3.0 out of 5 stars
High on Style, but Story too Confusing and Convoluted, Nov 5 2010
This review is from: NEW First Born (DVD) (DVD)
This is a film that had a story with some potential as either a supernatural horror or psychological thriller, but in the end is wasted because the director writer(Isaac Webb) wasn't sure what kind of film he wanted to make. As a consequence, this film leaves the viewer confused as to what is going on with the character Laura, played wonderfully by Elizabeth Shue. Is she going insane, or is she being possessed by a demonic spirit? The film tends to be disingenuous by giving clues in one direction, and then another, so that in the end the viewer is not sure what is truly happening to Laura and/or what is an hallucination in her descent into madness. This tends to spoil the shock ending, since the viewer is left wondering as to how we got to this ending.
There is really nothing unique in regard to the plot direction of this film, either as a horror film or a psychological thriller. There are many films that have done a much better job in plot development than First Born, largely due to the fact that they knew what kind of film they wanted to be. What saves this film is the style and mood that Webb spins for this film. From beginning to end, this is a creepy film if anything. The sound score is reminiscent of your typical horror flick, but does a good job in adding to the creepyness of the film, and the performance by Elizabeth Shue is very compelling. Unfortunately, this is not enough to make this film anything more than an average film of whatever genre it tries to be. Worth watching if you like this kind of film, but not one you would go out of your way to recommend.
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