| The Unborn | |
| Director: | Rodman Flender |
| Producer: | Roger Corman (uncredited) Rodman Flender |
| Starring: |
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| Cinematography: | Wally Pfister |
| Studio: | Concorde-New Horizons |
| Distributor: | Califilm |
| Music: | Gary Numan Michael R. Smith |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Gross: | $1,159,578 |
The Unborn is a 1991 American science fiction horror film directed by Rodman Flender and starring Brooke Adams, Jeff Hayenga, James Karen, K Callan, and Jane Cameron. The film's plot concerns a couple who cannot have children; they attempt in-vitro fertilization, but strange things start happening to the mother while she is pregnant.
Lisa Kudrow and Kathy Griffin have small roles.
The story centers around a married couple. The infertile wife Virginia (Brooke Adams) and her husband Brad Marshall (Jeff Hayenga) decide to join an experimental in-vitro fertilization program developed by Dr. Richard Meyerling (James Karen). The trial succeeds, but during the pregnancy Virginia finds that something unusual is happening to the fetus. A further investigation shows that she is part of an experiment conducted by an insane doctor.
Writer John D Brancato says the film was inspired by "killer mutant baby stories like It's Alive". They had previously written Bloodfist II for Corman.[1]
Filming took place in October 1990.[2] It was the first film directed by Flender who described it as a cross between Rosemary's Baby and The Fly.[3]
It was the first feature film as cinematographer for Wally Pfister who worked for Roger Corman for a number of years. He later recalled, "I had something I wanted to try with color and light. But it’s ghastly. At the same time, I cut myself slack, because my creative reach went beyond my skill level. That’s a really important thing to note. I had great ideas. But if you don’t have the skill level, you’re never going to master the artistry. That’s where I was early on. And I needed to put the hard work in and slowly work my way up."[4]
Adams said the film was a "pleasant surprise" for her and at one stage discussed with Corman the possibility of directing the sequel.[5]
Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film "an efficient, scary sci-fi thriller", commending its screenplay as well as Adams's character and performance;[6] he concluded that the film "is laudable adult entertainment on all counts except one: There is a gratuitous, sneering put-down of lesbians who are in turn ignorantly stereotyped as man-haters." Joan Bunke of The Des Moines Register gave the film a score of one out of five stars, calling it "as predictable as the phases of the moon", and writing: "Flender's movie, clearly made on a low budget, looks underdressed and underlit – as cheap as its story framework."[7]
The film was followed by a sequel, The Unborn 2, released in 1994.