The Unborn

    "The Unborn" is reminiscent of the horror movies that an audience would see, with moderately high expectations, and eventually that audience would degenerate into caterwauling at the screen whenever the poor players, in celluloid, would mouth the unrealistic words of some screenwriter who forgot the tenants of good story telling amid the rush to scare the Hell out of his audience. And while I will cry out that the film is deeply flawed in terms of cohesive story line, in terms of the ancillary characters that would make up any young woman's life, the picture has its positive moments: Primarily, it is a scary movie.

    The lead role of Casey Beldon, played by Odette Yustman, is a pretty young woman who is riddled with a bit more angst than what normally faces a normal college student. She is pursued by a dybbuk (Hebrew for a possessive spirit), who wishes not only to possess a special part of Casey, but to fulfill a blood oath to destroy all of Casey's maternal ancestors since her grandmother was interned in Auschwitz as a young girl. Casey never knew her grandmother until she found her while seeking answers once the manifestations of the demon began to overwhelm this young college student.

    The aged grandmother, Sofi, played by veteran Jane Alexander, is a bright spot. So is Gary Oldman, although his role as Rabbi Sendeck is far too short, and Actor Oldman appeared to lack the fire of his best roles. The picture at 88 minutes of runtime seemed too short to develop characters and their situations, but possibly, the movie concentrated on the wrong relationships for Casey, like the flippant relationship with her girlfriend, Romy, Meagan Good, and too little consideration was given to why the child did not know her Jewish Grandmother ( a Holocaust survivor), and where was the father the whole time his only daughter was being chased by the dybbuk, taking the form of an eerie young boy, with dark circled blue eyes ever peering, lusting to possess the young girl.

    These holes in the script can be blamed on director and screenwriter David S. Goyer, but the credit for building a very frightening movie should be his credit as well. It's not the Hebrew "Exorcists," but it has it does have its bright spots in telling such a terrible story.

    Rated PG13, with an unrated version on DVD. Released on DVD July 7, 2009.