The Unborn is packed full of grisly images and effects, but its apparent attempts to be some kind of Jewish take on The Exorcist fail miserably.
Comment
08/17/09
The Unborn (2009)
12
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:103
Fresh:12
Rotten:91
Average Rating:3.2/10
Consensus: David Goyer's Unborn is a tame genre effort with cheap thrills and scares that border on silliness.
Theatrical Release:27-02-2009
Synopsis: Sometimes the soul of a dead person has been so tainted with evil that it is denied entrance to heaven. It must endlessly wander the borderlands between worlds, desperately searching for a new body... [More]
Starring: Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman, Meagan Good, Idris Elba
Director: David Goyer
Reviews for The Unborn
After a few initial decent scares, the corny dialogue, poor casting and cringe-worthy acting drag this movie into it’s own hell. Utter rubbish.
03/06/09
Cue a creepy toddler, various demonically possessed adults and a Jewish exorcism conducted by Gary Oldman. He’s a vastly better actor than the film deserves, but he can’t make the script seem even slightly better than it is.
03/06/09
This foolish film hitches an easy ride from the Holocaust.
03/06/09
The Unborn isn't the worst horror film you'll see in 2009, but the prospect of a sequel (which the film teases at the finale), is probably the biggest fright in the 88 minutes.
03/06/09
This may dabble in Jewish mysticism and the legacy of the Nazi era but scratch the surface and you discover just another standard scary movie.
03/03/09
Unsatisfying, hokey and never that scary (unless you’re the type who jumps at every loud noise or sudden appearance in this sort of movie), The Unborn outstays even its brief lifespan.
03/03/09
Packed with very scary moments and very disturbing images, this is not for the faint-hearted - that includes me.
03/03/09
Despite some massive flaws and a disappointing over-reliance on jump scares, The Unborn is comfortably the best entry yet from Platinum Dunes, Michael Bay’s previously remake-happy horror production outfit.
02/27/09
Top CriticDavid S Goyer’s non-kosher riff on ‘The Exorcist’ is stillborn,
02/27/09
Top CriticBrazen in its borrowings and alternating between cynicism and silliness, this is a creatively barren effort that should have been stopped at conception.
02/27/09
Top CriticIt’s hard to imagine a more ham-fisted attempt at the genre of ‘womb horror’ than this flat-footed supernatural drama with a Jewish twist.
02/27/09
Top CriticA scary movie so fantastically stupid and crass it made my skull contract and my sinuses harden to the consistency of pipe-cleaners.
02/27/09
Top CriticThe Unborn becomes rapidly tedious even as the body count racks up.
02/27/09
Over-egged and underwhelming, the best thing that can be said it that it provokes a few shocks - but these are easy wins and play no part in the propelling the plot along.
02/27/09
Hampered by the 15 rating, director David S Goyer is reduced to yawn-worthy jump-scares and recycled Exorcist gags to do his dirty work.
02/27/09
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02/27/09
Top CriticClick to read the article
02/27/09
Top CriticUnborn should have been strangled at birth.
02/27/09
A ham-fisted horror movie that manages to put together deadly demonic possession, Nazi concentration camps and nasty wartime genetic experiments.
02/27/09
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January 19, 2009:
Though some images are on the terrifying side, this mostly outlandish tale is riddled with homicidal tots, interdenominational exorcists, and attention deficit disorder dybuks who can't make up their mystical minds which body is cool enough to inhabit. 
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January 09, 2009:
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