The Unborn is a film from 2009 about a girl in college who starts having nightmares and visions of a creepy kid. She soon finds out that she had a twin brother that died before they were born, so she tries to find the connection. Is it all in her head or is something sinister really happening?

Well, it turns out shit really is happening. CRAZY, right? Sadly, that is about as descriptive as the writers wanted to go when they wrote the script. Sure, there is something about an old Nazi experiment and a demon that wants to possess…everyone(?) but none of that really matters because throughout the film it seems that nothing happening has any ramifications. Even the ending attempts to cobble together a smart Saw-style revelation but abruptly falls flat. Apart from a handful of great body horror scenes The Unborn doesn’t have much setting itself apart from the conventional PG-13 horror movie. I’m sure if I saw it a couple of years ago when it was newly released some of the CGI elements would have been more frightening, but I can’t remember ever basing my critiques of films solely on special effects.

So let me summarize: Practical effects and contorted limbs = good! Plot, scare-factor, generic formula = BAD! When the end credits rolled, The Unborn left me with a strange look on my face. A calm but discontent Michael Myers sort of look, almost like…

…yeah, that’s the one!

3 Dybbuk Dogz out of 5

★★★☆☆