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The Unborn

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The Unborn (2009)

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Reviews Counted:103

Fresh:12

Rotten:91

Average Rating:3.2/10

Consensus: David Goyer's Unborn is a tame genre effort with cheap thrills and scares that border on silliness.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for intense sequences of violence and terror, disturbing images, thematic material and language including some sexual references.

Runtime: 88 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Theatrical Release:Jan 9, 2009 Wide

Box Office: $42,638,165

Synopsis: Sometimes the soul of a dead person has been so tainted with evil that it is denied entrance to heaven. It must endlessly wander the borderlands between worlds, desperately searching for a new body... Sometimes the soul of a dead person has been so tainted with evil that it is denied entrance to heaven. It must endlessly wander the borderlands between worlds, desperately searching for a new body to inhabit.

And sometimes it actually succeeds.

Writer/director David Goyer (Blade: Trinity, The Invisible, Batman Begins) gives a terrifying glimpse into the life of the undead in The Unborn, a supernatural thriller that follows a young woman pulled into a world of nightmares when a demonic spirit haunts her and threatens everyone she loves.

Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman) hated her mother for leaving her as a child. But when inexplicable things start to happen, Casey begins to understand why she left. Plagued by merciless dreams and a tortured ghost that haunts her waking hours, she must turn to the only spiritual advisor, Sendak (Gary Oldman), who can make it stop.

With Sendak's help, Casey uncovers the source of a family curse dating back to Nazi Germany--a creature with the ability to inhabit anyone or anything that is getting stronger with each possession. With the curse unleashed, her only chance at survival is to shut a doorway from beyond our world that has been pried open by someone who was never born. --© Rogue Pictures [More]

Starring: Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman, Meagan Good, Idris Elba

Starring: Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman, Meagan Good, Idris Elba, Cam Gigandet, James Remar, Jane Alexander

Director: David Goyer

Director: David Goyer
Screenwriter: David Goyer
Producer: Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller
Composer: Ramin Djawadi
Studio: Rogue Arts

[See More Credits]

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    I Need an Exorcism
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    Escaping the Exorcism Room
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    Jumby Wants to be Born
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    Exorcism Authorization
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Release:

Jul 7, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region [unknown]
  • Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.40

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround English, French, Spanish
  • Subtitles: English, SDH, French, Spanish - Unrated, Rated

Additional Release Material:

  • Deleted Scenes
 
 
 
 

Reviews for The Unborn

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
08/19/09
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

The Unborn is packed full of grisly images and effects, but its apparent attempts to be some kind of Jewish take on The Exorcist fail miserably.

Full Review Source: Filmstar Magazine | comment Comment
08/17/09
Anne Wollenberg
Anne Wollenberg
Filmstar Magazine

The best that can be said for Goyer's latest is that it's competent. How competent is a matter of debate, as is the degree to which Goyer is self-aware about the film's camp value. [Blu-ray]

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
08/12/09
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

What The Unborn represents manages to be a thousand times more disturbing than anything Goyer captured with his pen or camera

Full Review Source: Bangitout.com | comment Comment
07/28/09
Jordan Hiller
Jordan Hiller
Bangitout.com

There is a senseless scare every 5-7 minutes. Now, after one or two you start to get the giggles but after the third or fourth false scare you begin to Laugh Out Loud.

Full Review Source: CinemaBlend.com | comment Comment
07/15/09
Brian Holcomb
Brian Holcomb
CinemaBlend.com

...boasts few attributes designed to initially capture the viewer's interest...

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
07/04/09
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

The Unborn is like a scary movie sentence without the necessary linking verbs. It's all genre gears and no motivational motor.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
07/01/09
Bill Gibron
Bill Gibron
PopMatters

The Unborn is a story that should have remained untold and will be forgotten by the end of the weekend.

Full Review Source: BET.com | comment Comment
06/10/09
Clay Cane
Clay Cane
BET.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Tom Meek
Tom Meek
Boston Phoenix

Full of cheap thrills that mostly consist of people popping up out of nowhere and dialogue comprised largely of theological gobbledygook.

Full Review Source: Critic's Notebook | comment Comment
03/13/09
Robert Levin
Robert Levin
Critic's Notebook

Some of the ideas here may seem original, if questionable, but the treatment -- by writer-director David Goyer -- is strictly conventional, with the shock moments obviously inserted at regular intervals, usually while the heroine is in her underwear.

Full Review Source: The Australian | comment Comment
03/06/09
David Stratton
David Stratton
The Australian

After a few initial decent scares, the corny dialogue, poor casting and cringe-worthy acting drag this movie into it’s own hell. Utter rubbish.

Full Review Source: Heart 106.2 | comment Comment
03/06/09
Simon Thompson
Simon Thompson
Heart 106.2

Cue a creepy toddler, various demonically possessed adults and a Jewish exorcism conducted by Gary Oldman. He’s a vastly better actor than the film deserves, but he can’t make the script seem even slightly better than it is.

Full Review Source: Sunday Times (UK) | comment Comment
03/06/09
Edward Porter
Edward Porter
Sunday Times (UK)

This foolish film hitches an easy ride from the Holocaust.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
03/06/09
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

The Unborn isn't the worst horror film you'll see in 2009, but the prospect of a sequel (which the film teases at the finale), is probably the biggest fright in the 88 minutes.

Full Review Source: Digital Spy | comment Comment
03/06/09
Alex Fletcher
Alex Fletcher
Digital Spy

This may dabble in Jewish mysticism and the legacy of the Nazi era but scratch the surface and you discover just another standard scary movie.

Full Review Source: Daily Express | comment Comment
03/03/09
Allan Hunter
Allan Hunter
Daily Express

Unsatisfying, hokey and never that scary (unless you’re the type who jumps at every loud noise or sudden appearance in this sort of movie), The Unborn outstays even its brief lifespan.

Full Review Source: SFX Magazine | comment 1 Comment
03/03/09
James White
James White
SFX Magazine

Packed with very scary moments and very disturbing images, this is not for the faint-hearted - that includes me.

Full Review Source: Sunday Mail [UK] | comment Comment
03/03/09
Mickey McMonagle
Mickey McMonagle
Sunday Mail [UK]

The script tries hard to delve into the folklore of a dybbuk, and as it mixes this in with experiments on twins in concentration camps during WW2, the story becomes too convoluted for its own good.

Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | comment Comment
02/27/09
Andrew J. McGlinn
Andrew J. McGlinn
FILMINK (Australia)

Despite some gruesome special effects, the telling of this story is so prosaic and predictable that genuine thrills are in very short supply.

Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia) | comment Comment
02/27/09
David Stratton
David Stratton
At the Movies (Australia)
 
 
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Latest News for The Unborn

July 06, 2009: RT on DVD: Knowing, Push, The Unborn Unleashed
It's a genre lover's feast this week on DVD, but don't say we didn't warn you about those pesky rotten Tomatometers. First up? Alex Proyas's latest science fiction thriller,... More...

January 19, 2009: Though some images are on the terrifying side, this mostly outlandish tale is riddled with homicidal tots, interdenominational exorcists, and attention deficit disorder dybuks who can't make up their mystical minds which body is cool enough to inhabit. Opens in new window
More...

January 09, 2009: Though some images are on the terrifying side, this mostly outlandish tale is riddled with homicidal tots, interdenominational exorcists, and attention deficit disorder dybuks who can't make up their mystical minds which body is cool enough to inhabit. Opens in new window
More...

January 08, 2009: Critics Consensus: Say "I Don't" To Bride Wars
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