Spring Break
'Uninvited' is a real 'horrific' film
1 and a half out of 5 stars
Natalie Abreu
Issue date: 2/3/09 Section: Focus
A remake of the South Korean horror film "A Tale of Two Sisters," "The Uninvited," tries to take a clever spin on the overdone genre of ghosts trying to be avenged from beyond the grave, and a grave is what one will want to be in after watching this film.
The story centers around a young girl named Anna (played by Emma Browning of "Lemony Snicket" fame) who witnesses her boathouse exploding because of a gas leak, with her mother still inside. After staying at a psychiatric hospital for almost a year, Anna returns to her beautiful oceanside home to find out that her dead mother's nurse Rachael (Elizabeth Banks) is now dating her father (David Straithairn) and has become creepy and controlling. All signs point to Rachael's having caused the death of her mother - or do they?
While the technical elements of the film are quite beautiful, as the camera strolls through the picturesque landscape with interesting light and shadow elements throughout the film, the major plot (and unnecessary subplots of the film, including a short lived love affair between Anna and the hunky Matt,) make it generic and stretch on too long. In a twist ending to rival that of M. Night Shyamalan's films, the audience is left wondering, is Anna psychotic or can she see ghosts?
It seems like such a shame to see this film and wonder what it could have been under the right direction and with the right script. The premise of the film seems intriguing and surprising, along the lines of classic horror films such as "Psycho," but classic it is not. The cast seems to suffer too, with talented actors such as Strathairn and Banks falling victim to poorly written dialogue. It is especially interesting to see Banks go outside her usual comedic roles and into one as twisted as this. She deserves a better type of a leading role, but surely not this one; just as audiences surely deserve a better horror film than this train-wreck.
The story centers around a young girl named Anna (played by Emma Browning of "Lemony Snicket" fame) who witnesses her boathouse exploding because of a gas leak, with her mother still inside. After staying at a psychiatric hospital for almost a year, Anna returns to her beautiful oceanside home to find out that her dead mother's nurse Rachael (Elizabeth Banks) is now dating her father (David Straithairn) and has become creepy and controlling. All signs point to Rachael's having caused the death of her mother - or do they?
While the technical elements of the film are quite beautiful, as the camera strolls through the picturesque landscape with interesting light and shadow elements throughout the film, the major plot (and unnecessary subplots of the film, including a short lived love affair between Anna and the hunky Matt,) make it generic and stretch on too long. In a twist ending to rival that of M. Night Shyamalan's films, the audience is left wondering, is Anna psychotic or can she see ghosts?
It seems like such a shame to see this film and wonder what it could have been under the right direction and with the right script. The premise of the film seems intriguing and surprising, along the lines of classic horror films such as "Psycho," but classic it is not. The cast seems to suffer too, with talented actors such as Strathairn and Banks falling victim to poorly written dialogue. It is especially interesting to see Banks go outside her usual comedic roles and into one as twisted as this. She deserves a better type of a leading role, but surely not this one; just as audiences surely deserve a better horror film than this train-wreck.
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