Movie Review: The Uninvited (2009)
80 minutes of horror cliche with a satisfying 7 minute ending
Photo: DreamWorks Pictures
NOTE: I avoid spoilers as much as possible in this review, but to give a proper opinion there is some allusion to what you can expect and as a result it could either help or hinder your viewing experience based on how you look at it. If you are going to see this film no matter what I say, read the first paragraph and go see it and then return to read the review. Otherwise, the full review is certain to help you make up your mind.
There's only one way to review The Uninvited and give thinking audiences a fair chance of enjoying the film and that is to tell you to continually ask yourself, "What is going on?" Never settle with a decision and keep asking questions. Things are not necessarily as they seem, which isn't an entire surprise since there is no way this film could have been as straight forward as presented, but if you are able to keep your mind engaged you may enjoy yourself.
The cast includes Elizabeth Banks, David Strathairn, Arielle Kebbel and Emily Browning. For more information on this film including pictures, trailers and a detailed synopsis choose from the following menu.
Review
"The Uninvited" is a DreamWorks Pictures release, directed by Thomas Guard and Charles Guard and is rated PG-13 for violent and disturbing images, thematic material, sexual content, language and teen drinking.
Once home she is greeted by her loving father (David Strathairn), her sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel) and her father's new love interest and mother's former nanny Rachel Summers (Elizabeth Banks). Rachel is the focus here as she snarls, sneers and delivers dirty glances at every opportunity. Alex tells her sister how terrible things have been since Anna left and further advances the plot with her theories and hatred for Rachel. Questions begin to bubble to the surface — in the film and in your head. Is Rachel the lecherous gold-digging murderer she appears to be? Is this movie a ghost story or a journey into psychosis?
Traditional American horror movie fans will go into this film expecting the typical PG-13 horror cliches and for the most part that's just what you get, but the film does manage to elevate itself slightly with a quite accomplished ending that I am not shy about admitting I didn't see coming. However, at the same time I felt cheated. The filmmakers were never fair with their presentation of story elements, something crucial in a film where the intrigue of it all is to try and figure out what is going on along the way. What good are the clues if they turn out to be lies?
For the most part the cast does very well with the material they are given and once the story is entirely realized the performances make much more sense now that you have a better understanding of why this line was read like that and why that glance was given. This is to say it is hard to judge this film along the way, at least if you are trying to convince yourself it is a good movie.
In terms of those involved, Kebbel, while perfectly fine in her role, continues to serve as the Britney Spears of acting. David Strathairn brings an added level of attention to the film due to his talent and Elizabeth Banks does a fair job as the stepmom from hell. Most of the weight, however, falls on the shoulders of Lemony Snicket actress, Emily Browning who does an awfully good job carrying the majority of the load in what boils down to a slightly above average female-driven thriller. UK directors Charles and Thomas Guard do their best to offer jump scares along the way, but so many of them fall flat and never manage to really scare at all. At this point I can't imagine creepy visions of dead people crawling on the floor scares many people anymore as it is something that seems to find its way into just about every single horror-thriller as of late. That said, they did do a satisfactory job of pulling themselves up out of the cellar following a lackluster 80 minutes to deliver a 7 minute ending that makes up for a little of it. The question is, was it worth it?
I was glad The Uninvited didn't devolve into the typical studio horror trash it seemed it was going to be and we have seen so often over the recent years. Unfortunately, the majority of it still relied on the same tactics and caused me to lose a lot of interest until the final moments. This is never a good sign considering we judge a movie on the sum of its parts and not just the candy coated shell, but this one could have been a lot worse.
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Hey Brad, you should really catch the original Tale of Two Sisters. It's more of a supernatural drama rather than horror film.
@Sound Designer Dan: It's interesting you say that because I was going to put in the review that people shouldn't trust critics that have seen the original only because I don't think they can truly judge the ending of this film knowing what is coming. But the review was already too long and didn't want to add it.
I do know I have seen the original Eye and skipped the Alba remake because I didn't want to see a poor remake, but also I enjoyed the American version of The Grudge and didn't like Ju-On as a result. I have since shied away, but really hope to catch REC before seeing Quarantine.
Maybe the third time is the charm with these though… added to the Netflix queue. :)
If you watch REC you don't need to watch Quarantine because Quarantine is just plain horrible. The Dowdle brothers changed the structure of the ending of Quarantine so much that at least 80% of the frightening atmosphere that was in the original was gone.
They must have done some serious recutting and reshooting on this movie. I saw it about a year ago at a test screening back when it was still called "Apparition", and it was just plain awful. It became our new standard for bad movies. They gave us rather extensive questionnaires to fill out, and bot me and my fiancé were just savage to it. The one thing in particular I remember liking was in response to asking what I liked about the movie: "When it ended. Not the ending, which was contrived and cheapened the whole movie, but the fact that I didn't have to watch it anymore." As we handed in our reviews, we heard the people from the studio remark that they were getting quite a bit of negative feedback. I was honestly blown away when I saw the trailer, because I thought the whole project had been scrapped. But Elizabeth Banks is popular now, which is why I guess this is getting released. (I'd seen the posters but hadn't made the connection, perhaps because the title and graphic had absolutely nothing to do with the movie I'd seen.)
Granted, I'm working off of what I saw a year ago and they might have made changes, but I saw the ending as a complete surprise because there was absolutely no setup. There wasn't any indication going through that things were anything other than what they seemed, so when they pulled the "big twist," it just felt hokey. I didn't pay anything to see it and I wanted my money back.
But hey, they probably did make a few changes. I'm a bit curious now, but not curious enough to pay to find out.
@aerinpegadrak: I doubt they changed much, what you describe is pretty much what I saw and I do think the ending comes out of nowhere, but I also think if people do their best to scrap everything they know and remember about scary PG-13 movies this one could impress some folks.
The fact my opinion of the film was changed slightly by the ending is the reason I give it a little bit more credit. Had the ending not given me pause this probably would have been a D+/C- review and I felt there is a way for people to like this movie if they just go into it with the right frame of mind. I went into it with one kind of film in mind and they were trying to deliver another and wish someone had given me some clue that this wasn't necessarily the traditional PG-13 horror/thriller and was trying for something a little different.
@Brad Brevet: That's fair. And maybe I didn't like it as much because I'm not much on horror, though that did mean I went in with very few expectations. I thought it was rather interesting that the premise was kind of like Hamlet with the genders switched, but then it just… failed.
I liked this movie It has a lot to like: good cinematography, good acting, and a good story.