The Uninvited

Dir: Charles Guard & Thomas Guard - feature film directorial debuts
Cast: Emily Browning, Arielle Kebbel, David Strathairn, Elizabeth Banks
USA, 2009

Seen: February 2, 2009 at Scotiabank

Reason to see: I had time to kill and have developed a morbid curiosity in American remakes of foreign horror films

I recently watched and enjoyed Janghwa, Hongryeon / A Tale of Two Sisters (directed by Kim Jee Woon) the film which The Uninvited is based on. I admit that seeing the two film so close together isn't the ideal viewing circumstances, I'm a firm believer in seeing the original film first therefore was willing to take the risk. This means I was constantly comparing the two films instead of following the remake on it's own merit. Ultimately it didn't matter as even with being distracted by comparing the two it's clear that The Uninvited has many flaws on its own.

What made it not quite work is was that it played to more than one extreme, which ranged from being either too obvious or not believable at all. It certainly had the creepy faction with scary images and moments that made you jolt in your seat but that isn't enough, especially when you are working with a great story to start out with. One of the silliest things about the film is that it uses some of the very successful creepy imagery from the original, but removes the underlying context which is painful to watch a beautiful opportunity crushed. As with many remakes, it is clear here that you are better off watching the original.

Shannon's Overall View:
I thought it wasn't great
I'd watch it one more time out of consistency curiosity
I'd recommend seeing the original film Janghwa, Hongryeon / A Tale of Two Sisters

12 minutes of preshow including 2 commercial and 4 previews: 9, Fired Up, Fast & Furious and I Love You, Man

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© Shannon Ridler, 2009