The Uninvited (2009)

Some movies you just know are not going to complete your soul. You watch them because it's a social circumstance - because you are never going to convince your group of friends to watch a Wojciech Has - or are just looking to get some images before your eyes that don't demand you work with them but passively absorb. It was only after coming here that I read this was supposed to be a remake of the Tale of Two Sisters; dumbed down is right, it's the marketable, prefab version smoothed out for our precarious amusement.

I am not a fan of the Ji-Woon film, but whereas that was frightfully complex, this is comfortably simple; you can recommend it to your group of friends, co-workers, family, and be sure it's going to be the blandest choice every time.

Oh, there is the eventual twist, as is the vogue of the times, meant to open up a chasm of depths beneath our feet. It does no such thing of course. A writer must be shamefully unhinged to write something like that down post-Sixth Sense. Elizabeth Banks is horrible as the menacing step-mother, the two teenage girls prance around like it's a Twilight audition.

Fmovies: I saw this movie BEFORE the original Korean horror film ('A Tale of Two Sisters' ) that it was based on and I found this a bland, blunter, popcorn shocker version of the film.

The sole merit of this film is Emily Browning. She turns in a credible performance. You believe in her, makes you fear for her, and that's half the battle.

So it's such a shame that the directors and screenwriters drop the ball so badly. Everything in this movie is SO geared to a major twist in the last reel that instead of making you bug out with its rug-pulling impact, like Sixth Sense or Usual Suspects do, it instead just makes you roll your eyes.

Why? Because like those 2 films i've mentioned this flick lacks of any preceding foreshadowing or character nuance thus robbing the end twist of its intended impact. Oh, and the cheesy J Horror ghosts moments seem more Scary Movie than The Ring.

The Korean original was creepier, confusing in parts but it comes together in the end and the cinematography is beautifully framed (one impressive shot comes out from underwater and up onto a deck where the titular sisters are sitting). The Guard Brothers ignore such artistry and go for a generic approach and when they do breakaway its to copy/homage a Kubrick helicopter shot from 'The Shining'.

Strathairn (fantastic in Good Night + Good Luck) is wasted. Banks, who has proved her on screen versatility in an eclectic choice of roles in multiple pics over the past year, here goes for the fairy tale Step mother - the steel under her smile was borderline hammy but she definitely is one of the best (and overlooked) actresses in the business.

All in all - avoid this film and seek out the Korean original instead but if it turns up on cable and you have 87 minutes to waste - watch it for Browning and Banks and the fun of yawning at a schlock-y story. LOL

I was incredibly disappointed. I am a fan of Asian Horror and have the movie A Tale of Two Sisters that this movie was based on. There is little real resemblance. They completely revamped it, probably because they thought American audiences were too attention deficit to sit through a real psychological thriller without a linear plot that was explained to death. They also must have thought that the concept of vengeful spirits was too scary for us because they turned it into another lame overdone psycho killer movie. They took an intense and creepy ghost story and mutilated it. What they ended up with was a movie that was boring, tedious, and predictable. Don't waste your money seeing or renting this one.

The Uninvited fmovies. I typically find newer horror movies to be cheesy, humorous, boring, and above all: not scary. You know that feeling you get when a movie starts to take its toll on your patients and causes your eyes to wander around the theater? You don't get that at all with this film. This movie grabbed me from the beginning and refused to let go. The film's music score is extremely effective at creating a suspenseful and uneasy viewer sensation, which I think deserves full appreciation for the movie's ghostly flavor. Without any doubt, appropriate music in a movie is like butter on popcorn. Would Jaws scare you without the renowned theme music? The cast was nothing less then superb. Emily Browning was perfect at playing the "sad, quiet girl with horrible visions" role. I'm not going to spoil it for anyone, but the ending of this movie really twists your mind and makes you think. I found it to be an adequate yet abrupt closure for the story despite how it is following a certain trend with recent horror movie endings.

This was a pretty good fright flick. It kept the viewer engaged right up to the ending and while it seemed somewhat formulaic in terms of plot development and things that go bump in the night, it had plenty of scary moments and more than served its purpose, which was a few hours of entertainment.

Most of the movie deals with the relationship of sisters Anna and Alex with Rachel, the girlfriend of their father. Anna thinks Rachel murdered their late mother and possibly was behind some earlier unsolved murders. However, Anna was recently released from a mental institution and has some emotional issues that raises more suspicions about her than about Rachel. On the other hand, Rachel has some questionable aspects about her past that don't seem quite right. This guessing game continues until the dramatic ending.

The screenplay was very good, the cinematography captured the rocky coastline of Maine nicely, and the film was helped by good performances from Elizabeth Banks as Rachel, David Strathairn as the father, and Emily Browning as Anna.

This was a good horror movie well worth checking out.

A lot of people seem to be judging this movie by the trailer alone, but I was lucky enough to see an advance screening today, and I have to say that the movie was not what I expected. Sure, some of the obvious plot points in the trailer are there, but overall, the movie was really quite good. Suspenseful, scary at the right moments, with a hint of a flavor you don't see in most movies.

I'm not going to say much about it, but take my word for it that I thought it was really well done. It's not perfect, but it definitely does well for itself. Don't just judge a book by its cover, nor a movie simply by its trailer.

Yes, it may be a remake, but it's a good remake. I give it: 8/10.