The Unborn

Director: David S. Goyer
Screenwriters: David S. Goyer
Starring: Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman, Jane Alexander, Atticus Shaffer
Running Time: 88 mins
Certificate: 15

Director David S. Goyer has a mixed bag of film credits to his name. On the one hand, he can boast involvement in the revived Batman franchise, on the other he must take responsibility for Kickboxer 2. While The Unborn never quite reaches the lows of the former, this by-numbers teen horror is unlikely to feature at the top of Goyer's CV when he's angling for jobs in the future.

Casey Beldon (Yustman) is an ordinary college student who finds herself suffering from recurring nightmares involving demonic dogs, single blue gloves and foetuses. Following an attack from her neighbour's creepy son (Shaffer), who threatens that Jumby is "ready to be born", and an increasing number of strange events (creepy crawlies growing in fresh eggs?), the colour of one her eyes begins to change.

These strange happenings lead her to the discovery that she had a twin brother named Jumby, who died in the womb and caused the suicide of her mother. Her research also helps her find Holocaust survivor and fellow twin Sofi Kozma (Jane Alexander), who eventually turns out to be her grandmother. Kozam warns her about a Jewish spirit called a 'dybbuk', which has haunted their families since World War II and tells her that she must get an exorcism from a rabbi (Oldman) if she wants to survive.

The story, as you can probably gather, is a complete shambles. It attempts to add some weightiness with the Nazi backstory and tries to align itself with classic thrillers such as The Exorcist and various Japanese horrors, but fails on all accounts. The various disconnected rambling plots threaten to break into some greater more intriguing whole, but sadly this moment never arrives.

Goyer finds himself stuck in a horrible grey area between a no-brainer gore-fest and a creepy, psychological thriller. The drawn out scenes featuring Yustman wandering about in tight white knickers and the script, which is so corny that it could be used by the Scary Movie franchise, would indicate that he's going for the former. But the lack of any real slasher shocks and endless drivel about Jewish mysticism constantly undercut the fun.

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. Goyer has some interesting basic concepts lurking at the film's core and clearly understands the various techniques and nuances of classic horror. Unfortunately, on this occasion his ideas are far too muddled and insubstantial to make this an enjoyable movie.


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