The Uninvited

Movie Information

The Story: A young girl fresh out of a mental hospital has visions of her late mother that inform her that Mom's death was actually murder by the nurse who is now engaged to Dad. The Lowdown: A nice-looking, but fairly dreary and dull exercise in psychological horror that tries to pass itself off as straight horror.
Score:

Genre: Pseudo-Horror/Psychological Thriller
Director: The Guard Brothers
Starring: Emily Browning, Arielle Kebbel, Elizabeth Banks, David Strathairn, Maya Massar
Rated: PG-13

I guess the titles The Uninspired and The Uninvolving were considered too honest, but they would’ve certainly provided a more accurate description of the Guard Brothers’ The Uninvited. Oh, the movie is fairly competently made and occasionally even atmospheric, I’ll give the Guard boys that. And as far as sibling filmmakers go, I’d even say that while neither the Coens nor the Wachowskis are at risk, the Pang Brothers had better look to their laurels. But overall this is one of those movies that’s not bad enough to be funny, and yet not good enough to be actually good. It’s passable if seen with an audience of teenage girls, who shriek right on cue at every shock effect. Even then, there’s an awful lot of dead air in between the shrieks.

The film starts with what is obviously a dream sequence (that you’re obviously not supposed to know is a dream sequence) involving our heroine Anna Rydell (Emily Browning, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events). In the sequence, Anna refuses an offer of intercourse from hunky Matt (Jesse Moss, Final Destination 3) and runs into scary woods where she encounters scary things. She makes it to her house where she also encounters creepy things. All this turns out to be a symbol-laden nightmare she’s telling her sympathetic shrink Dr. Silberling (TV actor Dean Paul Gibson), who offers a nicely vague movie-psychiatry explanation—complete with expository dialogue about her invalid mother’s fiery death and Anna’s current stint in a sanatorium—before telling her he’s sending her home.

Following a meeting—that (correctly) feels like a setup—with an über creepy fellow inmate (“Who will I tell my stories to?”), Anna takes leave of the sanatorium with her father, Steve (a slumming David Strathairn), in hopes of a happy homecoming. Alas, Dad has taken up with Rachael Summers (Elizabeth Banks, demonstrating the career sense of Rebecca De Mornay), the biologically accommodating former nurse of Anna’s late mother (TV actress Maya Massar). This sits none too well with Anna, and plays even worse with her smart-aleck, hard-drinking sister, Alex (Arielle Kebbel, The Grudge 2), who turns into Anna’s confidante on everything that’s going on.

And what is going on? Spooky shenanigans, that’s what. All manner of supernatural things are happening at the Rydell home—including Mom’s charred corpse claiming that her death was, in fact, murder and, if you haven’t already guessed, that Rachael is the responsible party. The question then becomes how to prove it—an idea that’s severely hampered by the mysterious death of the one possible witness (hunky Matt), Anna’s penchant for seeing visions of a trio of creepy dead kids (that’s one up on The Shining—take that, Kubrick!) and an array of “gotcha” shock effects. And, of course, Dad is so sex-struck that he will hear nothing against Rachael. All of this is leading to one of those convenient absences for Dad (didn’t we just see this in The Unborn?), a somewhat surprisingly sanguinary climax (for the PG-13 rating) and a twist ending that would make M. Night Shyamalan blush with shame.

But what The Uninvited suffers the most from is its desire to be more than just another horror picture. As an idea that’s perhaps laudable, but the screenplay and the execution fall short of any such idea. The film telegraphs its desire to be “more” all too often by indulging long stretches where nothing much happens. It sets up its “surprise” ending too clearly, has to bluff a bit to get to that ending, and is apt to leave the viewer feeling cheated in the bargain. The heavy reliance on shock effects doesn’t help make a case for the “more” either, but instead comes across as “This is the best they could think of?” The best I can think of is another trip to My Bloody Valentine 3-D. At least, the 3-D is cool in that. Rated PG-13 for violent and disturbing images, thematic material, sexual content, language and teen drinking.

SHARE
About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

2 thoughts on “The Uninvited

  1. Sean Williams

    All of this is leading to…a twist ending that would make M. Night Shyamalan blush with shame.

    I read a plot summary and couldn’t believe someone actually had the gumption to pull that stunt eight years after The Sixth Sense.

    Come to think of it, Shyamalan has been ominously quiet ever since the release of The Happening. As a favorite drug smuggler once said, “I’ve got a baaaaad feeling about this.”

    I suppose Avatar won’t be any worse than Dragonball, though it lacks the ample material for bawdy puns.

  2. Ken Hanke

    I read a plot summary and couldn’t believe someone actually had the gumption to pull that stunt eight years after The Sixth Sense

    It’s pretty much the same stunt that My Bloody Valentine uses, too. Chip Kaufmann reminded me last night that it’s also the twist to a 70s horror film, The Other, which I’d done my damndest to block from my mind. He is, however, right.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.