FirstBorn

This film is an enigma; it has so many great ideas, some wonderful and talented people working to make sure that these ideas come to fruition, but the final film feels disjointed and unbalanced. On the one hand, it's a horror film, but everything that is supposed to be horrific is either hidden or happens off camera. The special effects are great, but most of the creatures are shown covered in darkness or shadow. The story takes no time getting started, but then it ends in an ambiguous whimper. I just don't understand why they didn't push the envelope a bit more with so many talented people in the cast. This film could have been some truly special, as the ideas presented are unique and rarely seen in horror movies these days. But, aside from the wonderful acting, it doesn't do anything particularly well to warrant a recommendation. Had it been more horrific, graphic, gory, etc. It could have been a classic. But it plays it safe in almost every regard, and does not try to shock or disturb, but simply tell a tell as inoffensively as possible. I guess this works for sensitive audiences that are easily bothered, but horror fans demand more. I will be following this creative team closely, as I feel that their ideas really do deserve an audience. But this film is too much of a "first attempt" to really get anything right.

I just have to reiterate that the acting is wonderful. Really, everyone from the main couple to the little girl was extremely effective, and made me care about every single character presented in this film. The chemistry is palpable, and whomever was responsible for casting this film did his or her job expertly. Well done.

Two young parents who discover that there is a dangerous evil entity linked with their young daughter. With the help of a couple of elderly experts in the occult, they attempt to free their little girl from this supernatural presence.

This low budget British horror movie is served well by some pretty decent acting performances, especially from its two leads. But its qualities as a horror film are less assured. There are some effective jump scares here and there and the creature make-up is quite good. While it also has some quite interesting ideas, such as the fact that the little girl cannot have dolls with faces, if she does the consequences will be dreadful. So there are some good aspects to this one for sure but the overall presentation was sadly a little dreary on the whole and it drags things down somewhat. It does have some decent qualities but it's a bit limited on the whole.

I had not heard about "FirstBorn" prior to finding it in the horror section. I picked it up and read the synopsis and must admit that I was intrigued, so naturally I decided to give the movie a go. Doesn't really take much convincing, since I am a horror fan.

"FirstBorn" turned out to be a rather intense storyline which grabs the audience by the throat and takes you on a thrill ride, and it doesn't let go before the very end of the movie. I was surprised with the intensity of the movie, and had perhaps expected a more slow paced storyline. So it was pleasantly surprising to watch "FirstBorn".

The cast list was relatively small, so there was a bit of additional pressure on the casted acting performers to deliver solid performances. To which I must say that all actors and actresses performed quite well and each contributed well to the movie. I was surprised to see Jonathan Hyde in this movie, and would have liked it if his role was a more prominent one with more screen time.

For a horror movie of this particular type, then having a scary or visually impressive or disturbing creature is a must, and I will say that the special effects department managed to pull it off quite well here in the movie, despite it being mostly in quick flashes and fragments that we get to see the entity.

The storyline in "FirstBorn" was quite interesting and captivating from the very beginning. The movie starts out quite adequately, but it quickly escalates and intensifies, which I found immensely entertaining and enjoyable.

If you enjoy a good horror movie with roots in the old school type of horror movies, then "FirstBorn" is definitely well worth taking the time and effort to sit and sit down to watch.

A young, mixed race couple living in London become first time parents but their daughter seems to be a portal for an evil entity. Good job the girl's grandfather just happens to be an expert on the occult, how handy! Initial impression was that this could be a gritty British horror/drama, the acting was good as was the cinematography. Sadly it turned out to be rather slow, not in the least bit scary and lacked any plausible explanation. The demon, or whatever it was, could have been from any number of similar mediocre 21st Century horror movies. I have never heard of director Nirpal Bhogal before but could be a name to watch, given better material.

A very familiar story where a baby is born and any endless sleepless nights aren't being caused by a baby's bawling . You've seen this before and almost certainly done better

To be fair this is low budget Brit flick so the options for premises are limited and just be thankful we don't have to endure chav scum being stalked in a tower block . We should also be thankful that we don't have any Catholic priests wanting to be left alone with baby

This is where the problem lies . There are a couple of characters who are surrogate exorcist type merchants but their involvement in the plot are contrived and seem to exist to fill in the audience about what is happening and why it is happening . Worse still is that the exposition doesn't give enough clarity and found myself continually confused

As I said the producers have taken a well trodden path and thankfully it doesn't lead to council estate scumville but it's still an underdeveloped story