Trailer for David S. Goyer's "The Unborn" Offers Few Scares, But Looks Somewhat Cool None-the-Less

By: Adam Quigley Posted: October 9, 2008 Filed under: Trailers

The words "from producer Michael Bay" can be pretty telling when it comes to a movie, particularly when he's working alongside producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form. Together, the trio has been working to resurrect every classic or successful horror film franchise from the '70s and '80s, starting with the remakes for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (plus its prequel), The Amityville Horror, The Hitcher, and culminating with the soon-to-be-released remakes for Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and (if you can believe it) The Birds.

While writer/director David S. Goyer's The Unborn isn't a remake, it's still important to note that these guys are producing it, as even a quick glance at the previous films they've developed provide a fairly distinct impression of the stylistic attributes they bring to a project. To put it more bluntly, their films are all extremely slick yet grungy hard-R horror films where paper thin characters get killed in mercilessly brutal ways and nothing remotely original ever happens.

That's not necessarily a bad thing though, as long as you're the audience for it. Just be sure to rule out "introspective character study" on the list of what this film may have to offer.

As far as the horror elements go, The Unborn looks pretty dull, not to mention cliche (such as with the contorted old man walking up the stairs - where have I seen that before?). However, there were several times during the trailer when some of the more action-based supernatural stuff came into play that I started to get pumped. So at the very least, the film should be able to provide a number of cool money shots.

The problem with David S. Goyer is, his track record is all over the place. He may have co-written Batman Begins (some would argue he wrote all the weak material), but he also wrote and directed Blade Trinity and The Invisible. More reliable is Gary Oldman, who hopefully has a more important part than his scant screentime in the trailer would indicate.