Search - Unborn But Forgotten on DVD

Should have been aborted

E. A Solinas | MD USA | 10/20/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Sometimes it really does seem like there are no original ideas. "Unborn But Forgotten" is prime proof of that, a movie so crammed with cliches and ripoffs that it seems like a spoof.

Ever since the arrival of hit Japanese film "Ringu" and its solid remakes and sequels, there have been some truly lame ripoffs -- "Phone," for one, and the American cluck-clucker "Feardotcom." But "Unborn But Forgotten" takes that lameness and runs off into the distance with it.

Su-Jin (Eun-joo Lee) is a determined young journalist, with a peculiar mystery to investigate: women have been dying of bizarre physiological causes, apparently linked to ultra-fast pregnancies, even though none of them were pregnant before. The only link is a website called The White Room, which will kill you after fifteen days.

Of course, Su-Jin (who is already pregnant by her moody boyfriend) goes to the site. And having doomed herself, she begins searching for the origins of this cursed site. She finds out that it is due to a vengeful ghost (not another one!) who lost her child, and is apparently using the site to produce ghost babies.

Sound familiar? Just insert the word "tape" instead of "website," and "seven" instead of "fifteen," and you've got "Ringu."

It may seem like a new twist to have the pregnancy angle, but to anyone who has seen Hideo Nakata's "Rasen" -- the sequel to "Ringu" -- the pregnancy angle will seem all too familiar. Well, at least they found new aspects of the Ring Curse to rip off, rather than mere death.

Using a similar storyline isn't necessarily a death knell, but the slipshod script and lackluster acting seal the movie's fate. Director Chang-jae Lim is either inept or discouraged by the turkiness of this film, and so doesn't bother anything other than "boo!" scares. Subtle spookery can turn even a clunker into something interesting, but Lim seems too bored to manage it.

Screenwriter Hyeon-geun Han is definitely inept, leaving all the wrong plot threads dangling. How does a ghost start a site? WHY a site? Why is she mad? What's the point of what she's doing? And why the heck is the human murderer revealed so early, when he could have provided plenty of suspense? Don't expect any of it to make sense.

There are a few subplots that are interesting to us -- for example, the boyfriend finding that the pregnant Su-Jin might cripple his career, and how he responds to it. But such character-building is swept to the wayside. Instead, we get the occasional creepy moment (Su-Jin watching herself die), smothered in dull spookiness and incredibly obvious plotting.

With some decent acting but a terrible and derivative storyline, "Unborn But Forgotten" deserves to be forgotten."

Easily Forgotten

The Fiddler | New Orleans | 06/12/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Well the other reviewers covered everything but 1 point,...the box is marked Anamorphic Widescreen,....it isn't. It is the only Tartan Asia Extreme that is '4/3 letterboxed' that I have run across. I own many. Most are excellent. This one isn't,.. AND won't work on you widescreen TV. They have the subtitles in the black above and below the picture so you can't zoom the picture to fill the screen. You will have to watch a little picture centered on your big widescreen TV. I called Tartan to report the error and the customer service guy said,.." Well,..what do you want me to do about it. I just work here and everyone else is at lunch.""

It was not what I expected it to be.

Avidfan | Florida | 10/06/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Okay I would like to let the reviewer below me know (THE FIDDLER) that I think it only his DVD that had that problem because my movie is in 1:85 anomorphic Widescreen and it also worked in my Widescreen TV just fine. And yes my DVD is from Tartan and I have had it for almost a year. But as for the movie it really let me down because as I saw this I felt like I was watching fear dot com again That movie sucked also by the way. but the victims were only women. This movie only gets 3 stars from me out of respect for Lee Eun-JOO the lead actress of the film. I love the movies she has done but I recently found out that she died in 2005 (Suicide). So if you think that this film stinks I am with you but this is my way of paying respect to a beautiful women whose talent was wasted a year ago."

No Where close to the ring.... But far from general horror.

William Chant | Scranton, PA | 04/09/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Korea always surprises me with their films. This one is no different. More of a thriller or mystery than a horror film, Unborn But Forgotten is a predictable tale that although had gained little respect is worth a look for those in love with Korean film. It stands on it's own however the dialoge and the pace could have been up tempo a bit more.

The story is about a website that when people visit, strangely they die shortly later. Although this is similar to the ring the plot thickens because it's not random. There is a purpose to the killings that exists in the clues of the relationship and artwork surrounding the supersitious happening.

The film is worth viewing and is definately worth the used price here on amazon. If you love Korean film and want to add this to your collection I would suggest it. For Fans of "The Eye 2" or anyone who finds it interesting to see parenthood and the supernatural combined, I would say this is a must. Thriller/mystery is not much my thing but in the this vein it was very good. Not for those looking for horror.

Quality was outstanding as Tartan always provides."