The Unborn 2009

Critics score:
10 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Filmed in Chicago but universal in its lameness...The Unborn is the story of a dybbuk who makes trouble for the skinny North Shore college girl played by Odette Yustman, who's always out jogging when she should be considering a sandwich. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: What darkness the movie achieves comes solely from the lighting. Read more

Boston Globe: Read more

Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader: [An] exuberantly creepy mash-up of Jewish folklore, J-horror atmospherics, and demonic possession boilerplate. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Well, there are some effective scares here, and you'll laugh at yourself afterward just for jumping and squealing like a little girl. But other images and pieces of dialogue are just as hilarious -- and that probably wasn't their intention. Read more

Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly: Goyer has penned many scripts superior to this one, but he does make sure you're never far away from a big 'Boo!' Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: If the use of Nazi atrocities as a MacGuffin for cheap thrills offends you, The Unborn isn't your movie. If, however, you appreciate the sight of a half-naked beauty being terrorized by potato bugs, look no further. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Unless we trudge up the aisle prematurely, we're stuck there, with nothing to do but count Oldman's changing accents or mourn that this is the best gig actresses like Alexander or Gugino can get. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: At least writer/director David S. Goyer had the sense to boost these generic proceedings with pros like Alexander, Oldman, Elba and Carla Gugino, who plays Casey's mother in a series of embarrassing flashbacks. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The Unborn is a baby-sitter horror flick (it's for and about them) with classic creep-out elements that unite in a surprisingly engrossing story. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The movie's not very good, but there are ideas, good and bad, in its execution that are worth mulling over. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: This is where many a horror movie falls and never again rises: too much exposition. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: David S Goyer's non-kosher riff on 'The Exorcist' is stillborn, Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: A laughably bad horror flick involving demonic possession, concentration camps and torturous genetic experiments. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Before long, the connective tissue between scares starts to call attention to its own preposterousness. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: The Unborn is one of those movies evidently conceived by digging a Dungeons & Dragons Fiend Folio out of storage to find, resurrect, and rebrand some long-forgotten bugaboo. Read more