Director: David S. Goyer (Blade: Trinity, The Invisible)Cast: Odette Yustman (Cloverfield, October Road), Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight, Leon), Cam Gigandet (Twilight, The O.C.), Jane Alexander (Kramer vs Kramer, The Ring), Atticus Shaffer, Meagan Good (Saw V), C.S. Lee (Dexter, Chuck)
The Deal: Casey (Yustman) starts seeing haunting visions of a young boy. While babysitting neighbors, their child hits her with a mirror and states that someone called Jumby wants to be born. Upon visiting an ophthalmologist regarding a resulting eye condition, she is asked if she is a twin. Questioning her father, she discovers that she had a brother that died in the womb. As she becomes haunted more and more, she discovers that a dybbuk is trying to cross over from another realm, and her brother was going to be the vessel. Scared for her life, she asks Rabbi Sendak (Oldman) to perform and exorcism to rid the demon forever.
Thoughts: Films like this are almost never good, and The Unborn does nothing to kick the trend. It does have a few scenes that make you jump, and the twisted bodies that crawl are quite creepy, but the story itself seems unoriginal. We've seen films about demons possessing others to cross over a hundred times, and though this is mildly entertaining at times, it relies on too many "horror film" cliches.
The performances in the film are quite forgettable. Gary Oldman's talent was almost completely wasted. I love his work, but am left wondering why he chose this. As for Odette Yustman, it seems clear the director had no intention of flaunting her acting skills. Instead he focuses on her physical characteristics, relying on male viewers to find her sexy in order to view the film. Don't get me wrong, she looked very very good, but no one in their right mind should pay money just to see her look good (though Megan Fox in Transformers does seem to defy this statement). The decision proved distracting, pulling attention away from the story where it needed to be. This could have been better, and a larger focus on performances would have greatly helped.
I really did enjoy the way the dybbuk possessed people's bodies. Sometimes, it just used it as a vessel, but when it got angry, the bodies became all contorted and crawled in a truly terrifying manner. It was one of the few saving graces for the film, as it occurs just enough to keep the viewer watching.
Verdict: A lackluster film that falls into place among the many others of the often disappointing genre. Though is has a few startling and creepy moments, the film spends too much time reminding the viewer Yustman is attractive instead of keeping a serious tone. ☆☆
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