First Born

DVD review Aiming to be a mix of psychodrama and the supernatural in the mould of What Lies Beneath, says Ella Stimson.

Born sleepy: One-time Oscar nominee Elizabeth Shue carries this postnatal depression storyline with verve.

From the shlocky cover and cheesy tagline ("stay away from the baby") it looks like First Born is pure pulp-horror. This is rather misleading, as it's actually aiming to be a highly strung mix of psychodrama and the supernatural, much in the mould of 2000's What Lies Beneath. Laura (Elizabeth Shue) is a dancer who, along with her husband (Steven Mackintosh) moves from the big city to a spacious house in the countryside when she discovers she is pregnant with their first child. Here she is faced with the full gamut of horror movie clichés, including dead pets, cursed dolls, a creepy back story for the house, and a mysterious Eastern European nanny. Beneath all this hoopla, First Born is, in fact, about postnatal depression, and the Academy Award nominee Shue is rather good at conveying Laura's distress and alienation after her daughter is born. Unfortunately, any nuance in her performance is pretty much wasted as the film flip-flops between trying to be Girl, Interrupted and The Omen, not making a satisfying fist of either. Rather than adding up to a satisfying whole, these two strands undermine each other to the point where it feels like they belong in two separate films. The ending, which is intended as a moment of pure spine-chilling horror, is instead limp, flat, and more likely to elicit a shrug than a gasp.
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