The Uninvited (2009)
Sub-Genre- Haunting/Evil Stepmother
In Attendance- Me, Geo, and Michelle.
Cast Members of Note- Arielle Kebbel again (I saw Red Mist only a few days ago), the ever awesome David Strathairn, The naughty goodness of Elizabeth Banks, and the down under hotness of Emily Browning. *A special shout out goes to Don S. Davis who died last year; he plays a small role in this and was always a fantastic character actor. R.I.P. my friend...
What's it about?- A girl goes nuts after her mom dies in a tragic fire, and finds herself committed. A year later she's released, only to return home to find that her dad is shacked up with a hot yet suspiciously evil woman. She and her sister decide that they hate her because she's sexy, and the cat fighting begins.
They rummage through her drawers, steal the batteries for her vibrator, call her names, talk about her behind her back while they're in bed and the bath together (hot)... they even go as far as to Google her and find out that she may just be a child killer named Mildred Kemp. When they finally steal her pearl necklace (lol), she hits the roof and breaks out the syringe...
I wont say anymore here, because I'd ruin the ending, but suffice it to say that someone is bat-shit crazy, Mildred Kemp is real, and the sister-lesbian angle that I saw developing never comes to fruition.
The Good- I've seen the original A Tale of Two Sisters, and I have to say that this was not a bad retelling of that story. I was absolutely waiting for The Uninvited to use nothing but jump scares and cheesy plot devices to muck up the classy and atmospheric original, but that never happened... too much at least. Overall, this was a pretty smart movie in it's own right, and even managed to be creepy in some parts.
Elizabeth Banks, who I love in most everything she's in, plays the role of wicked stepmother perfectly; while the rest of the cast holds their own admirably, she's what really stood out to me. Emily Browning did a nice job too as the tormented sister of the family, and Arielle Kebbel was hot and competent as always.
The locations were nice too, with the Vancouver backdrop providing some breathtaking visuals, and gave the film a nice and isolated feel. This was well made.
The Bad- I guess it's not that hard to figure out the twist if you're paying attention, but at least they weren't too obvious about it. I did like how they handled the reveal at the end, but I just think it was too obvious throughout the movie. Then again, I saw the original, so I may be bitching for nothing...
The Downright Horrendous- They totally ruined "the kitchen/sink" scene. In the original, that was one of the best scenes in the movie, but here they used it as an excuse to insert a jump scare. Lame.
The Gory- A little bit of gore towards the end, but that's about it. There are several scenes throughout the movie containing disturbing imagery though, especially the broken back bit. Nice.
The Naked- It's PG-13, get serious.
Best Line- "Finish what you started." or "She's like a crackwhore without the dignity."
What did we learn?- Never trust your stepmom. Also, never trust your sister... or girlfriend... just to be safe, maybe don't trust women in general.
Rating- B- I'm thoroughly surprised that I'm rating The Uninvited as high as I am, but it was an above average little flick; for every one thing that the film missed the mark on, it had two or three that worked, making it fairly good by the time it wrapped up. I'd definitely give this one a chance if you're in the horror mood.
Final Thoughts- Isn't she just adorable?
