Reborn

A baby declared stillborn is lying in the morgue but brought back to life by a freak accident. A morgue worker (Chaz Bono) saves her and secretly raises her as his own. 16 years later, the girl (Kayleigh Gilbert) is desperate to find her mother (Barbara Crampton), but has a deadly gift of being able to harness electricity. She goes on a murderous campaign to find and keep her mom.

Some of the acting here is pretty dreadful (especially from Michael Pare as the cop and some of the sub-characters), but in many respects it is an interesting old fashioned horror B movie could have been from the 1940s and 50s. Besides who can resist the great Barbara Crompton who always adds some class to the most mixed of horror films.

Odd and mild Carrie/Frankenstein-lite story about a stillborn child brought back to life by an electrical storm, who then goes in search of her actress mother. Tess can control electricity and has the power to use it to kill people.

Prolific actress Barbara Crampton plays Lena, who had the baby (Tess) at 19, and Tess has come looking for her 16 years later. Crampton is a good actress, but even she can't convince as a 35 year old. Equally, what has Tess been doing for the first 16 years of her life? It seems she has been living with the creepy morgue attendant who abducted her, but it is surprising her powers don't seem to have made an impact during those formative years.

The film is lifted by Kayleigh Gilbert who is very good as Tess. Wide-eyed and slightly eccentric, Gilbert's performance actually rises above the material. My score is 6 out of 10.

A "Carrie meets Frankenstein" movie, which though a decent watch, was spoiled for me by the film trying to pass 60 year old Barbara Compton off as a 35 year old! Yes...Barbara is still a beautiful woman and looks great, but playing a 35 year old was a mission too far...and this put the film on the back foot right from the start for me.

I caught this movie's premier on British TV and have to say that compared to the bulk of 21st Century horror drivel this one wasn't too bed. It stars 80's Scream Queen Barbara Crampton (she still looks good) as an actress who gave birth to a stillborn baby. Only that baby did not actually die and she became some sort of Carrie, only with power over electricity. Kayleigh Gilbert played the part of Tess well, but I suspect she was a few years older than the 16 year old that she was playing. There are a couple of decent jump scenes (one is a complete rip off of Carrie), the plot was engaging and fairly original, plus at under 80 minutes the film is well paced.

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.