Search - The Unborn on DVD

Scared the poop out of me

08/02/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"oh oh ... i made a poop when i saw this movie"

Having a baby can be a scream

Peter Shelley | Sydney, New South Wales Australia | 09/26/2001

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Director Rodman Flender film doesn?t have the resonance of great horror. At times it barely rises above an exploitation title, being hindered by gross out effects and the developing ridiculousness of the screenplay by Henry Dominic. The narrative reads as Rosemary?s Baby redux with a dash of David Cronenberg and The Boys from Brazil.
After a forboding prologue where a pregnant woman is made to suffer because she drips blood onto her kitchen floor as she eats raw meat, we meet Brooke Adams who has been referred to the in-vitro centre where James Karen is a specialist. Of course, any doctor played by James Karen is automatically suspicious, and soon Adams becomes paranoid about the child she is carrying. Dominic has the sense to make Adams not the only pregnant woman, and also gives her access to a couple who have a child from the prodecure, which allows for her to have alternate opinions, though the points scored off the lesbian couple seem mean, though Adams? husband is conveniently out of town when things start going wrong. Luckily Flender delivers the best scene in the film for the climax, when Adams follows the sound of a baby crying and supplies a shock payoff. However after this highpoint, we plummet.
We get a grossout mage of the fetus moving a digit in the same shape as Adams? drawing, a laugh from the use of a Baby on Board sign, the low gag of a saccharine TV presenter turning shrewish off-camera, and the most disappointing setpiece when Brooks is being interviewed live and has an hysterical turn - for this Flender goes camp with the crew screaming for a re-run. The prologue deprives us of a shock, but later we get a second one even if in a ludicrous context involving a baby POV and the father?s reaction. There is also an early gratuitous and long sex scene, a low impact Alien-like set, and the ending is too obviously left open for the sequel.
Adams? cracked beauty and individual voice add something to her role, and when she cries amongst stuffed baby toys she manages to convey a moment of pathos, even if she isn?t as skilled, lyrical or vulnerable as a Mia Farrow. Also note this is another early role for Lisa Kudrow in her long black hair period."

Excellent horror.

08/04/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Brooke Adams vs. psycho fetus created by wacko doctor James Karen in an attempt to breed superhumans. Good suspense, good acting and good scares. Docked a star only for the absurd fetus-killing-victims-one-by-one plot development. A must see if you like horror."