Daily News from New York, New York • 562

3 NEW YORK NOW ENTERTAINMENTS a I i INFERNAL INFANTS: IN lithe You're Never Too Young not one but two new vid arrivals, The Unearthing and The Unborn II, demonstrate the horror genre's ongoing youth movement Beyond being the latest fright flick to employ a cursed-kid hook, "The Unearthing," due today via Prism (priced for rental), represents a reel rarity: a low-budget regional fear film that succeeds in capturing a legit nightmare quality and visceral intensity. Indeed, "The Unearthing" rates as the 'f i i i'V. 4C" .1 with Lon Chaney (center) and Joan Crawford, is screening at Film Forum 2. The Guyver: Dark Hero, July 24. On the home-vid front, John Woo's long-awaited, oft-bootlegged action epic Hard-Boiled finally lands a legit release Aug.

17 via Fox Lorber. Reserve your copy today! WISH I'D SAID THAT Cop to psychologist, who complains that a murderer's note doesn't make sense, in last year's Knight Moves: "That's because we don't understand it yet" But we understand that an official Phantom T-shirt will be going out to Carol Crida of the Bronx. bral powers to solving the planet's eco-problems. Curtis meets resistance from single mom (and L.A. Law alum) Mi-chele Greene, who's fiercely protective of her outsize 6-month-old monster "Joey." The boy is already responsible for mom's widowhood, having devoured his own dad.

While slickly lensed on a low budget and decently acted, particularly by Greene, "The Unborn II" springs few surprises. If you see only one mutant-baby movie this year, we'd strongly suggest you opt for "The Unearthing." By WAYMAN WONG vEGssf PHANTOM creepiest pic the Phantom has seen since Guillermo del Toro's Mexican vampire yarn, Cronos, surfaced Stateside earlier this year. Lensed largely in rural Wisconsin under the original title Aswang and populated by talented but credibly un-glamorous thesps, "The Unearthing" like its most obvious model, Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an exercise in extreme claustrophobia and disorientation. As our story opens, wealthy Peter Null (Norman Moses) arrives at his family's sprawling, isolated estate accompanied by teen Janine (Tina Ona Paukstelis), a contracted surrogate who's about to bear his child, ostensibly to enable him to collect his eventual inheritance. In reality, Null, his weird, impaired mom, Claire (Jamie Jacobs Anderson), and "real" wife (Flora Coker) are secret "Aswangs," mega-tongued vampires who must feed on living fetuses to insure their survival.

Assisting the creepy Null clan is a Filipino maid named played with sly menace by Mildred Nier-ras. An uninvited researcher (Victor DeLorenzo), who has been retrieving cocoon-wrapped fetal corpses from the Null grounds, is also in the picture though not happily and not for long. Film makers Wrye Martin and Barry Poltermann convey terror through nuance and detail as well as selective splatter moments. (That heroine Janine has to take on the entire nutzoid Null Family while carrying an 8-month-old fetus adds to the tension.) Fright fans would be well-advised to snatch this obscure winner off the BABE RUTHLESS: "The Unborn II" (New Horizons, producercelluloid recycling king Roger Cor-man's followup to his 1991 The Unborn, is a more con- BIJOU BULLETINS: On Monday, Film Forum 2 launches its Lon ChaneyTod Browning series with the excellent The Unknown and the infamous Freaks. The series runs consecutive Mondays through Sept 26 at 209 W.

Houston. The Walter Reade Theater. (165 W. 65th St) hosts a hot French fear bill, Rene Clair's Beauty and the Beast and Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face, July 24-25, while the Asian American International Film Festival (55 E. 59th St) presents the American preem of Steve Wang's Plus, witty "Spider Chita's in her she's in Still, Hie Owiis Id CCNSOLO MIOI "TTie Unknown," ventional terror-tot tale.

The first film lifted liberally from Larry Cohen's mutant-baby trilogy It's Alive, It Lives Again and Island of the Alive and "The Unborn II" exhibits few qualms about treading the same turf. An effective opening sequence sees a femme assassin (Robin Curtis) coldbloodedly execute local kids and newborns. Turns out she's a victim of a mad geneticist's plot, outlined in the original flick, to produce brain-boosted but utterly amoral kids who would later apply their heightened cere A TASTE OF 'HUNNIE': Broadway Stephanie Pope is playing Don't Tell ifclpiPiKlplllttl llllllillllliilpM lliMiiliMlSw Pope is a sassy lass. In a wickedly parody of the title tune from Woman," she jokes about being standby: "Oh, that Spider Woman, velvet cape! I could scream, such damn good shape!" Pope has a lot to learn about STEPHANIE POPE MAY HAVE been Chita Rivera's understudy in "Kiss of the Spider Woman," but she's also an overachiever. Her other Broadway roles include cabaret Her patter sounds too scrioted: her gestures playing Ziegfeld's Favorite in "The Will Rogers Follies" and a "Hunnie" of a chorus KfcViKW seem too slick.

And she seldom lowers her guard until girl in "Jelly's Last Jam." But as you watch her cabaret show at Don't Tell Mama, it's not her theater credits that jump out at you: It's her background in music videos and shows at Lake Tahoe and Atlantic City. Pope energetically sings and dances, flanked by two backup guys (Todd Hunter, Raymond Rodriguez). Busily staged by Billy Porter, hers is more of a flashy floor show than a cozy cabaret act Tremendously talented, Pope is a sexy singer who will remind you of Anita Baker. With her lovely looks and sensuous voice, she embraces Oleta Adams' "Hold Me for Awhile." her heartfelt encore, "On My Way to You," which is also her show's title. For a lesson in simplicity, Pope ought to turn to her musical guest and "Jelly's" co-star, Keith David.

With great feeling and focus, he combines two saloon songs: "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" and "I Keep Going Back to Joe's." David takes his time, letting each lyric land, and he's mesmerizing. Now tliat's cabaret with a capital Thursdays at 10:30 p.m. at 343 W. 46th St. Musical guests will change each week.

Cover, $10. (212) 757-0788. (Wong is on The News staff.) 2 3 5- T3 singeractress Mama. It.