** 1/2

The trailers for “The Unborn” made me think that I was going to see the 21st century incarnation of “The Exorcist.” And then I found out this film was rated PG-13 and I thought, O.K., maybe not. Still, the images looked very creepy and the story, what I could get from the trailer, looked interesting. “The Unborn” is not the second coming of a horror classic. It isn’t even a great horror movie, but it was entertaining and it did have a unique story and some scares, although many of them were of the “the monster wasn’t in the mirror a second ago and now he is, BOO!” variety.

The story revolves around a girl named Casey who starts to have bad dreams. One night, when she is baby-sitting, one of the charges acts all spooky and cracks her in the head with a small mirror. Soon, one of her eyes starts changing color and it is revealed that she is a twin. Her brother died in utero and her mother sensed something sinister and died in a mental hospital. All of it boils down to the fact that a dibbuk, a soul who can’t get to heaven in Jewish folklore, is stalking her family and has for generations. One of the ways it can try to be brought back to life is through a twin. So, Casey and her friends start getting stalked by this dibbuk who can enter other bodies as he gains strength.

It sounds a little silly, and it kind of is, but there is a very eerie feel to the movie and some of the images are incredibly disturbing. I am a little surprised it got a PG-13 rating, but the film didn’t have any of the R-rated horror movie staples - gratuitious sex, nudity, substance abuse, profanity or gore.

Odette Yustman is Casey and she is beautiful. Gary Oldman plays Rabbi Sendak and while there is nothing special to the character, Oldman does a great job. Just thinking about his performances in other films shows you just how good he is in something small like this.

The film was written and directed by David Goyer who wrote the story for “The Dark Knight” and “Batman Begins.” This is not even in the same league as the movies, but if you like horror movies, this doesn’t disappoint. It gives you some creepy things to look at and think about and it is not as terrible as some of the other movies that studios typically dump into theaters at this time of year.

login to post comments