FirstBorn

Am writing this short review as I feel I could have been misled not to watch this because of other reviews. I felt there was a hypnotic Gothic atmosphere (imagery and sounds/soundtrack), very good acting (Eileen Davies especially), it has both a drama/slice of life about parenting, responsibility and the "solitude of Being" I guess (even when you're a toddler..) and fear of the unknown.. themes flowing through.. the characters are three dimensional enough yet there is sufficient space left for your psyche to fill in in possible "blanks", a sort of impressionistic canvas.

FirstBorn isn't a very original title is it? Put it into IMDB and a dozen other movies of the same name pop up, kind of makes you wonder why they insist on doing that. The last one I watched was First Born (2007) with Elisabeth Shue and it's ending tormented me for ages afterwards.

This particular one is a British made tale that tells the story of a woman whose baby seems to be attracting a supernatural entity.

Truth be told they did a fantastic job with the movies creation. It looks great, it's wonderfully crafted and they even got industry veteran Jonathan Hyde involved. I was fairly gripped and really enjoying this simple little story, but gradually it was going downhill. Not too far however, I had my concerns but the movie was still enjoyable. That is until the last chapter.

The last 10-15 minutes are very different from the rest of the film. Namely it's as if they suddenly ran out of budget, ideas or time to make the movie and rushed it. This did it no favors at all and left the movie very underwhelming, had they taken the time to construct a decent finale I'd likely be singing the films praises right now.

Real shame, more consistency next time!

The Good:

Very well made

A few good ideas

Jonathan Hyde

The Bad:

Hugely rushed finale

A very familiar story where a baby is born and any endless sleepless nights aren't being caused by a baby's bawling . You've seen this before and almost certainly done better

To be fair this is low budget Brit flick so the options for premises are limited and just be thankful we don't have to endure chav scum being stalked in a tower block . We should also be thankful that we don't have any Catholic priests wanting to be left alone with baby

This is where the problem lies . There are a couple of characters who are surrogate exorcist type merchants but their involvement in the plot are contrived and seem to exist to fill in the audience about what is happening and why it is happening . Worse still is that the exposition doesn't give enough clarity and found myself continually confused

As I said the producers have taken a well trodden path and thankfully it doesn't lead to council estate scumville but it's still an underdeveloped story

This film is an enigma; it has so many great ideas, some wonderful and talented people working to make sure that these ideas come to fruition, but the final film feels disjointed and unbalanced. On the one hand, it's a horror film, but everything that is supposed to be horrific is either hidden or happens off camera. The special effects are great, but most of the creatures are shown covered in darkness or shadow. The story takes no time getting started, but then it ends in an ambiguous whimper. I just don't understand why they didn't push the envelope a bit more with so many talented people in the cast. This film could have been some truly special, as the ideas presented are unique and rarely seen in horror movies these days. But, aside from the wonderful acting, it doesn't do anything particularly well to warrant a recommendation. Had it been more horrific, graphic, gory, etc. It could have been a classic. But it plays it safe in almost every regard, and does not try to shock or disturb, but simply tell a tell as inoffensively as possible. I guess this works for sensitive audiences that are easily bothered, but horror fans demand more. I will be following this creative team closely, as I feel that their ideas really do deserve an audience. But this film is too much of a "first attempt" to really get anything right.

I just have to reiterate that the acting is wonderful. Really, everyone from the main couple to the little girl was extremely effective, and made me care about every single character presented in this film. The chemistry is palpable, and whomever was responsible for casting this film did his or her job expertly. Well done.

Another reviewer already pointed out that this is uneven, but as he also said, it has quite some nice ideas. And it is shocking at the right places, and has some really nice visual effects too (for a low budget movie). We get treated with a fantastical story that seems to have way more backstory than we actually get to see. So there is even more in this or could be maybe in the future (?) ... although to be fair, I don't think this will happen.

Actors are doing a decent job overall and there is enough to hold the viewers attention. There are some decisions that may feel forced or wrong, but overall the movie does good in that department as well. So if you like to take a chance on a horror movie and don't mind a couple of bumps along the road ... enjoy