FirstBorn

Two young parents who discover that there is a dangerous evil entity linked with their young daughter. With the help of a couple of elderly experts in the occult, they attempt to free their little girl from this supernatural presence.

This low budget British horror movie is served well by some pretty decent acting performances, especially from its two leads. But its qualities as a horror film are less assured. There are some effective jump scares here and there and the creature make-up is quite good. While it also has some quite interesting ideas, such as the fact that the little girl cannot have dolls with faces, if she does the consequences will be dreadful. So there are some good aspects to this one for sure but the overall presentation was sadly a little dreary on the whole and it drags things down somewhat. It does have some decent qualities but it's a bit limited on the whole.

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

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.

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 young, mixed race couple living in London become first time parents but their daughter seems to be a portal for an evil entity. Good job the girl's grandfather just happens to be an expert on the occult, how handy! Initial impression was that this could be a gritty British horror/drama, the acting was good as was the cinematography. Sadly it turned out to be rather slow, not in the least bit scary and lacked any plausible explanation. The demon, or whatever it was, could have been from any number of similar mediocre 21st Century horror movies. I have never heard of director Nirpal Bhogal before but could be a name to watch, given better material.