Cinefantastique Online

We are not particularly looking forward to THE UNBORN, which is scheduled to open on January 9. The whole “scary pregnancy and/or evil child” sub-genre played itself out decades ago, and the “Produced by Michael Bay” credit is hardly a reassuring mark of quality. We are also mildly taken aback by the advertising campaign’s claim that writer-director David S. Goyer is the “co-writer” of THE DARK KNIGHT – a film for which, in fact, he receives only a “co-story” credit. Judging from the trailer, UNBORN will be closer in tone and quality to Goyer’s previous directing credit, THE UNSEEN (a title that turned out to be pretty much literally true, considering the way the film came and went from theatres).

One thing we do appreciate, however, is the recent innovation of “customizable” online videos, which allow you to add a name to a pre-existing clip. THE UNBORN is offering this feature here. A hand-held YouTube-style video features a girl becoming possessed and announcing, “_____ wants to be born – NOW!” Just type in the name of a friend, which will fill in the blank, and then email the link to the lucky ducky.

When you know what to expect, the results are not particularly awesome, although you do have to admire the technology that allows this kind of thing to be done automatically and immediately. However, sending this customized clip to an unsuspecting victim should produce a surprise thrill in said victim.