The Unborn (2009)

A young woman fights the spirit that is slowly taking possession of her.

Director:

David S. Goyer

Writer:

David S. Goyer

Stars:

Odette Annable, Gary Oldman, Cam Gigandet

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Odette Annable	...	Casey Beldon (as Odette Yustman)
Gary Oldman	...	Rabbi Sendak
Cam Gigandet	...	Mark
Meagan Good	...	Romy
Idris Elba	...	Arthur Wyndham
Jane Alexander	...	Sofi Kozma
Atticus Shaffer	...	Matty Newton
James Remar	...	Gordon Beldon
Carla Gugino	...	Janet Beldon
C.S. Lee	...	Dr. Lester Caldwell
Rhys Coiro	...	Mr. Shields
Michael Sassone	...	Eli Walker
Ethan Cutkosky	...	Barto
Craig J. Harris	...	Rick Hesse (as Craig Harris)
Rachel Brosnahan	...	Lisa

Storyline

While babysitting a boy and his baby brother, Casey Beldon has a dreadful nightmare involving a weird dog and an evil child, and she tells her best friend Romy over the phone. Casey is haunted by this boy, and when she goes to the ophthalmologist, he asks if she has a twin brother or sister. She asks her father and discovers that her mother lost a son that died in the womb. Casey suspects that she is haunted by the spirit of her brother. She finds a letter addressed to a woman called Sofi Kozma and a creepy picture at home that belonged to her mother. She goes with Romy to a retirement home to meet Sofi, a survivor of the experiments during the Holocaust. But Sofi tells Casey that she had never met her mother and later calls Casey to tell her she is in great danger.

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Plot Keywords:

nightmare | twin brother | evil child | holocaust | babysitting | 

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Taglines:

Evil wants to be born now

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and terror, disturbing images, thematic material and language including some sexual references

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [au] Universal [de]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hebrew

Release Date:

9 January 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Untitled David S. Goyer Project

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,300,543 (UK) (27 February 2009)

Gross:

£3,669,708 (UK) (20 March 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rogue Pictures, Platinum Dunes, Phantom Four

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min 89 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rabbi Sendak's name is a reference to Maurice Sendak, writer of children's horror classic "Where the Wild Things Are".

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Goofs

The librarian refers to the Sefer ha-Marot as a manuscript when she hands it to Casey. However, the illustrations appear to be printed, not hand drawn.

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Quotes

Casey Beldon: It's not safe to be around me.

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Crazy Credits

After the credits the letters WORD appears in capitals

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Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: 2 Fast 2 Furious (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Here Again"
Written by Derek Whitacre (as C. Derek Whitacre)
Performed by Derek Whitacre
Courtesy of pigFACTORY USA LLC

User Reviews

Unintentionally Funny- Not In A Good Way

Its ironic that this movie came out the week that the nominations for the Razzie Awards were released. I have a hunch that this film may garner a few nominations for that "prestigious" award next year.

This film is awful. It has no clue where it wants to go and takes quite a lot of time getting there. The story is about young Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman). She is a girl in school, working as a babysitter for some extra money. This is when she encounters a four year-old kid that she is sitting who appears to be evil. Soon, she is seeing the evil of that kid in her daily life. To rid herself of this, she begins examining her family history. This includes a mother (Carla Gugino) who was depressed and killed herself, a mysterious old woman in her mothers photos (Jane Alexander) who has had issues in the past, and her friends. Upon recommendation, she decides to have an exorcism performed by the rabbi (Gary Oldman). If you are getting ahead of me in the plot, you've basically got it right in your mind.

The writing is mediocre, and that is perhaps kind. The beginning of the story is simply about showing as much of Ms. Yustman's body that can be allowed in a PG-13 movie. If that couldn't be done in one scene, they come back to it four or five times. The story follows cliché after cliché and takes forever to really begin. The frights are minimal and within 20 minutes I was laughing at what I think was supposed to be scary. This movie is unintentionally funny once you pick up where it is going and what it is trying to do.

The one minor redeeming factor of this movie was some of the camera work. There were a few angles that were used that felt greatly different than the others, felt fresh and felt well placed. Those few shots cannot, however, overcome some of the worst over-acting I've ever seen, a poor script, and a lack of direction for a vast majority of the film. If you are an absolute horror film junkie, go ahead and have a laugh. If you are a fan of bad movies, enjoy. If you are looking for an enjoyable fright, look elsewhere.