The UnbornMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 30 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore^® based on all critic reviews

Information for Parents:

Iffy for 15+

Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

67

Entertainment Weekly |
Indeed, Goyer has penned many scripts superior to this one (he co-wrote cult gem Dark City), but he does make sure you're never far away from a big "Boo!" Read full review
40

New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman
What "The Exorcist" might look like if Madonna rewrote it, this silly fright flick finds college student Casey (Odette Yustman) haunted by a Kabbalistic demon. Read full review
40

Variety |
Whereas Japanese horror movies have been criticized for not making sense, The Unborn errs on the opposite extreme, coming off all the more ridiculous for over-explaining itself. Read full review
38

USA Today | Claudia Puig
A laughably bad horror flick. Read full review
30

The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt
What finally undoes the struggle to maintain suspense is Goyer's dialogue, which is consistently hokey. Read full review
30

The New York Times | Manohla Dargis
The film teeters so perilously and routinely at the edge of camp, both with some of its casting choices and some unfortunate dialogue (the repeated warning that "Jumby wants to be born now"), that it's hard to know if Mr. Goyer wants to make us howl with fear or laughter. Read full review
30

Los Angeles Times |
Mostly, though, the movie is something of a snooze, a gabby PG-13 horror flick whose most shocking image might be the bored look on Gary Oldman's face as he goes through the motions of playing the rabbi in charge of dispatching the film's damnable demon to somewhere over hell's rainbow. Read full review
25

The Onion A.V. Club | Keith Phipps
What darkness the movie achieves comes solely from the lighting. Read full review
20

Austin Chronicle | Marc Savlov
Calling The Unborn a dull, plodding, exposition-crammed slog through a twilight of barely maintained tedium is like calling "Valkyrie" a yawn. It's too easy. Read full review
12

Boston Globe | Wesley Morris
The Unborn joins a growing glut of Holocaust- and Nazi-themed material -- "Valkyrie," "Defiance" - that are long on posturing, suppositions, and righteousness, yet short on moral complexity. Nazism and its crimes have lately inspired theme parks more than actual movies. Too many rides on that roller coaster and I feel sick. Read full review

Metacritic link View more reviews for The Unborn on Metacritic

Information for Parents

Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Possession tale is low on blood, but high on scares.

What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this is a review of the PG-13-rated movie and not the unrated DVD version. This horror film, while relatively bloodless, is still totally frightening (as in NOT for younger kids). It's full of freaky, scary stuff like monsters, creatures, and demons. Since the evil entity in the movie can jump from body to body, much of the violence in the film involves un-possessed people lashing out at possessed victims -- including children. There's also lots of talk about abstract, monster-related theological issues (i.e. can a Jewish rite of exorcism protect a non-believer?). A subplot about a Holocaust survivor leads to imagery of Nazi death camps and medical experiments. Because the film's plot revolves around a stillborn twin, there's also disturbing imagery involving pregnancy, birth, and infancy that's used to create shock and horror. Characters also drink, swear, and get intimate (though nothing too sensitive is shown).

Families can talk about the way the film creates shock, tension, and horror with a relative minimum of blood. Is the movie's level of violence and unsettling imagery more or less scary because of its restraint?
Why are audiences drawn to horror movies?
Families can also discuss the role that traditional folklore of possession, demonic spirits, and ghosts plays in the movie. Why do these stories appear so frequently in most cultures?
What role do they have in theology and tradition?

The good stuff

Positive messages: Extensive discussion of mystical and demonic elements of Christianity and Judaism. Several scenes are set in a home for the elderly, with discussion of the frailties that can come with age. Discussions of the Holocaust. Extensive imagery involving birth and pregnancy and its complications, including a fetus in a jar (which is later shattered). Discussions of Alzheimer's (referred to as "old-timers"), clinical depression, and genetic abnormalities.

What to watch for

Violence: Several scenes involve violence against -- or by -- children possessed by supernatural entities or supernatural entities in the form of children. Stabbings, bludgeonings, beatings, and other forms of violence. Some blood, though less than in many other horror films -- but there are many mutilated bodies, and some graphic images of contorted/dislocated limbs. Constant horror-film imagery, including swarms of insects, misshapen supernaturally influenced beings, howling monstrosities whose entire face is a fanged maw, and more. A child is hit by a car (though unharmed thanks to dark forces); later, the same child stabs a character to death. A plot point revolves around the death of an infant. The finale involves lots of supernatural violence -- people and objects being hurled about by psychic force -- and some violence committed by people possessed by that force. Characters are chased and threatened by scary monsters. Some World War II concentration camp imagery, including medical experiments on children; other medical imagery includes an eye examination.
Sex: A couple (young, but college-aged) kisses and cuddles, presumably after making love. Discussion of "wood" as a indicator of arousal. Some images of the female lead character in nightshirt and panties and a waist-up, from-the-back shot of her showering. A babysitter is asked if the husband and wife she's working for have "porn," with a brief discussion of hypothetical masturbation. Sexual activity is shown to have clear consequences.
Language: Some instances of strong language, including one "f--k," "s--t," and "bitch." "Retard" is used as an insult.
Consumerism: Some brands are visible on-screen or mentioned in dialogue, including Cosmopolitan magazine, Red Bull energy drink, and Xanax.
Drinking, drugs and smoking: Characters drink liquor at a club and talk about being drunk; one character notes of the other's stressed-out state that "I would just take one of my mom's Xanax and call it a day." A character is seen leading some sort of 12-step group, although for what, exactly, viewers are never told.

Common Sense Media An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.