The Uninvited

The Uninvited is a problematic, but above-average horror flick. It opens and we meet young Anna, a suicidal teen who is just now being released from the mental hospital. She returns home to her sister Alex and her father, who she learns plans to marry a woman she hates. Not the best environment for a suicidal person to return to...but what the hell, everyone's a little dim in horror movies anyway. Anna (Emily Browning) starts to distrust her father's to-be-bride. She is played well by the talented and underrated Elizabeth Banks. Another fine actor: David Strathairn is the father. Anna's mother is recently dead, killed in a fire, and as Anna digs she begins to convince herself that her to-be-mother-in-law is responsible. We get a lot of obligatory fright scenes then that reduce the power of the film. It's atmospheric enough without requiring such crap, but considering it's hollywood-horror-flick of the fall status, we have to endure some ineffective screechy music mixed with shit jumping out at you. This was all to be expected, but regardless of such silliness, the film is a step above the usual shlock. This was accomplished due to three things: the atmosphere maintained throughout the film, the good acting, and a final twist that changes everything we've just seen. Many twists nowadays just come out of someone's ass, they don't really make sense after you think about it. But in The Uninvited everything from the nuances of who speaks when and what the spook that came out of nowhere is elevated by the finale. It's a good horror movie.
The Uninvited: ✰✰✰