LUCIDMEDIA

Originality is such a rare commodity in horror filmmaking nowadays that you’ll take it anyway you can get it. Now I didn’t know at first, but the new film The Uninvited is actually a remake of a Korean film called A Tale of Two Sisters. In fact, when I found out, it surprised me because most Asian horror remakes usually have a telltale element as the producers try their hardest to preserve some shred of its heritage; like how The Grudge remake was set in Japan. There’s the obligatory stuff like creepy kids and uncomfortable, family relationships, but otherwise this film has more in common with an Agatha Christie mystery than something from the foreign section of the video store.

The story centres around young Anna (Emily Browning) who’s a newly released mental patient going home for the first time since she tried to kill herself out of grief for her lost mother. She reunites with her distant father (David Strathairn) and her prickly sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel), but not so much with her father’s new girlfriend Rachael (Elizabeth Banks). Now wait a minute, did I just write “Elizabeth Banks” between those parentheses. Why yes I did. Though she maybe best known for her comedic and romantic parts, Banks really gets into the evil Stepmother bit and plays Rachael with a subtle hint of “No wire hangers” like relish.

Part murder mystery and part ghost story, The Uninvited is all about fun, cheap scares pure and simple. It’s campy goodness without any hesitation or reservation, but plenty of bad dialogue, scenery-chewing acting and cheap thrills. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, which I believe is the point that a lot of people are missing in looking at this film. It can be dopey, loopy and camp, but I believe that’s the point. Over-the-top acting? That’s par for the course, as is pointed musical cues designed to make you jump along with the visuals. And there are actually a few jumps, a few descent, although not thoroughly convincing, scares. But then again, it may have been the company; a theatre full of easily jumpy teenage girls at the late show.

But the visuals are strong, and the directors seem to have a really good sense on how to arrange a scene and build tension. And given the film’s actually surprising ending, The Guard Brothers also show themselves fairly adept at the fine art of the red herring. Some of that though might have to do with an underestimation of the film. Reading it as a dippy shallow horror made for a quick buck rather than something that might have some kind of art to it. But that’s my bad, or maybe it was my mood. Sometimes you’re just in the mood for something uncomplicated, and if The Uninvited is anything, it’s uncomplicated. It’s the movie equivalent of a trashy beach novel.

Surprised? I know I was. The fact of the matter is that I may look back on The Uninvited sometime in the future and be shocked and appalled that I had even once handed down even back-handed praise to this work. But the fact of the matter is that after suffering though My Bloody Valentine, The Unborn and the third Underworld while having only more remakes, Friday the 13th and Last House on the Left to look forward to, The Uninvited is refreshing. As stupid as it can be, at least it does so with conviction and follow-through, which at least shows that the filmmakers know themselves and the audiences. Sometimes perfection can be found in the moment, and for the moment The Uninvited is a blast. What tomorrow brings… Who knows?