Review of First Born (2007) by Sybil S — 24 Apr 2007

[font=Georgia][b]Why was this movie made?[/b].

This is a somewhat difficult movie to watch, and to review. It's really not so much a horror movie as a dramatized portrayal of postpartum psychosis, complete with special effects. The plot is simply "a woman has a baby and rapidly begins to go nutball insane". There's really not much of a story progression, except "oh look, she's noticeably more crazy than the last scene". The movie doesn't even attempt to do anything creative with the idea, like suggest she's not insane or make it look like her delusions are exterior instead of all in her head. She's just very obviously crazy throughout the entire movie. The supporting characters are basically just there to create dialogue, and don't seem to care about her enough to notice that something's wrong with her. By the time the end comes, you've been expecting it for awhile, but don't particularly want to see it. You know exactly what's happening even though the filmmaker's attempt to disguise it as a hallucination. And then it's simply the end.

There are some redeeming qualities in this flick, though. The cinematography is excellent and makes the whole movie flow really well, visually speaking. The acting is pretty good, particularly with the lead actress. But that just makes the film all the more awkward to watch. The direction is also really good, and there are a handful of scenes that viscerally illustrate the tension and anxiety in the situations they portray.

Even with that stuff going for it, though, I can't justify giving this movie a good rating. The unsettling subject matter is portrayed in such a cold and straightforward manner, with no sympathetic influences at all, that it crosses the line into bad taste (and I usually [i]like[/i] bad taste, this just isn't the fun kind). And the plot is just so transparent and bare that there's not a lot there to get interested in.

Anyway, this is an odd, uncomfortable, predictable movie. I really have no idea why it was made or why the creators thought the concept would be entertaining. It's a really horrible, super-linear plot with good cinematic execution.

I'd only suggest this if you're really bored and want to see a woman go crazy and harm her baby...

...in which case I'd also probably suggest you look up therapists in your yellow pages.

[i].

[u]Misleading Advertising Bonus:[/u][/i].

The cover for this movie features an inverted cross as the 't' in the title, and a spooky alien-looking face with glowing eyes that represents a doll featured in the movie (tho its eyes never glow and it never really does anything spooky). The DVD menus are also riddled with inverted crosses, though there's absolutely no crosses or religious suggestions [i]anywhere[/i] in the movie. (I originally thought the movie would be about a woman who gives birth to the antichrist or something.).

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