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While horror movies typically insert drama as a secondary
sidebar device just to move the main menu graphic gore along,
The Uninvited has something more involving in mind. In this
supernatural gothic mix playing out in a contrasting serene
upscale seaside mecca, it's extreme family dysfunction and
teen angst that energize the scare tactics. And the fact
that characters get explored and fleshed out before individually
dispatching them to their explicitly nasty fates, adds an
essential element of getting to know them enough, so that
we care while they squirm.***
A joint creative conspiracy sibling debut crafted by
The Guard Brothers, Charles And Thomas, The Uninvited presents
a dual notion in its title, of occult home invaders along
with Dad's (David Strathairn) new unwelcome hottie girlfriend
Rachel (Elizabeth Banks), who has moved in and taken over
following the death of their sickly invalid mom in a fire.
Not just the usual child resentment towards step-parents,
the irate sulking teen daughters Alex (Arielle Kebbel) and
younger sister Anna (Emily Browning) are especially fuming
because they caught Rachel, who was the nurse caring for
their mother at the time, having an affair with their father
while Mom was still alive.***
And it's not long before a traumatized Anna, who was
recently incarcerated in the local mental hospital following
the fire, is seeing apparitions of her dead mother emerging
from garbage bags and even lurking under the kitchen drain
pipes. And with the creepy maternal ghost hinting strongly
that the fire was no accident, but Rachel instead who plotted
her demise, and to go do something about it sooner than
later. Especially before Anna and her sister become the
scheming conniver's next victims.**
Reinventing themselves as amateur sleuths in order
to build a solid case against this unwanted new mom so they
can out her to their disbelieving dad, the girls rummage
around Rachel's belongings and uncover all sorts of interesting
stuff. Like whorish undergarments, a gigantic vibrator they
nickname Mister Chubby, and a pretty suspicious well hidden
stash of hypodermic needles and what appear to be deadly
horse tranquilizers. Seemingly equally damning, is that
Rachel is unusually fond of serving up extra bloody beef
roasts for dinner.***
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