The Uninvited

Genre - Horror/Mystery
Year Released - 2009
Running Time - 87 minutes
Rated PG-13 (for violent and disturbing images, sexual content, language, and teen drinking)
Directed by the Guard Brothers (Charles & Thomas) - their 1st feature film
Written by Craig Rosenberg, Doug Miro, and Carlo Bernard
*Based on the 2003 Korean motion picture Janghwa, Hongryeon [A Tale of Two Sisters] - written & directed by Ji-woon Kim
Cast Includes:
Emily Browning (Violet from A Series of Unfortunate Events)
Arielle Kebbel (the blonde girl, from the so-so film Reeker)
David Strathaim (L. A. Confidential, The Bourne Ultimatum, and The Spiderwick Chronicles)
Elizabeth Banks (Slither, Betty Brant from the Spiderman films, The Baxter, The 40-Year Old Virgin, Wet Hot American Summer, and Zack & Miri Make a Porno - which I haven't seen yet)

Rating: 4 Skulls

Plot Summary:
Committed to a mental hospital after her mother's tragic death, teenager Anna discovers, upon her release, that her father plans to marry his deceased wife's former nurse, Rachael - a woman who may not have the best intentions - and foreboding warnings from her mother's ghost only cement Anna's suspicions.

Review:
Generally, whenever I see a re-make of a prior film, I like to see the original first - however, in this case, I feel it may have been for the best that I had not seen the original, as I did not see the outcome of this movie coming. In fact, I almost didn't see this one at all, however I am glad that I did!

The film has a similar opening to that of The Unborn, in that a freaky occurrence happened in the middle of the woods. . . Afterwards, we learn that Anna has just spent 10 months in an institution, after a suicide attempt, after learning of her mother's death in a fire. She has just been released and is thrilled to be returning home, to be with her father and sister - the problem is, while she was away, her mother's nurse [she was very ill, before dying in a fire] has wormed her way into her home, winning the affections of her father. This does not bode well with either sister.


The main reason that I saw this film was because of Elizabeth Banks, and I was not disappointed. Elizabeth plays the nurse who is going to marry the father, and you could tell that she relished the role that she was playing! [you know an actress, whom you like, is doing well, when you hate her character!] :-)

Upon returning home, Anna begins having nightmares of her mother's burned corpse - visiting her in the middle of the night, etc. Not only that, Anna sees other people as well, who claim that all is not as it appears to be. Was her mother's death not an accident? Is Rachael [Elizabeth Banks] not who she appears to be? If you are in the mood for an interesting mystery, check this one out!

Here's the Trailer:


Jason