn't as original and innovative, which it is (congratulations David S. Goyer, you have definitely joined my Horror hall of fame!). The phantoms are scary as they should be, the haunting and exorcism are great - all in all, one of the best films in this sub-genre of haunting and exorcism and one of the best Horror films I've seen. The Unborn definitely deserves 8, but seeing as how the IMDb community insists on underrating it, I allow myself to be slightly less objective than I first intended, and rate it a 9. I recommend it with a passion!

I didn't expect anything from this movie but I found it to be quiet boring. It follow almost in every details formula 1A in how to make a horror movie. You have seen it all before in better made movies. My strongest objection, however, is the bad casting of Odette Annabelle. She doesn't fit in the lead role at all. You simply don't believe her and her reaction to the strange things that happen to her is not trustworthy at all. The movie would have a star or two more with a better lead actress. The other actors are doing OK, the photo is OK and the script is OK even though its predictable.All in all its not a total disaster but nothing you must see either.

Can someone tell me if he ever has seen a PG-13 horror that works. There are a few decent moments that can make you jump but obviously it's easy to see that it's a PG_13, for example, when Casey (Odette Annable)is going to bed we always see her in the bathroom, in her underwear. It do looks sexy but she never takes off her shirt or even under the shower she never shows anything. And yes, she do comes close to be a Megan Fox copy. I also never saw any blood or gory moments, what it do has is a few jumpscene's and some nice effects.The best thing I saw was an old man turning in some kind of dog or spider (remember Exorcist). Gary Oldman is in it too, so I guess the producers thought they were making the next big thing in horror land. But they didn't. It's easily watchable for kids under 13. Harry Potter has more scarier moments. Too many blah blah and not that much going on except to see Odette's cameltoe, could be scary too...Almost the same story about Jewish ghosts can be seen and better in The Possession (2012). Too much CGI effects, it do has it's moments but it just didn't work out.Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5