The Unborn

Though an original piece of work, The Unborn possesses many of the elements that one has come to associate with the Asian-horror-remake scene – including a spooky apparition with a tortured backstory and a pace that can only be described as deliberate. The storyline, which follows plucky college student Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman) as she’s confronted with a series of increasingly threatening visions and dreams, boasts few attributes designed to initially capture the viewer’s interest, and it’s subsequently not surprising to note that the movie remains curiously uninvolving for the duration of its mercifully brief running time. Filmmaker David S. Goyer exacerbates The Unborn‘s problems by placing an increasingly prominent emphasis on the mystical origins of Casey’s pursuer, which, though par for the course with movies of this ilk, effectively ensures that the movie suffers from an aggressively meandering midsection that’ll test the patience of even the most easy-going viewer. Yustman’s competent yet bland work as the film’s protagonist is ultimately easy enough to overlook, as the actress has been surrounded by an unusually strong supporting cast that includes, among others, Cam Gigandet, Idris Elba, and Gary Oldman (with the latter’s all-too-brief appearance as a helpful rabbi an obvious highlight). And although the climax, which boasts an impressively visceral exorcism, is surprisingly involving, The Unborn concludes with a irritatingly vague revelation that’s not even remotely as shocking as Goyer clearly believes it to be. The end result is a hopelessly misguided endeavor that seems unlikely to appeal to either teenagers or horror buffs, with the egregiously slow pace sure to turn off the former and the conspicuous lack of gore destined to frustrate the latter.

** out of ****