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.
Comment
02/27/09
The Unborn (2009)
12
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
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.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Feb 26, 2009 Wide
US 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... [More]
Starring: Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman, Meagan Good, Idris Elba
Director: David Goyer
Reviews for The Unborn
Top CriticOdette Yustman, indeed all the cast, deserve a better fate than to be sucked into this misguided attempt at horror
02/23/09
Top CriticDespite some gruesome special effects, the telling of this story is so prosaic and predictable that genuine thrills are in very short supply.
02/27/09
Top CriticSome 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.
03/06/09
Top CriticClick to read the article
02/27/09
Top CriticClick to read the article
08/19/09
Top CriticClick to read the article
02/27/09
Click to read the article
04/23/09
This supernatural horror is nonsense on toast.
02/27/09
Top CriticThe 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.
03/06/09
Writer/director David S. Goyer, whose niche as a screenwriter is in adapting comic-book tales, gets a few frightening images into the frame, but they're all one-off shocks that do nothing to build tension.
01/09/09
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.
03/03/09
pacing that allows the audience to linger on every failing before being distracted by the subsequent one
01/11/09
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.
08/17/09
The demonic possession plot thereafter breaks down in a tasteless swamp of Nazi experiments on twins, dogs with inverted heads and an exorcism led by rabbi Gary Oldman. Oy vey! The kosher paranormal: a trend in the offing?
02/27/09
The Unborn is like a scary movie sentence without the necessary linking verbs. It's all genre gears and no motivational motor.
07/01/09
Not deep or all that visually imaginative--Goyer never wavers from the usual slow build-up to a sudden fright, and the ending is all fight-and-flight, no shock-and-awe--but certainly unboring.
01/15/09
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.
07/15/09
After three feature films of discouraging quality, Goyer suits up in a beret and jodhpurs again for The Unborn, which holds the miserable distinction of being the most dreadful film he's fashioned to date.
01/08/09
Could have just as easily been called "The Un-scary," "The Uninspiring," "The Unoriginal," or "The Unexciting". Whatever you do, just un-plan to see it this weekend.
01/09/09
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. 
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.
More...
January 08, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Say "I Don't" To Bride Wars
This week at the movies, we've got a bridal battle (Bride Wars, starring Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson); a cranky car enthusiast (Gran Torino, directed by and starring Clint... More...
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