Let's start by saying I'm a jaded horror movie watcher. I prefer plot and story to thrills, special effects to blood and gore, and strong themes to strong screams. I tend to find horror movies funny rather than scary. However, when the trailers for The Unborn (2009) began airing on television before its release, I have to say they made me curious about the film.

David S. Goyer has been involved with a number of my recent favorite movies as a writer or director, including The Dark Knight and Batman Begins as well as the Blade trilogy. And Gary Oldman has been in some of my favorite movies, including The Fifth Element, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and The Professional as well as the recent Batman movies. He typically plays crazy characters well, but has been more subdued in recent roles.

So I thought The Unborn looked like a winner — a great writer, a great actor, and apparent homages (at least from the trailers) to The Exorcist and The Omen. I never saw the film in the theater, but I added it to my list of movies to check out when it got to DVD.

At a very high level, The Unborn boils down to a simple formula. Twins + Nazi Occult Experiments + Dybbuk = The Unborn. And I think if they'd stuck to that formula, this might have been an okay movie. As it turned out however, it peters out about 2/3 of the way through. The first hour builds the suspense just fine, with a few scares thrown in for good measure.

Casey Beldon's (Odette Yustman looking a lot like Megan Fox) life begins to unravel as she starts seeing, hearing, and experiencing strange visions of a creepy young boy. As we learn more, we find out that her mother, Janet (Carla Gugino), killed herself when Casey was young. Casey lives with her father (James Remar), who really only appears in perhaps three scenes and is evidently away on business more often than not, leaving Casey at home to fend for herself against the forces of evil.

Article Author: Fitz

Brian Fitzpatrick (aka "Fitz") is a software engineer and writer living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his wife, two daughters, two dogs, and two cats -- trying desperately to survive the chaos!

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