10 Horror Movies That Led To Massive Lawsuits
6. Allegations Of Ripping Off A 1990 Book - The Unborn
If you've never seen David S. Goyer's disappointing horror The Unborn then you'll have definitely seen the poster, as the studio shamelessly chucked on a woman in her underpants in the hopes that the image would do the heavy lifting in selling it to audiences.
The flick is a ghost story about a woman who's haunted by the ghost of her twin brother, who died in the womb. It was mostly unremarkable, but it did catch the attention of author Erna Segal's heir and relative, who apparently noticed similarities between the horror and one of Erna's books called Transfers.
Rather than simply accuse the movie of straight up plagiarism over the similar story beats though, there was another wrinkle to the case. According to the person in question, there were some discussions to adapt the book at one point with the same production company that made The Unborn, which ultimately fell through.
Consequently THR reported that lawsuit was entered on the grounds of a "bread of an implied contract" between the two parties.
This didn't make it too far though, and the copyright suit was thrown out a year later, with the legal representative for the studio calling it a "meritless and misguided lawsuit.”