The Uninvited
Review
by Anthony Morris
We are used to horror movies featuring teenagers, but usually the stories themselves are fairly ageless.
Their
plots would play out basically the same if it was teenagers or old age
pensioners who stumbled onto the cannibal mutants or who are haunted by
a vengeful spirit. The Uninvited, however, is something of a rarity.
It is a horror movie featuring teenagers whose plot only makes sense if the lead is, in fact, a teenager.
Almost
a year after her sick mother died in a fire she no longer remembers,
troubled teen Anna (Australia's own Emily Browning) is let out of a
mental hospital to go live with her father (David Strathairn) and his
former housekeeper turned girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks).
But
the more Anna sees this set up the less she likes it, and soon she
starts to suspect that her future stepmother isn't all she seems.
It doesn't help that she is also having a lot of creepy visions
in which her dead mother seems to be telling her that she was murdered,
not to mention a trio of creepy dead kids who no doubt mean something
to someone.
It's clearly not a storyline designed to
creep out anyone past the age of 18 - and if you didn't like your dad's
new girlfriend at that stage you should probably move out.
Browning
gives a good performance, but she is clearly still down the young end
of the teen scale and rightfully so: if there was ever any suggestion
she could just leave home, the whole film would fall apart.
Coupled
with the now standard low key gore, zero "real" swearing and lack of
nudity - the result is a Young Adult horror movie that moves
along nicely and provides a few decent creepy moments.
... Without ever really feeling like anything is actually threatening.
3 out
of 5
The Uninvited
Australian release: 26th March,
2009
Official
Site: The Uninvited
Cast: David Strathairn, Elizabeth Banks, Arielle Kebbel, Emily Browning, John Prowse
Director: Charles Guard and Thomas Guard
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