Still/Born-- My take on the movie with spoilers!

PLOT SUMMARY: A mother pregnant with twins only gives birth to one. After his birth she realizes something evil is after her son.

I have often wondered why is it that in a horror movie, building family drama is given more importance over providing adequate scares.

While watching Still/Born, it finally hit me from the very first scene.

It's because real life is far scarier than any ghost or demon.

You could do everything right- plan everything ahead, push yourself out of bed every morning and strive to work and persist, nevertheless, you would still end up losing if it is written in your destiny.

A battle with destiny can never be won.

It is this bleak message that I felt was the key element of this movie.

STILL/BORN Movie Plot and Ending Explained

A mother was supposed to give birth to twin boys. A joyous occasion, right? But nope, one of them is stillborn.

She goes into depression but still pushes herself to stay happy for the sake of her living son and husband. She even takes her medications and goes to therapy. Does that work for her? Nope.

She does whatever it takes to save her son, goes crazy in the process, is ready to fight a demonic figure. Does she manage to save him?

Okay, that question is left unanswered. Sort of.

On a lighter note, all my thoughts regarding this movie weren't depressing. I was also wondering about the large house the family was living in.

Why is it that ghosts and demons haunt people living in huge houses? Are only the affluent given that privilege? Or Curse? I've yet to see a movie where a ghost decides to haunt a shack, hut or the homeless.

Another major flaw I felt was the way the parents were pretty casual about leaving the baby in a large room, far from their own bedroom.

Even when the mother begins to suspect that something strange is going on and the husband is conveniently out of town, the baby is left to its own charge in a large room with just a baby monitor that glitches.

After everything that's been going on, I would have expected the mother to keep the crib in her bedroom for one night at least.

Same with the father.

The helpless baby is left all alone in the room in the last scene while he reminisces about his wife and listens to a tape- the only evidence left of her wife speaking over static from a baby monitor, to the demon who wants to take her baby.

He is right downstairs while the baby is far away upstairs in a room with just a baby monitor. I mean, his wife had just gone crazy and attacked the neighbour's baby. She had been shot dead by the police. After all this, why not let the baby sleep nearby?

Keeping these flaws aside, the movie was pretty interesting and did manage to keep its pace. Not many drama/horror movies can accomplish full attention from a viewer. The proceedings usually lag and the characters become melodramatic rather than meaningful.

Still/Born is a thrilling movie and though it may not be exactly novel, the acting gives depth to the story. Had the actors been terrible, the movie would have gone downhill from the very first scene.

You feel the mother's pain. You understand the husband's dilemma. And the grandmother, the poor thing is relegated to scenes on the computer, is understandably concerned about her daughter who is slowly going off the rails. Even the neighbours do a decent job.

The demon, too, is creepy and her scenes are chilling.

I could actually feel myself getting concerned about the poor, helpless baby.

This is a movie worth a watch, more for the acting skills than the story.

Scare scale: 3/5