BOTTOM LINE: Despite a highly effective premise for a horror film, “The Unborn” is silly, badly acted, poorly executed and just not that scary.

THE GOOD: The best horror films tend to have a premise that really gets under your skin and be truly terrifying and “The Unborn” manages to have such a premise. An evil spirit wants to be born in to our world and needs the use of a suitable human host to do it. In this case, it turns out a twin is the most suitable. Teenager Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman) is having nightmares about a creepy looking boy who keeps following her around. After suffering some physical effects from these nightmares, she discovers that she is in fact a twin, but her brother died in the womb before she was born. As the nightmares intensify, she discovers that an evil spirit is using the unborn twin as a vessel to come in to the human world. The premise is highly effective and potentially lends itself to some creepy moments, some of which do appear in this film, however conventional they turn out to be. Odette Yustman is an attractive lead, although not that outstanding, and Gary Oldman’s presence manages to lift the proceedings a little bit.

THE BAD: As a piece of horror, this film has no scares and no atmosphere. Only the premise will make you feel scared. From the opening sequence, things become very silly indeed with the dog wearing a mask leading Casey to a demon baby buried in the ground. Each time a scare occurs, there is no atmosphere of dread or doom, and the exorcist-style head twists and nasty-looking faces are more silly than anything else. Perhaps the worst part of all is that despite a good premise, the story sticks to conventions that have already been used; the finale for example is an exorcism, and one that is not that scary or original. Director David S. Goyer is known in Hollywood for being a good screenwriter, but directorially he leaves a lot to be desired here. Perhaps he should have handed his script over to a better director.