[Born]
Plot:Mary Elizabeth goes to bed alone one night, still a twenty one year old virgin, and wakes up the next morning, pregnant.Possessed by the demon fetus growing within her womb, Mary Elizabeth obeys her homicidal cravings to kill... for the sake of her unborn spawn. Mary Elizabeth’s dark transformation is controlled by her unborn demon child’s deadly evil cravings. Once the child is born, there will be hell on earth.

Cast:Alison Brie, Kane Hodder, Denise Crosby, James Callahan, Eddie Velez, Alex D'Lerma, Vince Lozano, Azalea Davila, Joan Severance, Rick McCallum, Jorg Sirtl, Julie Costello, Shawnie Costello, Roger Hewlett, Mike Muscat.

My Thoughts:Pretty out there, but decent none the less.

Review:"Born" is an indie horror film which takes a different track from the normal indie horror fodder. Most are either bad ghost movies, or bad slasher movies. This film tries to be a moder-day "Rosemary's Baby". It gets everything right pretty much, except, the scare factor. This film doesn't attempt to scare you, as much as it attempts to make you laugh or shock you with harsh dialogue, twisted plot twists, and some over-the-top performances. Whereas "Rosemary's Baby" sought to scare the viewer, "Born" just wants to give you something to get wide-eyed at. And for the most part, it succeeds.

The movie follows a young girl named Mary Elizabeth. She attends her mothers funeral with her older sister, and her father. After the ceremony, Mary Elizabeth hears a baby crying. And because this is a horror movie, she naturally strays from her family to follow the babies cries. Upon doing so, she is attacked (sort of) by an unseen force, but comes out of it okay. It isn't till the next morning however, that she comes up with symptoms...the symptoms of morning sickness. Mary Elizabeth soon realizes that she is pregnant. But this isn't a normal baby. This baby is the son of the executioner of the 13th level of hell, played by one Kane Hodder.

Now, the baby has a thirst for blood, and Mary Elizabeth, who normally wouldn't hurt a fly, has to fight the monster baby in her wombs, urge for blood, or become a monster herself. "Born" is certainly a strange movie from many different areas and aspects. It doesn't necessarily follow any specific genre rules, which for better or for worse, goes into the plus column for the film. But th camera-work isn't very good in the films first half, and that's a big minus for the picture. Nothing worse than scenes which are too dark, or filmed at bad angles. It really keeps one fro engaging in the story like one needs to.

"Born"s star Alison Brie, who plays Mary Elizabeth, certainly has a future in acting though. This girl can perform. She plays Mary Elizabeth very well, going through a range of different emotions, personalities, and mindsets. The character starts the film off as a sweet, innocent girl. Then becomes depressed, then after that becomes psychologically disturbed, and finally, she becomes an evil bitch, to put it quite frankly, as the baby in her womb finally takes her over. There are also moments where the baby speaks through her, upon which Mary Elizabeth's voice changes, and there are also moments where Mary Elizabeth fights with her baby to keep herself from commiting the next murder.

I honestly think if Brie wasn't in the starring role in this movie, it wouldn't have turned out as decent as it did. They really nailed it when it came to choosing the lead female for this movie. The supporting cast aren't slouches either. Mary Elizabeth's older sister is played by Denise Crosby of "Pet Sematary" and "Dolly Dearest" fame, and Joan Severance who has a very lengthy acting resume. Severance plays Dr. Sammael, who makes an appearance at the beginning of the film as Asmodeus (Hodder), tells her the story of Mary Elizabeth.

So while Brie is certainly the one who carries this film with her performance, her supporting cast definitely helps her raise her game. If there were any problems with "Born" beyond the bad camera work, it was killing off the hot, bubbly, perky sister Jennifer. Granted, her character was a phone sex operator, but beyond Jennifer, many of the characters in the film were crazy, depressing, cruel, or all of the above. Jennifer was the only fun character of the film, and whacking her kind of sucked.

Also this movie for some reason saw it fit to try and mirror itself a bit after "The Davinci Code", by adding in a weird albino cemetary caretaker. Yeah sure he was a caretaker, but between his outfit, skin color, and the twist down the end of the movie which he is deeply involved in, it's very obvious the writer mirrored him after the "Code" monk. This is coupled with some catholic priests who are thrown into the mix as the protagonists because -- this is after all a film about a demon baby, so catholic priests are pretty much obligatory in this subgenre of film.

The movies finale is hilarious, and if you pay close attention, you'll notice the final act of the movie switches into black humor/comedic/schlock-horror mode. This coming after the first act was serious-toned, and the second act was more tragic than anything. It certainly is a film that works in stages, and you should also be on the look out for two really twisted scenes in acts 1 and 3 which will make you laugh, cringe, and probably frown in disgust, all at the same time. "Born" is worth seeing once definitely. It's some fresh and creative from the indie horror perspective. That, coupled with the seasoned supporting cast, and the young and talented female lead, make it worth spending 95+ minutes viewing.

Positives:Brie is great as Mary Elizabeth, Hodder and Severance are good in their roles as well, the movie has a major tinge of weird, odd, and strange to it, many shocking moments, and an overall creative storyline.

Negatives:Bad camera-work, killing off the Jennifer character so early was disappointing. The priests and the monk were pretty unnecessary and cliche.

Overall:Three and a half out of four stars.





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