Review - The Unborn

A college student named Casey becomes haunted by a spirit called a dybbuk. Casey comes to find out that the dybbuk has haunted her family for generations and is using her dead twin as a portal into the living world. Casey must enlist the help of a Rabbi to perform an exorcism pushing the dybbuk back into Gehenna or Hell.


Written and directed by David S. Goyer "The Unborn" is a terrible recycled ghost story that has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The film is a bad patch-work of previous haunting stories like The Ring, The Grudge, The Others or The Messengers with only a Hebrew spin to set itself apart. "The Unborn" is so bad I found myself wanting to stop watching the film more times than not, and desperatley hoping that some beackon of light would present itself amongst the bad hodge-podge of story-telling.

While I didn't expect much from "The Unborn," it was surprising to find that the script was so bad considering how many well written scripts Goyer has produced in the past including; the entire Blade trilogy, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. That is not to say David S. Goyer hasn't penned a few stinkers, films like Demonic Toys, The Crow: City of Angels and Jumper were all with out a doubt, terrible films. Ultimately, "The Unborn" felt like something Goyer crapped out over a weekend and made simply for a paycheck. It was unoriginal, uninspired and was dreadfully hard to sit through.

"The Unborn" isn't remotely scary. The film tries to create a creepy tone, but instead the tone comes across as nothing but a farce. Specifically, the unborn twin. The dead twin or dybbuk is suppose to be scary, but instead just looks more like a deer caught in headlights with some really bad blue contact lenses on. "The Unborn" desperately tries to utilize the scary child factor like in The Ring or The Grudge, but instead it feels like nothing but a bad rip-off or cheap impression of a superior product.

The acting in "The Unborn" is equally as dismal as the script. Odette Yustman (Cloverfield) plays Casey Beldon and does nothing for the film but present a female who is somewhat easy on the eyes. Yustman looks a lot like Megan Fox, which had me wondering if producers had sought out Fox only to end up with a lesser star. Yustman, like most horror leads is constantly in revealing clothes or taking a shower similair to the above poster for the film, but even the scantily dressed outfits or lack thereof, the actress doesn't do enough to save the horrible film.

Having acclaimed actor Gary Oldman in "The Unborn" would leave some to believe that the film may have something worth watching, but you'd be mistaken. Oldman plays Rabbi Sendak, who performs the Jewish exorcism for Casey, his performance is beyond lackluster and is nothing more than a star potential on the billing. Gary Oldman much like Goyer seems to have done the film for nothing more than a paycheck and quite honestly his performance feels more phoned in than taken seriously.

I hated "The Unborn" endlessly and it is definately the worst film I have watched in 2009. I would urge anyone to skip this film and re-watch The Ring instead. The film isn't even worth watching on cable and although Odette Yustman may look hot on the poster, that is about as good as it gets. The movie is all-around terrible and isn't remotely original. The finale is absolutely laughable sucking any tension right out of the film and you are left with yet another corny cliche ending that questions the possibility of a sequel. Don't waste your time with "The Unborn" you could find thousands of other things to do instead.