Horror in the 90s: 'The Unborn'

The Unborn (1991)

Directed by Rodman Flender

Written by John Brancato, Michael Ferris

Starring Brooke Adams, Jeff Hayenga, K Callan, Kathy Griffin, Lisa Kudrow

Release Date March 29th, 1991

Box Office Gross $1.15 million dollars

The Unborn is part of a special subgenre of 90s horror, the laughable kind. Okay, fine, it's also a movie that wants to tap into the fears inherent in struggling to become a new parent and bring life into the world, but the film is truly laughable in that effort. Goofy special effect babies, over the top, shrill performances, and artless direction render The Unborn part of the Corman Classics, a group of cheap, often quite terrible films that Roger Corman artlessly pumped out of his mass manufactured movie company. While Corman's legend has earned a reappraisal for the careers he helped to launch, we should not forget the huckster Corman was at heart, a salesman crafting and selling faulty products at low, low prices.

Poor dewy-eyed Brooke Adams has the thankless task of playing the lead role in The Unborn. Adams plays Virginia, a children's book author who has been trying for several years to have a child with her milquetoast hubby Brad offering bland support and dodging any blame for their failure to conceive. In a last-ditch effort to get pregnant the couple has agreed to see an experimental doctor with a new scientific approach to helping couples conceive. The new method is terrifying and painful involving a dark operating room and large needles. The production design is cheap but the lack of lights, at the very least, does create a sense of the unnatural.

The special new doctor is Dr. Richard Meyerling (James Karen), a man who has worked miracles for other families, though the nature of these miracles are slowly coming to light. In fact, the family that recommended that Virginia see Dr. Meyerling suffers a tragedy when the daughter born from Dr. Meyerling's experimental procedures begins showing sociopathic tendencies that end with her murdering her little brother while he slept. Other women have ended up dead before their baby is born and one woman, a new friend of Virgina's, ends up in a coma.

With evidence of Dr. Meyerling's evil intentions mounting, the world turns a blind eye to Virginia, writing her off as 'hormonal' or having 'mommy brain.' Our protagonist is treated as an unreliable narrator, even as we see what she see's. The makers of The Unborn don't have the care or put forth the effort needed to fool us into thinking that anything Virginia sees isn't real. That would take effort and skill that is entirely lacking from what devolves into a farcical monster movie in which a gooey, rubbery, baby becomes a flying, murderous demon capable of being anywhere and doing anything.

There is something to be said about a horror subgenre dedicated to the anxiety and fear of becoming a parent for the first time. A first pregnancy is filled with the anxiety trying to keep alive a small being growing inside a mother's womb. It's a natural place of fear and unease that could be mined for a smart and scary horror movie. And yet, likely due to the fact that the genre remains dominated by male filmmakers, good horror movies centered on pregnancy and birth, are few and far between. More often, this underserved subgenre delivers movies like The Unborn, laughable wannabe monster movies rendered unintentionally comedic by low budgets and less than skillful direction.

The Unborn is the latest serialized piece from my book project, Horror in the 90s. I am writing about all of the theatrically released horror movies and other notable releases from the decade in horror. It's a big task and one that I cannot take on without your support. You can support my book by reading and sharing these serialized pieces from the book. If you'd like to commit to further support Horror in the 90s you can do so by making a monthly pledge or by leaving a one time tip. Thanks!