Writer: Nur Safina Othman

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Watch this if you liked: "The Exorcist", "The Eye", "The Omen"

If you think this horror movie will scare you, think twice. Just like any other teen-focused horror flick, the young and attractive leading lady whines constantly about the scary incidents happening to her, while her friends try to protect her from evil spirits.

"The Unborn" kicks off with a brisk morning jog until Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman) comes across and spies on a freaky little boy and a scary masked dog. This is the start of a series of bad dreams, but even worse, Casey soon encounters the horror during her waking hours. She begins to delve deeper into the circumstances of her late mother's suicide and eventually uncovering a link to a mysterious old woman named Sofi Kuzma (Jane Alexander). After an initially unfriendly meeting, Sofi reveals a whole bunch of important information, including the fact that Casey is dealing with a havoc-wreaking spirit that's trying to find a body, known in Jewish mysticism as a "dybbuk". Armed with some back-story and a bit of pluck, Casey takes her case to a rabbi, Joseph Sendak (Gary Oldman).

There is no denying that Odette Yustman ("Cloverfield", "Transformers") is a very beautiful girl. However, she fails to deliver her acting performance convincingly. Gary Oldman ("The Dark Knight") plays Rabbi Sendak who performs exorcisms in the movie. However, it was quite disappointing to see him only appearing a few scenes because he's such a talented actor and his character is so interesting! Besides that, it felt oddly peculiar when Casey's father, played by James Remar ("Pineapple Express") only appeared in two scenes, as he should've been there by her side when troubles begin to happen to her. We never got to see him again after that.

The plot is easy to understand and quite predictable. It would have been better if there were some twists in this movie. At least there were a few make-you-jump scenes and a little bit of suspense to look forward to.

There's really no good reason for this movie to have been created or any good reason to go and see it.

Cinema Online, 23 March 2009