The Uninvited

The Uninvited (2009) is a movie that I recently watched on HBOMAX. The storyline follows a traumatized young lady who returns home from a psychological institution for the first time since her mom dramatically died and her dad remarried. She returns home to a hostile relationship with her stepmother, run ins with the ghost of her mom and a sister that just doesn't give an damn. Things get worse as more and more ghosts from her past return.

This movie is codirected by Charles and Thomas Guard, who also codirected Round about Five, and stars Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Arielle Kebbel (Grudge 2), Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games), David Strathairn (The Firm) and Jesse Moss (Tucker and Dale vs Evil).

This is one of those movies where you wanted a little more from it. The cast is really good and everyone delivers a solid performance. The ladies in the cast are gorgeous. The plot has some good twists and turns. The end is clever and was pretty smart. My only complaint is the horror elements are limited and the jump scares were cheesy.

Overall, with a story this good if they could have ratcheted up the horror elements this could have been a gem. I would score this a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.

For my part, I find it excellent. I who usually hate horror movies, I really enjoyed The Uninvited, because it's not a horror movie, precisely. I would rather say that it's a thriller, particularly well done, which features Emily Browning, an amazing actress who plays well throughout the film. All the supporting roles are equally compelling, from the creepy stepmother to the protective sister and the ambiguous father.

But the real strenght of The Uninvited is its ending : completely unexpected, it is very well brought and remains logical with everything that has been showed to us previously, if we watch the whole thing again. A very nice surprise for me! 8/10.

I typically find newer horror movies to be cheesy, humorous, boring, and above all: not scary. You know that feeling you get when a movie starts to take its toll on your patients and causes your eyes to wander around the theater? You don't get that at all with this film. This movie grabbed me from the beginning and refused to let go. The film's music score is extremely effective at creating a suspenseful and uneasy viewer sensation, which I think deserves full appreciation for the movie's ghostly flavor. Without any doubt, appropriate music in a movie is like butter on popcorn. Would Jaws scare you without the renowned theme music? The cast was nothing less then superb. Emily Browning was perfect at playing the "sad, quiet girl with horrible visions" role. I'm not going to spoil it for anyone, but the ending of this movie really twists your mind and makes you think. I found it to be an adequate yet abrupt closure for the story despite how it is following a certain trend with recent horror movie endings.

It's not easy to make a horror movie these days. The critics will hate it by definition: their expectations are always high and mostly unsatisfiable. They will call them uninspirational, uninteresting, and not original enough. With time, the horror genre has become an underdog of the movie industry. Prior to watching this movie, I had no knowledge about the plot whatsoever and it turned out to be good for me. I won't beat around the bush: I'm not a horror fanatic, but this one, I enjoyed from the beginning until the very end and I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. The thing I appreciated the most was the great amount of mystery: at some point the movie becomes more a mystery movie than a horror movie. The plot is interesting at the very least: and it does make you think who the main villain might be. I personally had many guesses and I though I got it right, but the ending surprised me. And there's nothing I enjoy more than an ending I did not see coming. The surroundings are beautiful and the movie is very well shot. Visually, the pictures are very satisfying, another thing you would not expect. The acting is also professional, along the score: all these parts, I have no complaints about. The movie was, for some reasons I don't fully understand, certified as not fresh enough. I do agree, some moments are painfully cliché, but in this case, I found it charming. Isn't it a part of the horror movie to expect that a hand will try to reach you under the bed? It will make you jump in your place either way, so what's the deal? As long it's not cheesy, it's good enough for me. I think that if the creators maybe took a risk and avoided those couple of clichés, the movie would have been praised by critics. But who cares about their opinion anyway? The movie is really enjoyable and if that is what matters to you, don't hesitate and watch it. You won't regret it.

What worked: It's a beautifully shot and captured movie, with amazing natural space. The movie keeps its essence and mysterious till the end, which is a plus point, making it a watchable movie What did not work I must say the screenplay and narrative of the movie is weak, making it a dull watch because of the lack of substance. The movie is a simple thriller, with few thrills or exciting scenes. I would have loved the movie more if the movie had maintained the mood and climate of the movie. It's not a bad watch but an average watch Final verdict: it's an okay time pass movie