In a film season that was riddled with stale movie plots that lacked both creativity and unpredictability, “The Uninvited” offered a refreshing twist on the typical thriller.
“The Uninvited” tells the story of Anna and her sister Alex, who while dealing with their mother’s supposed accidental death, are faced with their father’s new and often creepy fiancée, Rachael.
As the girls begin investigating Rachael’s questionable background they uncover more than they bargained for.
Anna begins having strange visions that foretell deadly things to come and all is not as it seems. The film unravels from here creating an especially spooky experience for average film fans.
For a film that has relatively few special and/or digital effects, it is surprisingly frightening at times.
Although not exactly a cinematic marvel, “The Uninvited” still offers better acting and plot development than most movies of this genre.
The climax of the film shines through in the surprising ending, which offers up a plot twist that is both creative and fairly shocking.
Equally surprising are the DVD’s special features. Complete with deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and a “the-making-of” type of feature, the special features offered in this DVD were surprisingly decent.
The alternate ending offers little, as it differs only slightly from the original ending (which in fact is creepier).
The deleted scenes are moderately interesting especially with regard to the end of the movie but were most certainly deleted with good reason, as they add little to the movie itself.
The special feature Unlocking the Uninvited proves to be quite interesting. The background given on the film as a remake or Westernized version of the Korean film, “The Tale of Two Sisters,” is as appealing as the director’s discussion of making the movie.
Both make this feature worth taking a look at. The cast commentary and background on selecting the location do not seem to offer much other than the obvious.
While this DVD is probably not one you would wish to add to your permanent collection, it is one worth watching more than once in order to appreciate the twist in the film.
Based on the typically low expectations of a movie in the thriller-not-quite-horror genre, this movie was both surprising in its plot and in its DVD features. This alone can be considered quite a feat.
“The Uninvited” is a definite consideration for a Friday-night rental, but is not outstanding enough to consider spending twenty dollars or more to purchase. However, horror fans should definitely put it in their Netflix queue.
