The Unborn (1991)

The first must-see film of the year.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

A somewhat lame attempt to jump on the "evil baby" bandwagon, a sub-genre which includes such diverse titles ranging from the absolute classic (ROSEMARY'S BABY), to the fairly hopeless (I DON'T WANT TO BE BORN), to the inevitable obscure, foreign-made rip-offs (BABY BLOOD and DAMNED IN VENICE). THE UNBORN is a horror film containing lots of slow-burning dread and fear and a few moments of graphic horror to make up for the slow pacing and routine plot that the rest of the production offers. Characters are poorly-defined and set up to fall and the climax is let down by some really cheesy special effects of a killer baby which looks like nothing more than a rubbery doll. The script is over-wordy and the film let down by the central casting of Brooke Adams (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS) who overplays it by overacting during the sequence in which she throws a tantrum and wrecks her house and proves to be unlikeable at other times, meaning that you never really care for her character. Brad Blaisdell, who plays her husband, is wooden and dull throughout, so his eventual death is not so much shocking as a much-needed case of "just desserts".The only actor of note in the proceedings is RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD's James Karen, but even he is wasted in the small role of the sinister scientist who causes all the aggro in the first place. His slimy death, in which his dying body is pelted by all manner of strange and unnatural slime and goo, is pretty amusing though. Trivia fans can spot a pre-FRIENDS Lisa Kudrow appearing in a one-scene cameo as a secretary. Gore fans will be disappointed that the blood is in short supply; aside from a nasty moment in which a lesbian massacres her lover there's only a knitting-needle-in-the-eye sequence to get excited about. THE UNBORN does deserve kudos for being brave enough to include one sick scene in which a woman stabs herself in her own pregnant stomach repeatedly but otherwise is a bit of a missed opportunity, following a well-worn and predictable route to a rather lame and tired conclusion. It's difficult to get worked up about any of the characters or their activities in this movie and as a whole it leaves a distasteful taste in the mouth come the downbeat, oh-so-surprising twist conclusion. None of the science-fiction elements are adequately explored or the reasons or results for their appearance explained, leaving them looking like nothing more than tacked-on shots to give the plot some kind of solid ground.

The unfertile Virginia (Brooke Adams) and her husband, Brad Marshall (Jeff Hayenga), decide to join an experimental in-vitro fertilization program developed by Dr. Richard Meyerling (James Karen). The trial succeeds, but along the pregnancy, Virginia finds that something weird is happening with the fetus."The Unborn" is a very reasonable low-budget horror movie. Bizarre in some moments, grotesque in others, and dark as a whole, this movie has a very strong and disturbing scene, when a pregnant woman stabs herself in the belly. Therefore, it is certainly not recommended to pregnant women watch this film. I do not agree with the comparison with the masterpiece "Rosemary's Baby", since the stories are totally different, having in common only the pregnancy of something weird. I found this movie a good entertainment. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "O Bebê Maldito" ("The Damned Baby")

The Unborn is a very, very different film. James Karen & Brooke Adams are in the film and they performed quite well. this film is builds up solidly and it keeps you going. Though I think you must be a horror fan to watch this because of the scenes and the plot. There is one brief sex scene with no nudity that could have been left out and to some people this scene may disappoint someone like Me that's into the film and thinks that stuff ruins a good film but that's it when it comes to that. There is a scene where Adams' character goes nuts and kills a cat but you can tell its not real. The music is very different but very good. The Unborn in My opinion is a really creepy film that's superbly unpredictable and that's quite strange! I recommend all horror fans to this movie!

One of Roger Corman's later demented efforts, this one's an abortion clinic's nightmare. Corman probably laughed all the way to the bank when he produced this one.Brooke Adams plays an infertile woman who goes to a fertility specialist (James Karen) in order to conceive. What she doesn't know is that Karen is a DNA researcher who's been using the women who come to his clinic in order to create a new race of superbabies by altering the husband's sperm. The medication that he gives them causes some strange side effects such as hallucinations and a rash that breaks out on the side of their necks.Over the top scenes include:Adam's fetus stabbing a pen into the eye of her stupid husband. This happens right when Brooke is breast feeding her fetus. It looks like a deformed little thing from hell. He deserved it because he knew Karen's clinic wasn't straight-up legit to begin with. Adams then shoots Karen in his lab and then starts shooting all the fetuses growing in the labs glass spheres. As Karen lays there dying from the gunshot wound, a couple of the dead fetuses fall bloody, onto his face. Jesus... (laughs)It's too bad a talented actress like Brook Adams has sunk so far as to do something like this. Only a few short years before, she was starring in films with the likes of Richard Gere, Sean Connery and Christopher Walken. What a shame.Also notable for having Lisa Kudrow as Karen's receptionist. She's looks quite different from what she does, today.The whole thing's worth a look, but just one, imo. There's also a bizarre last scene involving Brooke and her fetus. You gotta see it to believe it. (laughs) 6 out of 10