Review: Reborn

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet

Reborn
Directed by Julian Richards
New Normal Productions; Jinga Films; MVD Entertainment
77 minutes, 2018 / 2020
www.facebook.com/livingspacefilm/
www.mvdvisuals.com

I know I am not the only one to point this out: there is a cinematic history of shy, abused teenage women who develop some extraordinary psychic power and then go out on a killing spree like nobody’s business. Be it in Carrie (1976) or Firestarter (1984), or if you want to go to further extremes Species (1995) and Splice (2009), these women who are held in submission by society (such as bullying), a lone agent, or some governmental agency, get the chance to get even in extraordinary measures.

Barbara Crampton

As we learn from the prologue, a creepy medical examiner, Ken (Chaz Bono, in just the first of a multitude of really cool celebs that show up in either full or cameo roles), who likes to take pictures of dead, naked corpses, is alone in the morgue when a lightning storm sends feedback to the body of a stillborn baby girl, reviving her. So, what’s a lonely ME supposed to do?

Years later, after the credits, we are introduced to the leading characters. Statuesque Tess (Kayleigh Gilbert, throwing a Sarah Hyland vibe) is now 16 years old and basically a house prisoner of Ken, whom she thinks is her brother. Apparently, she is electrokinetic (has power over electricity), and manages to break free of her literal shackle to search for her birth mother.

Kaleigh Gilbert

Lena (the ever lovely Barbara Crampton with baby blues to kill for), an actress whose career is in decline and survives by teaching acting classes out of her abode, and her agent (Rae Dawn Chong, who I haven’t seen in a while), discuss a possible role with director Peter Bogdanovich (playing himself). It doesn’t take a higher degree and is made obvious early on to figure out that Lena is Tess’s mom. While Tess is searching for Lena, Lena is also searching for the infant body of Tess thanks to a suggestion from her psychiatrist (a cameo by 1960s-‘70s television icon, Monty Markham).

Tess integrates herself into Lena’s life without Lena’s awareness of who is sharing her space, though they both bond, for now. Here is where the story gets a bit emotionally complex, but I’m not going to give much of that away.

Michael Paré

Tess is not going to let anything stand in her way of getting what she wants. She was raised in a rough situation, so she has little patience nor a real sense of how to relate to people in general. But my question is, she’s 16 and in Los Angeles, so how does she manage to get around? She shows up in all these different places, but she obviously would not have learned to drive if she were shut up in a house. Also, she seems to intuitively know how to harness her powers all at once, without any real learning curve. If she could do this before, how would Ken not know it? Yeah, that’s how my mind works.

There is a decent body count as Tess either perceives wrongs (again, her sense of judgment is skewed by her past, and possibly teen hormones) or believes wrong is done to others she is trying to protect. This brings a police detective, Marc (Michael Paré, who was wonderfully stoic in Streets of Fire, and equally but deadly stoic here) into the story. How is it all the deaths caused by Tess, which occur all over the city, come to the desk of the same detective? Have they unfunded [sic] the cops in LA?

Chaz Bono

The acting, from scene to scene, is decent though sometimes over emoted (or in Paré’s case, understated), and while there are hardly any surprises in the storyline, there are actually a few decent jump scares to which are worth paying attention. It is always great to see Crampton as she is consistently a decent actor, as is true with the brief scenes with Markham and Chong.

While there isn’t a whole lot of bloodletting, as this is more personality driven, there are still a nice number of kills, as I said before. What I appreciate is that the deaths occur throughout the film, not just in the first 5 minutes and then the last 15 to 20 minutes.

Rae Dawn Chong

One might see this as a throwback to the 1980s, because it is so reminiscent of the video store style of filmmaking. It isn’t deep, but it’s not hyped up on adrenaline like a lot of the films are today with quicker edits, bodies piled on top of each other, and detailed extreme violence. This is a moody piece, and I can see how a younger generation growing up on franchises like Saw and Hostel would expect there to be some ultraviolence, but here the deaths are all character driven, not just because someone showed up at a party.

Gilbert has a good look for a movie villain. She plays mean-psycho pretty well, though also can come across as girlish and soft. Her height helps make her intimidating when need be, but she could be a contender for a future scream queen, if that’s her desire.

Monte Markham

Overall, I like the careful pacing and the characters, but for some reason the ending seemed to be truncated and went by too fast for me. There wasn’t enough time to built up some real tension. It is extremely rare for me to say this, but another five minutes of suspense at the right moment near the conclusion would have served the film well. However, I enjoyed the experience in general.

There are no extras other than chapters and stereo choices. The trailer is below (although not included on the disc), but please be warned if you watch it, it is filled with spoilers: