Reborn is based on an interesting idea but is let down in all of the major areas. An abandoned baby is reanimated in a morgue and things unfold from there.
The opening scenes hold promise but things quickly dissipate.
The first stumbling block is the script by Michael Mahin. It is cliched to the point of groaning. There are lots of lines such as, 'I've suffered and now it's your turn.' Lots! Production values are OK though for a mainstream release it has a dated and made for television feel. Once the ball is rolling, the plot also becomes a bit predictable and, well, cliched. Cinematography is pedestrian.
Director Julian Richards seems to operate out of an 80s aesthetic.
Rae Dawn Chong, daughter of Tommy Chong as in Cheech and Chong, is, I gather, something of a draw card but she doesn't have a big role and doesn't do much with it.
Chas Bono, child of Sonny and Cher, also has a 15 minute role and in a creepy way, is actually OK in it.
Julian Richards specializes in 'discount' horror and probably peaked with Silent Cry, another movie about mothers, babes and unresolved issues. It is more drama than horror and streets ahead of Reborn. Interesting but irrelevant, his next best effort was probably a fairly average documentary on Charles Dickens.
Michael Pare plays the best or luckiest police detective in the States with the largest badge imaginable. He is one of the better things in the movie but having said that, don't expect too much.
The star of the movie, Kayleigh Gilbert, has made a crime drama and a sort of alternative pic about an alternative community. She is not a commanding presence on screen but could be. Maybe she is one to watch for the future. Of her three movies this is the middle one and the by far the shakiest.
The second lead, Barbara Crampton, plays a washed-up B actress. Probably no need to say anymore.
I feel a bit harsh but really, Reborn seems to have been made to fill a quota or for some similar reason. There is a sense that no one is giving 100% and the ending is consistent with this.
