trailer break: ‘The Unborn’

Say what? A spooky child? We’ve certainly never seen that before, have we? He wants to be born now? Doesn’t he think he might have a better time of it if he doesn’t scare his sister to death? You know, light some candles, play some soothing music, try some breathing exercises: it doesn’t have to be a traumatic experience. It can be a beautiful thing.

Of course, then it wouldn’t be a horror movie. I suspect it won’t be much of a horror movie anyway -- what’s with the current fad for PG-13-rated “horror”? -- so why not just go wholeheartedly in the other direction? We could have a baby shower for the ghost baby and everything. It could be nice.

I’m keeping an open mind here. On the one hand, Rogue Pictures is actually going to screen this for critics next week -- the other fad with horror flicks recently involves not even bothering to show them to critics at all, so perhaps this bodes well. On the other hand, playing up the Batman connections of writer-director David S. Goyer smacks of desperation, and the whole shebang is “from producer Michael Bay,” which is more terrifying than just about any horror movie I’ve ever seen.

This is kinda cool, though: Gary Oldman, according to the IDMB, is playing a rabbi. A rabbi doing an exorcism? Neato.

The Unborn opens wide in the U.S. on January 9, 2009, and in the U.K. on February 27, 2009.