THE UNBROKEN (2012)

Studio:       Inception Media Group
Director:    Jason M. Murphy
Writer:       Tony Giordano
Producer:  Kenny Beaumont, Tony Giordano, Jason M. Murphy
Stars:     Daniel Baldwin, Aurelia Rose, Patrick Dennis Flanagan, Warwick Davis

Review Score: 

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Summary:

When the ghost of a strange little boy begins appearing in shattered glass and broken mirrors, apartment resident Sarah Campbell is compelled to solve the mystery of who the boy is and what he wants from beyond the grave. 

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

After her bitter divorce from ex-husband Trent, artist Sarah Campbell moves into a new apartment. While she pulls into the complex, Sarah seemingly runs over a little blonde boy in overalls. When she exits her car, however, all she finds is the clown doll that the boy was holding. Before showing her the apartment, building manager Mrs. Parks tells Sarah that no children live in the complex. Sarah notices a large shed behind the building. She also notices that the clown doll changes position each time she looks at it.

Mrs. Parks’ nephew Tommy comes to help Sarah unpack, but Sarah accidentally pepper sprays him when he surprises her. The two then become friendly as he flirts with her while unloading boxes. While showering, Sarah sees the little boy reflected in the mirror before it shatters. During the night, Sarah dreams that she is buried alive.

The following day, Sarah introduces herself to next-door neighbor Bruce Middlebrooks. Bruce grows nervous and dismisses Sarah quickly when he notices the doll in her hand and she tells him about the little boy in the street. Neighbor Mrs. Stubbs is also rude to Sarah when she notices the doll. Sarah then begins work on several new paintings inspired by her ongoing strange dreams. After giving the doll to Tommy, it mysteriously reappears in Sarah’s apartment. Believing he sneaked into her place to replace the doll, Sarah screams at Tommy.

As Sarah looks over images of her paintings, a lens shatters in her eyeglasses and she sees the boy standing in her room. She tries to pepper spray the odd looking boy when he approaches her, but she realizes he is a ghost. Sarah apologizes to Tommy and tells him about the ghost. While they talk, Tommy’s fish tank suddenly shatters. He advises her to visit a local psychic. Sarah visits the psychic and he sells her stones and a box of incense and accessories to cleanse her home. Back at her apartment, Sarah lays out the candles and stones and rings a small bell seven times. Afterwards, she and Tommy believe the spirit has been exorcised.

While laying out in the sun at the communal swimming pool, Sarah dreams that the ghost boy drowns her. Bruce wakes Sarah and in conversation she learns that Bruce teaches children with emotional issues. He is an advocate of having his students write in journals. When she returns to her apartment, the candles light suddenly and the small bell crushes itself. Sarah sees the boy reflected in her bedroom mirror before it shatters.

Tommy takes Sarah to a motel. While he is out of the room, the little boy traps Sarah in the shower. The glass shower doors shatter and shards are embedded in Sarah’s skin. In the morning, Tommy takes Sarah back to the psychic. The psychic suggests that the boy may have been murdered and he is trying to prompt Sarah to find his killer.

Sarah’s ex-husband Trent shows up at her gallery show with his new wife. When he makes a scene, a glass art piece falls down and bloodies Trent. Sarah believes the ghost boy was helping her. Back at home, Sarah dreams again of being buried alive. This time, she sees that the killer in her dream is wearing a fleur-de-lis belt buckle. The boy appears again when Sarah wakes. She asks him for a hint regarding what he wants and the boy nods towards the window. Sarah sees Bruce acting suspicious as he throws a bag of garbage in the dumpster. After another night of sleep, the boy nods towards Sarah’s front door. Bruce appears with coffee and a muffin and Sarah notices that his belt buckle matches the one from her dream.

Sarah convinces Tommy to search the dumpster, but he finds nothing. The two of them then have an argument about the situation and part ways. Bruce confronts Tommy about searching the dumpster and issues a warning. Tommy later sees Bruce fishing out a different bag from the dumpster than the one he searched. Tommy calls Sarah and leaves an apology on her voicemail. He then searches Bruce’s apartment and finds discarded journals in the trash bag. Meanwhile, Sarah visits the psychic a third time, but he offers no new help. Tommy then falls from the second floor balcony and is killed when the falling railing crushes his head. Sarah arrives at the accident scene and Bruce threatens her.

Sarah continues to see the ghost boy and then realizes that her recent paintings comprise a larger image that depicts the shed behind the apartment complex. Bruce confronts Sarah as she searches the shed and they begin fighting physically. Bruce claims he had nothing to do with Tommy’s death. Eventually, Sarah manages to kill Bruce. Before dying, Bruce tells Sarah that he believed he did the right thing by killing Nicky. The boy then appears and thanks Sarah for playing with him. Sarah asks if his name is Nicky and the boy laughs.

The police inform Sarah that the body they found in the shed belonged to Nicky Davis, the female tenant who previously lived in Sarah’s apartment. According to Bruce’s journal, she is the person he killed. The little boy drove Bruce to kill Nicky by convincing him that he was avenging the boy’s death. Sarah realizes that the little boy played the same trick on her. A new neighbor moves into Bruce’s apartment. When Sarah introduces herself, the new man shows her the clown doll and asks her if she knows to whom it belongs.

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Review:

Malevolent ghosts can be frightening.  Benevolent ghosts usually are not.  At the heart of “The Unbroken” is an apparition of the latter variety.  This is one of those PG-13 ghost stories where a spirit from beyond tries imparting a message to the living so that he may finally be at peace.  Yet even for a seemingly benevolent ghost, shattering mirrors and breaking glass around a recently divorced fledgling artist is the best way he knows how to grab attention.

Following a bitter separation stemming from her ex-husband knocking up a 19-year-old, Sarah Campbell starts a fresh chapter in her life by moving into a new apartment.  While pulling into the complex, Sarah commits a cardinal horror movie sin by taking her eyes off the road momentarily.  In that moment, the front grill of her suburban pummels a little boy in overalls head on.  Except when she exits her car to check on the child, Sarah finds only his creepy clown doll lying in the middle of the road.  The boy is nowhere to be found.  Stranger still, every time she mentions the little boy or shows the doll to anyone in the building, Sarah is greeted with cold stares and tight lips.

Sarah is about to discover what horror film fans already know.  Whenever an old woman issues a cryptic warning and then slams her door in your face after being asked about a boy who was not there, it is a clear indicator that there is more to this story.

Boxes are not even unpacked when the boy starts reappearing regularly.  Often he shows himself to Sarah in a reflection before breaking the glass, whether it is a mirror, eyeglass lens, or shower door.  Sarah then enlists the aid of her helpful neighbor Tommy and a not as helpful local psychic as she tries to figure out who the boy is, what he wants, and how her odd neighbor Bruce might be connected.

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                                                       So is it O-Haul or U-Haul? 

Like a spirit trapped passing between this world and the next, “The Unbroken” exists alongside its mediocre ghost story counterparts in a realm between watchable and forgettable.  It is not a messy failure, but the movie is also not scary.  The cast and crew give it a decent effort, yet the end product is uninspired and unremarkable.

Director Jason M. Murphy would benefit from a longer shooting schedule on his next go.  There is a measured stiffness across the board in the performances that provokes clenched teeth while watching the pained dialogue delivery.  The material is not great to begin with, but there is a feeling that many of the actors barely knew their characters and had only seen the script seconds before the camera rolled.

Some performances improve moderately as the film wears on, although there is still that sense of each scene being the first take.  Had there been more time for everyone to engross themselves in the story prior to shooting, “The Unbroken” would have played like less of a TV movie.  The cast appears to be better than the work they put onscreen.  They also appear to be unsettled and unrehearsed and the fault for that has to lie with the director.

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             Not only is the front cover on the wrong side, but the text on the back cover is reversed. 

Being a horror/thriller, “The Unbroken” has a greater issue in that it is not the least bit terrifying.  When it comes time to make a list of creepy children from scary films, that roster will include resurrected Gage Creed, the entire Village of the Damned, and the Japanese boy from “The Grudge.”  Nowhere on that list will be the overall-clad kid from “The Unbroken.”  Accompanied by well-lit daylight appearances and a “Romper Room” cuteness in his face, this little boy’s look inspires far more “awwwws” than “ewwwws.”

“The Unbroken” is much more of a mystery than anything else.  The trouble there is that the mystery takes too long to captivate.  The movie is well on its way before the nature of the apparition begins to reveal itself.  By then, those looking for thrills will have tuned out from the almost bloodless horror.  A ghost child breaking mirrors carries suspense a very limited distance.  “The Unbroken” tries to take it for 100 minutes, and that is longer than it should be.

“The Unbroken” is one of those films where the final revelation comes with a realization that the rest of the film does not make sense in light of the finale.  In fact, with nothing frightening to distract from its tameness, much of the movie crumples like a house of cards when viewed with fully open eyes.  Warwick Davis is misused as a psychic in a role that normally would have been “the wise person who knows everything” and informs the heroine all about ghosts and how to deal with them.  Instead, he is really a huckster that sells Sarah trinkets in hopes of exorcising the spirit.  Even though he is of zero help, she goes back to him three times.  Like the audience, presumably she finally realized that he added nothing of substance to the plot.

A nice twist pulls the story out of a hole late in the game.  It just is not enough for the home team to pull ahead and win.  In fact, the stands have already cleared and everyone left in the fourth inning to beat traffic.  Had the true nature of the haunting played a greater role and been developed prior to the final minutes, “The Unbroken” could have been something sinisterly entertaining.

Review Score:  50

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