The Unborn, 2009 - Movie Review

Director: David Goyer
Starring: Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman, Carla Gugino, Cam Gigandet, Megan Good
Running Time: 87 minutes

This review by Rob Hunter over at Film School Rejects. Possibly contains spoilers

The Unborn opens with a dream sequence that includes a dog wearing a mask. And yes, the rest of the movie is just as funny. In fact, if you go into the movie expecting a comedy you’ll come out extremely satisfied. Just don’t expect anything resembling a competent horror film.

Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman) wakes from the nightmare that also featured a creepy little boy and a fetus in a jar, but the visions continue into her daily life. Her eyes are changing color, the neighbor kid assaults her and mumbles strange warnings about Gumby, something’s knocking from behind her bathroom mirror, and there are bugs everywhere. And what about her mother’s suicide several years earlier? And is she a twin? What can it all mean?

Nazis. Obviously. It seems an evil was born in the bowels of Auschwitz, or not born as the case may be, and now it wants to born again. Or something. There are spirits that for one reason or another are barred from entering heaven, so instead they wander the nether regions between here and there waiting for an opportunity to re-enter our world. The best doorways for this are twins, because what are twins but the ultimate mirror! Just another reason why twins freak me out.

Helping Casey make sense of it all are her best friend Romy (Meagan Good), her boyfriend Mark (Cam Gigandet), an old Jewish woman named Sofi (Jane Alexander), and the friendly Rabbi Sendak (Gary Oldman). Good actually has some of the only intentionally funny lines in the movie, including one where she tells the four year-old neighbor Matty (Atticus Shaffer) to fuck off after hitting him with her car. Oldman’s presence can only be explained by his friendship with writer/director David Goyer, who wrote Batman Begins and has a story credit on The Dark Knight. Oldman’s role is a supporting one at best, and even he can’t make some of Goyer’s terrible dialogue sound believable.

The most important element of a horror film comes down to the scares. They can be jump-type scares or even a creeping feeling of dread, as long as it’s something to make the audience feel uneasy, to make the heart race, the fingers clench… but The Unborn has none of that. (Although Yustman’s shower and underwear scenes definitely make the blood flow.) Nothing in the film is allowed to be organically frightening. The scares are manufactured and forced by way of quick edits. Some of the visual effects can be pretty creepy, the old man crawling on all fours in particular, but those scenes are extremely rare. For the most part we’re stuck with flash cuts that zoom in on screaming faces, ”spooky” images inter-cut with normal scenes, and the little kid popping out of medicine cabinets. Oh, and a dog with an upside-down head. The showing I attended last night was to a packed house, and there was more laughter during the movie than during any two Judd Apatow films.

Goyer gets credit for making an “original” horror film instead of just another remake, and for trying to imbue his story with some historical background, but he proceeds to lose it all (and then some) with ridiculous dialogue and some unanswered inconsistencies. **Possible spoiler! ** The spirit is trying to regain entry into this world by taking possession of an existing body, right? So first it’s able to successfully reanimate a dead boy, then it possesses a kid in the womb, the neighbor kid, an old man, and a few others… so what’s the problem? Why all the fuss about twins and babies and Casey when clearly the spirit is already able to take over whomever it wants? And why did it wait fifty years before returning? And why’d the baby across the street die?

Bottom line, there’s nothing new or interesting here. Scary kids? Been done a million times before, usually better. Ditto the nightmares, the exorcism, etc. It’s perhaps a bit harsh to wish that Goyer had been aborted, so I’ll settle for him being banished from film-making. Sure, the Blade trilogy is a guilty pleasure of mine, and I’ll accept that Goyer had some input into the two recent Batman films, but that’s really it. The Invisible? Jumper? Nick Fury: Agent of Shield? He belongs in the direct to DVD world, yet somehow has crossed over into the land of big-budgets and theatrical releases. Perhaps an exorcism is in order…

The Upside: Yustman in her underwear not once but twice in the first thirty minutes; practical effects were cool.

The Downside: Incredibly stupid; explains so much but still leaves huge gaps of logic; screenplay is both terrible and unintentionally hilarious.

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The Unborn - New posters - Oldman and a monster. Neither are wearing small white panties...someone call Odette back

Looks as if the marketing people were trying to lure us in with the last poster of Odette Yustman in her tighty whities. Apparantly, the film is not a sex romp as no-one considered. Instead it is a frightful frightner with Gary Oldman singing opera (either that or he's doing a cracking impression of Ian Paisley) and that poor chap above who is never going to have any friends.
You can check out the trailer and an interview with Odette and David Goyer.

Casey Bell (Odette Yustman) hated her mother for leaving her as a child. But when inexplicable things start to happen, Casey begins to understand why she left. Plagued by merciless dreams and a tortured ghost that haunts her waking hours, she must turn to the only spiritual advisor who can make it stop. With his help, Casey uncovers the source of a family curse dating back to Nazi Germany: A creature with the ability to inhabit anyone or anything that is getting stronger with each possession. With the curse unleashed, her only chance at survival is to shut a doorway from beyond our world that has been pried open by someone who was never born. The Unborn!

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The Random - Spider-Man 4 may have a bad guy, DC Comic films on hold, Chloe, The Way Back, Superbowl Trailers, Minimum Wage, Beat The Reaper and more

Sam Raimi revealed his pick for the villain for Spider-Man 4 in the latest issue of Empire Magazine. “I like it in the Marvel comics when Spider-Man fights Morbius (the Living Vampire),” said Raimi. “He’s really cool. A vampire! I like that combination of superhero plus supernatural.”

Writer/director David Goyer tells IESB that all the DC Comics properties currently in development at Warner Bros. Pictures have been put on hold for the time being."A lot of the DC movies at Warner Brothers are all on hold while the figure out, they're going to come up with some new plan, methodology, things like that so everything has just been pressed pause on at the moment."

Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried ("Mamma Mia!") will star in Atom Egoyan's new thriller Chloe for StudioCanal and Montecito Picture Co. reports Variety.Moore will play a successful doctor who suspects her husband (Neeson) of cheating. She tests his fidelity by hiring an escort (Seyfried) to seduce him.

Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess ("21," "Across the Universe") and Saoirse Ronan ("Atonement," "City of Ember") have joined writer/director Peter Weir's The Way Back reports Variety.The quartet are final negotiations to star in the fact-based story, based on Slavomir Rawicz's memoir, of a group of soldiers who engineered a grueling escape from a Siberian gulag in 1942. Farrell plays a tough, tattooed Russian; Harris an American; and Sturgess portrays a young Polish inmate. Ronan will play a Russian on the run who meets up with the fugitives.

Every year the Superbowl is seen as a big launching pad for many studios Summer blockbusters with special commercials crafted just for the big game.This year, studios have already locked down numerous spots with quite a few more to come according to Variety. Each 30-second spot normally costs a cool $3 million, but by holding off the studios were able to negotiate cheaper rates. Already confirmed are "Angels and Demons," "Fast and Furious," "G.I. Joe," "Land of the Lost," "Monsters vs. Aliens," "Star Trek," "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Up"

Mark Waters ("The Spiderwick Chronicles," "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past") is in talks to direct the comedy Minimum Wage for Participant Media says The Hollywood Reporter.Written by Tegan West and Scott Atkinson, the story centers on a corrupt corporate executive who is convicted of fraud and sentenced to a year living on minimum wage in the town his company bankrupted.

New Regency has landed screen rights to Josh Bazell's just-published novel Beat the Reaper and is developing the project as a star vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio reports Variety. Leo would play a Manhattan emergency room doctor, whose life becomes complicated when a mobster recognizes the doc from his former life as a hitman who went into the witness protection program.

Despite definite avenues being made into his potential replacement, 16-year-old actor Taylor Lautner is set to reprise the role of Jacob Black in New Moon, Summit Entertainment's sequel to Twilight reports The Associated Press.

Teresa Palmer ("Bedtime Stories," "The Grudge 2") has landed the female lead in Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice says The Hollywood Reporter.The live-action feature, inspired by the classic Mickey Mouse portion of 1940 animated classic "Fantasia", centers on an apprentice (Jay Baruchel) who is left to tend to a magic workshop when his sorcerer master (Nicolas Cage) leaves it in his hands.

Screen Gems has apparently ditched its plans for a remake of the classic 80's vampire feature Fright Night reports STYD.The studio apparently couldn't find a script they liked after fielding several pitches, and so the update has been shelved for now. The move comes not long after a remake of the vampire western Near Dark was also put on hold.

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Will the Joker be recast for the next Batman film?

MTV have the news that during last night’s People’s Choice Awards, “The Dark Knight” producer Chuck Roven cleared up some of the speculation surrounding the sequel to the celebrated Batman blockbuster, telling MTV that director Christopher Nolan and writer David Goyer are indeed “talking and thinking” about the next film.

With regards who the big bad will be in the next film you may have to read between the lines as to what Roven said next.

“We have to separate the actors from the role,” said Roven when asked whether they would’ve done anything different with Heath Ledger’s villainous Joker if they knew the actor wouldn’t be reprising the role.

“On a personal level, Heath was a friend of mine. We had worked together before ‘The Dark Knight,’ but I still think that ‘The Dark Knight’ is its own thing, and we have to separate them,” added Roven.

Does this mean that the Joker is going to be in the next film and will, obviously, have to be recast? Is he just being covering the bases? Would you want to see the Joker in the third Nolan Batman film? Discuss this more over in the Bat Forum.

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The Unborn - Interview with Odette Yustman and David Goyer

Casey Bell (Odette Yustman) hated her mother for leaving her as a child. But when inexplicable things start to happen, Casey begins to understand why she left. Plagued by merciless dreams and a tortured ghost that haunts her waking hours, she must turn to the only spiritual advisor who can make it stop. With his help, Casey uncovers the source of a family curse dating back to Nazi Germany: A creature with the ability to inhabit anyone or anything that is getting stronger with each possession. With the curse unleashed, her only chance at survival is to shut a doorway from beyond our world that has been pried open by someone who was never born. The Unborn!

MovieWeb had the exclusive interview with star Odette Yustman and director David Goyer.

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International poster for The Unborn - Because nothing says horror better than a hot girl in her underwear!

The Unborn is both written and directed by David S. Goyer (Blade: Trinity, The Invisible). It features the wonders of Odette Yustman (Cloverfield) and Gary Oldman.

Evil will do anything to live? What would you do?
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Green Arrow: Supermax - Justin Marks talks about that and Hack/Slash

The self-proclaimed screenwriter of “all things geeky,” Justin Marks stopped by the CBR Boat Show at Comic-Con International in San Diego to talk about his numerous film projects. In this exclusive on-camera interview, Marks discusses with CBR Executive Producer Jonah Weiland the status of “Hack/Slash,” the forthcoming live-action adaptation of Tim Seeley’s hit Devil’s Due horror-comedy series about Cassie Hack, a hero Marks describes as a “motherfucking ass-kicking bitch” with “the heart and soul of a teenage girl.”

Marks, who’s also involved with big-screen versions of Voltron, He-Man and Street Fighter (“my film resume looks like a yard sale in 1991”) also updates fans on “Green Arrow: Escape From Super Max,” which he’s working on with “Batman Begins” co-writer David S. Goyer.
Source: CBR

What do you think of that?
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The Unborn - Poster for David Goyer's latest horror movie

What do you think of that? Click on The Unborn tag below to see the rather scary trailer.

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The Unborn - Trailer for David Goyer's latest

“A young woman is pulled into a world of nightmares when a demonic spirit haunts her and threatens everyone she loves. Starring Odette Yustman, Meagan Good, Cam Gigandet and Gary Oldman, The Unborn is a thrilling tale of one woman’s survival as she fights a family curse and struggles to shut a doorway from beyond our world that has been pried open by someone who was never born.”

The Unborn is both written and directed by David S. Goyer, who directed Blade: Trinity and The Invisible previously, but also wrote scripts for films ranging from Dark City to Blade to Batman Begins to Jumper to The Dark Knight. This is not based on any other past horror films or books, this is an entirely original project.

It stars Odette Yustman and Gary Oldman. What do you think of it?

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Baltimore, or the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire - The next Mignola inspired Movie after Hellboy?

This comic has totally slipped by me. MTV have more on it's movie adaption.

David Goyer’s got the next “Batman” and “Super Max” on his mind, but after that, he’s got a little trip to “Baltimore” to make.

“We’re now in the process of working out with David Goyer and the producers the notes on the first draft of the script, so we can start the next draft immediately,” said Christopher Golden.

“Baltimore, or the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire,” is an illustrated novel co-written by Golden and “Hellboy” creator Mike Mignola, with art by Mignola, in which a captain in the British infantry, Lord Henry Baltimore, mistakenly wakes up a vampire with the blood on a battlefield during World War I. Golden is writing the script for New Regency with input from Mignola.

“The first thing that had to be fixed from moving from book to screenplay was the vagueness of the book,” Golden said. “You need something to hang the movie on, a propulsion engine. So there are lots of things we hint at in the book, regarding the Red King and the source of supernatural evil, but in the script we bring it to the surface and make it more clear what they’re up against.”

Golden has also strengthened the characters, so that the relationship with Baltimore’s friends is more “interesting.” “We’ve been able to look at the dynamic more closely, and it’s important who they are as individuals as well as who they are to each other,” Golden said. “I think we have a better sense in the film how Baltimore mattered to them and the impact on their lives. And for each of them, they’ve lost something vital in their lives, and they’ve done so because of their encounters with the supernatural.”

Golden imagines Paul Giamatti in the role of the doctor friend when he’s writing him, “but that doesn’t mean he will say yes!” he laughed. “I have no control over that.” Plus, though he imagines different actors in different roles, Goyer has ideas of his own, Golden said, and some of those ideas are even better — and he trusts him, Golden said, because he “gets it.”

“We were assuming that everyone in Hollywood would say dump the three stories about the three friends since it doesn’t connect to the throughline and the telescoping of time,” Golden said. “But David said those are his favorite things and he wants to preserve them as much as possible. He’s been entirely supportive of the quirky things.”

And as they get further along with drafts of the script, Golden welcomes Goyer taking a crack at it, if he were so inclined. “I would love for David to take a turn,” Golden said. “I was about to suggest a new prologue [that wasn't part of the novel], and he suggested it before I could suggest it. It’s nice to know we’re on the same page.”

Sounds pretty interesting and suitably weird. Does it get your imagination going? Have you read the comic? If so can you shed any more light on the plot and feel of the story?

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What's going on with X-Men Origins: Magneto?

MTV spoke to character designer Aaron Sims about the other X-Men origin movie that isn't Wolverine.

“Unfortunately, because of the writers strike, it got pushed off,” Sims said. “But they’re now back to the rewrites.”

Since “X Men Origins: Magneto” is still in conceptual form, it’s too soon to say much about it, except that obviously, like Wolverine, it will be an origin story — “where he started, where he got his powers, the very beginning.”

“Remember the scene [from 'X-Men'] in the concentration camp where you see Magneto as a young boy? It just continues from there,” Sims said. “Some people thought that might be too dark, but I really like that. It’s a lot of death and mayhem.”

Magneto won’t be the only mutant — just like in “Wolverine”, there will be new mutants aplenty to keep Sims busy coming up with something to please and yet surprise the fans. “The fan base has a vision of what they should look like, and that’s always the challenge,” Sims said. “It was the same with ‘The Hulk.’”

But since director David Goyer is still finishing “The Unborn” and also has several other movies on his plate (from “The Invisible Man” to “Super Max” to “”), Sims doesn’t have to realize his character designs too quickly, which is a good thing, since he’s also in the middle of designs for “The Invisible Man,” “The Clash of the Titans,” “Paradise Lost,” and “Green Lantern” — for which he did the suit and Kilowog. (This, after finishing matte paintings for “The Spirit” and designs for the robot and the spaceship in “The Day The Earth Stood Still”).

“David’s like me,” Sims laughed. “He works nonstop. He’s not one of those kinds of writers or directors who ever stops. I’m surprised he has any time at all. But I’m fortunate to work with directors like him who I admire. I can’t say no to him.”

I think if they stick to their guns and try and keep it serious then the Magneto movie could be quite the epic. What do you think? Better than the forthcoming Wolverine movie?

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Super Max - Update on the Green Arrow in prison movie.

The whole Super Max idea of the superhero, Green Arrow (Oliver Queen), going to the Super Max prison full of supervillians has been knocking about for a while. However, the interviews over on MTV with Justin Marks and David Goyer (The Dark Knight), hav some interesting points. Firstly, it was thought that the villians would all be C-List kind of bad guys, however, it now looks as if we may get to see Lex Luthor and The Joker (in name only) knocking about which suddenly whacks this up a notch. I'll be seeing it anyway as I'm a comic book geek. Here's some snippets from the two interviews.

There appears to be a bit of confusion as to who is writing this movie or if it is a joint effort or Goyer rewriting Marks' earlier script.

Who would be good to play Green Arrow?

"Oh, we've got Lex Luthor in there," Marks gleefully revealed. "I'm pretty sure Riddler gets his shot — Ed Nigma gets his moment."

Tentatively titled "Green Arrow: Escape From Super Max," Marks' take on the titular titan is unlike any superhero movie out there in that it takes the familiar tropes of comic book films and mixes them with the long-established traditions of prison movies. In the film, Queen is unjustly locked up in a federal penitentiary for meta-humans and forced to rely on a whole bevy of villains to make his escape — villains like Luthor, Icicle and even the Joker.

But the best superhero of all in the Green Arrow prison movie? Would you believe it's the prison itself?

"It's a very, very awesome prison. I majored in architecture in college, and design is how I actually started in. For 'Super Max,' designing that prison, it had to be the kind of thing that was a character in and of itself," Marks said. "We're in a world where instead of just trying to contain a guy who's really big, you're trying to contain a guy who can — in the case of Icicle — who can freeze things. What kind of a cell would a guy like that need in order to have his powers neutralized? So to escape from Super Max they have got to go through the most elaborate heist we've ever seen, involving superpowers. Because the prison itself kind of has superpowers!"

..“Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” scribe David Goyer... has plans to bring the Joker back to the big-screen, and soon. Just not in “Batman 3.”

“His name is a throwaway. He’s on a cell,” Goyer said of the Joker’s appearance in “Super Max,” the Green Arrow movie he’s written which takes place at a penitentiary for super villains in the DC Universe. “You don’t actually see him, just his name on a cell. It’s a real Easter Egg. That’s one cross-pollination we would stay away from [doing more with].”

In fact, a non-traditional superhero movie that centers on Green Arrow’s incarceration and eventual escape from prison, “Super Max” boasts a whole host of comic-crossovers, with everyone from “Superman villains, Green Lantern villains, and Wonder Woman villains,” making an appearance, Goyer said.

“I know Warner Brothers is having a big rethink about how they approach all their DC films and they’ve been taking a lot of meanings recently about it. And this is a script they like a lot because there are all sorts of characters in this prison. They like that idea,” Goyer said. “We’re fairly hopeful they’ll want to move forward in the next year or so.”

So given the opportunity for nearly unfettered play in the DC sandbox, which side character is Goyer’s favorite?

“The Tattoo Man is in there which seemed like a no brainer if you’re doing a movie about a super prison — having a character with super tattoos,” Goyer said. “Amanda Waller’s in there as well from the Suicide Squad. Those are probably the two I like the most, absent Green Arrow.”

Discuss in the forum.