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The Unborn (2009)

Director: David S Goyer

Time Out rating

Average user rating
53 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

David S Goyer’s non-kosher riff on ‘The Exorcist’ is stillborn, as was its heroine Casey’s twin brother, strangled in utero by her umbilical cord. But now the latest in an infected bloodline to be possessed by a dybbuk (a spirit) wants to be born. It all began with her grandma’s experience at the hands of  Nazi eugenicists, and now college girl Casey (Odette Yustman) must ‘finish what began in Auschwitz’.

One of her brown eyes turns Aryan blue and she is compelled to pad around in her underwear. Her sensitive boyfriend (Cam Gigandet) and sassy girlfriend (Meagan Good) can’t help, so Casey asks a rabbi (an embarrassed Gary Oldman) to rid her of this evil spirit.
Goyer throws everything at this preposterous plot – a demonic child, spooky mirrors, a rabid dog with an upside-down head and an exorcism conducted in Hebrew. It’s almost too silly to be offensive. Almost, but not quite.

Author: Nigel Floyd

Time Out London Issue 2010, 26 Feb - 4 Mar, 2009


User reviews of this film

  • ??? said...
    Posted on Jun 27 2009 22:46 the storyline sucked, it tries to be clever but just isnt, if you really think about it, it doesnt make sense. they make an attempt to piece it all together at the end, and thats when you realise just how rubbish it was. very predictable, very boring, not scary, not well thought out, just pure shiteeeeeee. a waste of time
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  • what a poor film said...
    Posted on Jun 27 2009 22:40 what a poor film. it was so predictable and one of the worst horrors i have ever seen. i watched all of it, just to see exactly how rubbish it was, and successfully predicted all of the bits that were meant to make you jump. complete and utter garbage!
    Report as inappropriate
  • liam said...
    Posted on Apr 28 2009 10:28 this film was good well worth watching if you like horrors p.s. i'm fifteen but no horror has scared me yet not even this one
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  • Smudge said...
    Posted on Apr 07 2009 13:14 A total waste of time & money. If you want to sit there and watch utter dribble, poor acting and a predictable film, then go ahead and watch this poor attempt f horror film. But for me, I'd rather stick needles in my eye
    Report as inappropriate
  • Jack said...
    Posted on Mar 28 2009 17:28 shud be a pg
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  • Kierran said...
    Posted on Mar 26 2009 21:28 Was an OK film. A bit jumpy in several parts but a bit 'cheesey' in others. Like at the end where the rabbi mysteriously wsn't hurt after being attacked by the kid.
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  • dee said...
    Posted on Mar 26 2009 16:39 Was scary in parts, but some 'special effects' ruined it and my boyfriend was laughing all the way through it. worth going to watch if you have nothing better to do but otherwise, don't watch it.
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  • clip tie said...
    Posted on Mar 22 2009 15:59 I was stuck in Glasgow with 2 hours before my flight back to London and this movie filled in those hours in a non-demanding fashion of the old style formula, House of Hammer Horror pics. It's like a homework project of horror for all those that have never seen a horror movie - it won't scare you but it does cover the whole gambit of 60's and 70's horror films. It's a possession movie without the spiritual rawness of the Exorcist. It won't give you any nightmares and you'll forget by the next day. Time filling fodder only.
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  • santino said...
    Posted on Mar 21 2009 23:25 This film was a decent film compared to other poor films out there(watchmen) a decent movie
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  • JEFF MAKOR said...
    Posted on Mar 20 2009 19:31 Ooh!
    Someone's got issues!
    Report as inappropriate
  • fundo gondo said...
    Posted on Mar 20 2009 19:28 look yeh-i dont care about those of u who are GOIN TO C IT. this is a damn REVIEW site so go watch the film then REVIEW it!.........p.s dave is well a stingey minge
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  • JEFF MAKOR said...
    Posted on Mar 20 2009 14:28 That does it!
    I'm going to fill up on Ma's chicken soup, drop a tab, shovel down some shrooms, roll a 'jazz' ciggie and head down to Bury Vue cinema complex to watch the pretty pictures.
    Jewish vampire flicks aren't new.
    They're as old as the demise of the film industry...which coincides with the beginning of shooting this crock of reconstituted chunky! Yay
    Report as inappropriate
  • beth said...
    Posted on Mar 19 2009 12:54 it wasnt as bad as people are saying it is. It isnt scary at all but i found it quite funny. i think people should see it
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  • jason said...
    Posted on Mar 18 2009 20:54 rubbish film, don't waste ur time and money. Nothing more to say
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  • paula Easton said...
    Posted on Mar 18 2009 12:50 it the best film in the world
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Cast & crew

Director: David S Goyer

Cast: Odette Yustman, Jane Alexander, Gary Oldman, Meagan Good, Cam Gigandet, Idris Elba, Atticus Shaffer, James Remar, Carla Gugino full cast

Rated: 15

Duration: 87 mins

UK Release: Feb 27 2009
US Release: Jan 9 2009



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