Hayanbang

Very well-filmed Korean horror film is essentially Fear.com--women die two weeks after viewing a web site. The only new wrinkle here is that the woman appear to have given birth just before their deaths even though friends and family state that the women weren't pregnant. Korean movies always seem to have excellent production values, and this one is no exception, but other than a few cheap shocks there's not much here beyond surface style. If you haven't seen The Ring series and Kaori and other movies of this type or if you don't mind another retread, then you will likely enjoy this. If nothing else it's a hell of a lot better than Fear.com even though it frequently seems to be the same movie.

A handful of pregnant ladies die on exactly the fifteenth day after they all visited the website of an uncanny abortion-clinic. Doesn't that concept sound familiar? Sure, it involved watching old-fashioned videotapes and dying in only seven days, but the basic idea of "Ringu" is shamelessly imitated here in this uninspired but still very competently made South-Korean chiller. To carry on with the plot description: all the victims claimed to have 'seen themselves dying online' and, when the corpses are found, the uterus's are immensely stretched as if they just gave birth to a baby. Investigating the case are a cyber-police officer and a female TV-reporter who – unfortunately for her – clicked on the site herself. The story of "Unborn but Unforgotten" offers absolutely no surprises, but it's still worth watching in case you're a fan of Asian horror cinema, if it were only to admire the director's style and the cinematography. The atmosphere is dark and often scary even though there's nothing going on, really. There surely are a lot of holes in the plot (big ones, too), but the film nevertheless holds your attention because the main characters are likable, especially the girl, and because multiple images are just plain creepy! The music and acting performances are top-notch as well, making it all the more regretful to see the actual plot is so dull and déjà-vu. Browsing through the IMDb, I just found out lead actress Eun-Ju Lee committed suicide at the tender age of 25. That's a damn shame, because her devoted performance is definitely one of the highlights of "Unborn but Unforgotten".

UNBORN BUT FORGOTTEN lacks originality to the nth degree. It is nothing more than a retread of every post-RINGU movie that's come out of Asia in the last 5 years or so. The film actually exchanges "videotape" with "website" and there you have it. Aside from the usual flattering South Korean aesthetics, there's nothing here for anyone looking for a good time. It is, in a nutshell, OLD.

3 out of 10

Asia has produced some wonderful and genuinely scary horror movies but sadly Unborn But Forgotten isn't one. For a start what a silly title! It tries too hard to be scary by throwing cheap scare after cheap scare at the audience but bottom line is it is not in the least bit scary. The plot becomes difficult to follow, I pretty much gave up and by the end credits my eyelids were wanting to close. Poor.

I am a huge fan of South Korean movies and find myself rooting for any movie coming from there. I am one of the few that feel South Korea has started to outpace Japan in making quality movies.

That being said, this movie was AWFUL. It made no sense, it wasn't scary, and doesn't even qualify as a cheap knockoff of"The Ring" which is what I believe they were shooting for. You are far better off with "Phone" "Koma" or the superb "Tale of Two Sisters" if you want a horror movie out of South Korea.

If you are looking for other movies out of Korea I would highly recommend "Brotherhood of War", "Joint Security Area", and the instant classic "Oldboy".