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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.

Australian Rating: M [See Full Rating] Horror themes and infrequent coarse language

Runtime: 88 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

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... 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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1 - 4 of 6

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Reviews for The Unborn

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61 - 80 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

I'm not sure if it's the fault of the script or studio tampering, but The Unborn's watered-down approach to WWII makes Isla: She Wolf of the SS seem downright sensitive in comparison

Full Review Source: Dread Central | comment Comment
01/10/09
Uncle Creepy
Uncle Creepy
Dread Central

This stuff is scary in the same way that twelve random ingredients from your kitchen is soup.

Full Review Source: FEARnet | comment Comment
01/10/09
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
FEARnet

Unfortunately, "Unborn" is unscary

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
01/09/09
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Stillborn.

Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine) | comment 3 Comments
01/09/09
Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

It's hilarious, and it's sort of awesome, too, in that no-they-didn't kind of way...

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
01/09/09
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

Even for the run-of-the-mill, first of the year horror flick, The Unborn is pretty much a miscarriage.

Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | comment Comment
01/09/09
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

An early contender for worst movie of the year.

Full Review Source: CinemaBlend.com | comment Comment
01/09/09
Joshua Tyler
Joshua Tyler
CinemaBlend.com

At least I got to see Gary Oldman, as Rabbi Sendak, blow the sacred animal horn.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
01/09/09
Laura Clifford
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

Filmed in Chicago but universal in its lameness...The Unborn is the story of a dybbuk who makes trouble for the skinny North Shore college girl played by Odette Yustman, who's always out jogging when she should be considering a sandwich.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment 1 Comment
01/09/09
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune

If you're the kind of horror fan who gets your kicks from phantasmagorical imagery and shivers at the thought of supernatural forces beyond our realm of comprehension, you could do a lot worse than The Unborn.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
01/09/09
Jason Buchanan
Jason Buchanan
TV Guide's Movie Guide

A laughably bad horror flick involving demonic possession, concentration camps and torturous genetic experiments.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
01/09/09
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is where many a horror movie falls and never again rises: too much exposition.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/09/09
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

Possession tale is low on blood, but high on scares.

Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | comment 2 Comments
01/09/09
James Rocchi
James Rocchi
Common Sense Media

The movie's not very good, but there are ideas, good and bad, in its execution that are worth mulling over.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
01/09/09
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

What darkness the movie achieves comes solely from the lighting.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
01/09/09
Keith Phipps
Keith Phipps
AV Club

Before long, the connective tissue between scares starts to call attention to its own preposterousness.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
01/09/09
Peter Debruge
Peter Debruge
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Unless we trudge up the aisle prematurely, we're stuck there, with nothing to do but count Oldman's changing accents or mourn that this is the best gig actresses like Alexander or Gugino can get.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
01/09/09
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger

The Unborn is a baby-sitter horror flick (it's for and about them) with classic creep-out elements that unite in a surprisingly engrossing story.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment 4 Comments
01/09/09
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post

At least writer/director David S. Goyer had the sense to boost these generic proceedings with pros like Alexander, Oldman, Elba and Carla Gugino, who plays Casey's mother in a series of embarrassing flashbacks.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
01/09/09
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News

About the only thing here that will haunt your dreams is the film's final scene, which conveniently portends a sequel.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
01/09/09
Glenn Whipp
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
61 - 80 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
all

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
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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