The Unborn
USA, 2009
Director: David S. Goyer
Starring: Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman, Carla Gugino
IMDB: 4.5
The Unborn is a truly creepy movie that delivers its shocks and scares with style. Rather than relying on humour or gore, Goyer uses tension and suspense in the classic horror tradition that Hollywood seems to have largely forgotten - a style more commonly seen lately in Japanese movies such as The Ring.
Undoubtedly, many will notice this movie on account of the cover featuring a charming rear view of lead actress Odette Yustman in her knickers. Usually this is a cheap marketing ploy used to flog sub-standard dross, but in this case it's actually a scene that appears in the movie. Of course its still a cheap marketing ploy, but at least what's on the box is what you get in the movie.
In fact, the first 15 minutes or so are spent introducing us to Casey (Yustman) - a gorgeous coed with a penchant for wandering around at home in her designer underwear. If Yustman ever finds the roles drying up, I'm sure she could quite successfully fall back on being a supermodel. For now though, she's a face to watch for the future.
Revealing too much of the plot would spoil the experience, suffice to say that Casey inherits a demon problem, and seeks out a Jewish Rabbi (Gary Oldman) to help exorcise it. Along the way, she is plagued with horrific visions that add a level of surrealism to proceedings.
If you are a fan of suspenseful horror movies, I definitely recommend this. It's nothing mind-blowing, but certainly a good popcorn horror flick that is far better than most of the crap Hollywood has churned out in recent years.
Rating: 6.5/10
Screenshots (click to enlarge)
4 comments:
I usually tend to shy away from American mainstream horror, especially if they're rated PG-13.
But your review (and the film poster, haha) got me interested.
Yeah, a PG13 rating on a horror flick is a plague that affects most Hollywood movies. They rarely venture far enough into adult territory like say the Japanese do.
What's weird is that the movie still has the standard shower and sex scenes ... but completely done without nudity. wtf.
Still, its a well made flick... but don't expect anything groundbreaking, its fairly standard horror fare, though executed very well.
Plus I think I would watch Ms Yustman in just about anything :)
I found this incredibly disappointing, especially the second half of the movie. If you're interested I reviwed it here: www.horrorphile.net/the-unborn/
So, who writes these reviews?? There's no blog credit anywhere to the person(s) who host and moderate and write the reviews.
Hi Bryn, thanks for your comment. I can see how you would be disappointed if you went into this with any serious expectations. Luckily I wasn't expecting much and for a popcorn Hollywood horror I got more than I expected. It had a level of creepiness that exceeds most slasher horrors, some nice surreal moments, and I admit to being a sucker for pretty heroines in distress :)
I agree that the last part of the movie was pretty dumb - but I was laughing so its all good.
As for credits ... I don't specify any because I'm not a movie critic, nor have any pretensions to be one. It's just a personal hobby, and if it helps others discover a new movie then that's reason enough for me.
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