The Unbroken (2012) (DVD Review)
Directed By: Jason Murphy
Starring: Daniel Baldwin, Warwick Davis, Aurelia Riley
Rated: UR/Region: 1/Widescreen/Number of disc: 1
Available from Inception Media Group
Sarah Campbell has to start her life over again after a messy divorce leaves her broken, lost, and alone for the first time. After moving into a neglected apartment, strange things begin to happen including visions of a little boy in the mirrors. Passing them off as her “crazy imagination”, things intensify when she starts to have nightmares of torture by a “shadowy figure”. As her dreams become more vivid, so do her encounters with the ghostly child who begins to terrorize her and cause “accidents” wherever she goes. Through an encounter with her charming neighbor (Daniel Baldwin), Sarah realizes that he may be the “shadowy figure” that she has been dreaming about…and that the little boy may be a messenger from the other side with a horrifying secret.
Chalk this one up as being better than you might think it would be. There is, however, a reason they say don’t judge stuff by the cover and this one isn’t as dull as the cover might lead you to believe it would be. Of course while it does do things most ghost stories do, what keeps it interesting is actors Aurelia Riley and Patrick Flanagan. Their interaction with their characters seems fresh and interesting. As a whole I’d give credit to the writing for it not coming across as just another ghost story.
The movie does go by the book on a lot of things, which probably couldn’t be helped. Like the movie somewhat states during one of the scenes, ghost seem to have no rules. While some see that as an exciting thing, I usually see that as just another reason for movies with ghost to toss logic out the window. And, this movie is of course guilty of that. It is almost guilty of giving us exactly what we expect, but the end might catch a few people by surprise. All in all it isn’t boring, it has good actors, it just is a ghost story and that alone hurts it for typical reasons involving ghost stories in my book.
– Trailer
