Seen on: January 10, 2009

The players: Director: David S. Goyer, Writer: David S. Goyer, Cast: Gary Oldman, Odette Yustman, Cam Gigandet, Jane Alexander, Meagan Good

Facts of interest: Goyer also directed "The Invisible" and "Blade: Trinity."

The plot: A young woman is haunted by an unborn spirit.

Our thoughts: David S. Goyer’s “The Unborn” is an incredibly lame horror flick, and I admit I found it utterly painful to sit through the whole thing without falling asleep or wanting to leave the theater. I know it sounds bad, but this is only the year’s first official week of new releases, and we’re already off to a disappointing start.

As far as ghost stories are concerned, this one is probably the most ridiculous I’ve seen in quite some time. Odette Yustman stars as Casey Beldon, a young woman whose life changes for the worse when she begins to see and feel creepy things wherever she goes. And as it turns out, it’s all part of an unborn spirit’s evil plan to use Casey to gain entry to the real world.

At least that’s what I think is going on in the film, because to be honest, I quickly stopped paying close attention to all the ridiculous things the characters were saying. But the laughable dialogue is not the only flaw in “The Unborn,” a film so superficial and dull, it really doesn’t offer us anything we haven’t yet seen in this particular genre.

The plot drags on and lacks both suspense and innovation, trying desperately to keep the audience entertained with plenty of those pathetic shock effects, most of which are pretty easy to foresee and hardly startling. Other than that, all we get to see is the repeated appearance by this pale ghost child who utters a few shrill screams but fails to scare anyone but Casey.

The rest of the film follows Casey on her quest to find out what the heck is going on, but sadly enough, her hunt for clues remains darn monotonous throughout. Goyer’s direction and James Hawkinson’s cinematography are pretty straightforward, and so is Jeff Betancourt’s editing, which fails to create a vibrant atmosphere.

The characters in “The Unborn” are as bland as a piece of toast, and the cast doesn’t have much to work with either. Yustman looks great and walks around in her underwear a lot, but I’m sure she’s got more talent than she gets to show off as Casey. Performances by Gary Oldman, Meagan Good and Cam Gigandet go unnoticed.

Freaky quote: “I need an exorcism performed." – Odette Yustman

The final word: “The Unborn” is definitely not worth the trip to the theater, and I can only hope the quality of the new releases will improve at least a little bit over the coming weeks.

Article by Franck Tabouring