#31daysofhorror day 22, The Unborn
I’m always going to want to like a movie that tries to root itself in folklore and esoteric philosophy. & this one came close to being something I’d like but not quite.
It’s one thing to explore more widely shared folk stories but I think where it started to feel a little weird is when it brought up esoteric books that were unfamiliar enough that the Rabbi character was even unfamliar. A quick search only turns up Hebrew versions of the book available on uncommon, religious-based websites.
As someone who studies the occult, this is a red flag because there are large swaths of Kaballistic mysticism & Jewish philosophy translated into various languages & available to the uninitiated reader. In my experience, something that is not widely translated & distributed is closed to the uninitiated. & much of what we can read & study is not simply open to practice, interpretation, or available to be editorialized or played with.
I guess I couldn’t get past that. The way they build the lore into the plot is interesting but hinges a lot on twins being particularly significant regarding possession & this particular book & the way it is explained seemed a bit flimsy which is what prompted me to google the book.
Beyond that, the film stylistically seemed to be leaning pretty hard on visual effects typical of an early 00s Japanese horror movie. & I get it, imitate your heroes to find your own voice, but paired with the mysticism element it came off very Crowley-esque -- just pull in “weird” stuff from various cultures & white-wash it so it can be gawked at & consumed by a mainstream western audience.
Back to the plot, I want to know the logic behind our dude chilling tf out as soon as the girl says the same thing she’s been saying with the right amount of nice or whatever. But when you had Rabbi shouting it in Hebrew & buddy priest doing his own Episcopalian thing over there our dude was perfectly fine & strong af.
I mean if it was some sort of fetal development point -- which would make a certain amount of sense with the plot -- cool, but there was really not even a hint at that. & anyway we’re talking about a series of minutes, not days.
Admittedly, I may be erring a little too far on the side of caution based on the knowledge I’ve picked up studying the occult. I try to be as respectful as possible of various traditions & practitioners as a rule.
But overall, the movie just wasn’t that enjoyable for me.