Once more unto the breach. A Saturday night, a trip to Blockbuster, a dull-as-nuts horror film. Groovy.
The plot – stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before – after being sectioned following her mothers mysterious death, Anna (Emily Browning) returns home to her family. Her father is now living with her mothers nurse and Anna’s sister and best friend Alex. Soon, Anna experiences a ghostly force in the house that might begin to explain the truth about her mothers death and she begins to suspect her fathers new girlfriend as a dark history is revealed.
I have no quarrel with the realisation of the story it’s just hard to justify the hard work being put into this story we’ve all seen before. So you’ve thought of a twist on the ending? Big woop. The characters are fair. Emily Browning holds the film together, her relationship with her sister – whilst hitting pseudo lesbian undertones to appease the crotch-grabbing masses – at times is the saving grace of the movie. However, the patronizing tone of the film really distracts you from any real level of involvement. The film is clumsy in its plot developments. There are red herrings, setting up characters in an obvious manner, not unlike Scooby-Doo. Admittedly you aren’t going to work the end out but it’s all you will end up thinking about and by the end you’ll probably be capable of writing a superior screenplay to the film. This is a shame because the film is shot well and has a great mood aside from the awkward horror scenes. The actual horror of the film is one of the weakest elements. This might well work better as a psychological thriller as in the end the nightmarish visions that appeal to reveal the truth of her mothers murder – sound familiar? – serve little purpose and are frankly unimpressive. Certainly, if you’re looking to get scared, this is the wrong movie.
The Uninvited, which incidentally has seemingly nothing to do with its title, is the same horror/mystery you’ve seen a hundred times before. So you spend your time wondering what twist to expect which is a shame; as there is something to be said for the central relationship of the main characters, and also because the ending is so head-bangingly over the top to justify the dredging up of this story, that’s almost a genre in itself. The incoherent bombardment of (largely borrowed) twists in the finale is the final nail in the coffin of the film and proves that you can get away with anything if your central character is a mental.
However, this kerfuffle is understandable. The Guard brothers are very new to the silver screen and considered promising and it would be ignorant to say there’s not potential in this film but perhaps in this early stage there is some issue working with the two-part directing force – unless were talking the Coens its very understandable that the cooks will cock-up the broth. They could’ve made something interesting out of this film and it is almost worth watching for these glimmers but in the end the film merely rests at the top-end of the pile of mediocre horror. Instead of giving this film a look, I will say keep an eye on these directors – they may surprise us yet.
The plot – stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before – after being sectioned following her mothers mysterious death, Anna (Emily Browning) returns home to her family. Her father is now living with her mothers nurse and Anna’s sister and best friend Alex. Soon, Anna experiences a ghostly force in the house that might begin to explain the truth about her mothers death and she begins to suspect her fathers new girlfriend as a dark history is revealed.
I have no quarrel with the realisation of the story it’s just hard to justify the hard work being put into this story we’ve all seen before. So you’ve thought of a twist on the ending? Big woop. The characters are fair. Emily Browning holds the film together, her relationship with her sister – whilst hitting pseudo lesbian undertones to appease the crotch-grabbing masses – at times is the saving grace of the movie. However, the patronizing tone of the film really distracts you from any real level of involvement. The film is clumsy in its plot developments. There are red herrings, setting up characters in an obvious manner, not unlike Scooby-Doo. Admittedly you aren’t going to work the end out but it’s all you will end up thinking about and by the end you’ll probably be capable of writing a superior screenplay to the film. This is a shame because the film is shot well and has a great mood aside from the awkward horror scenes. The actual horror of the film is one of the weakest elements. This might well work better as a psychological thriller as in the end the nightmarish visions that appeal to reveal the truth of her mothers murder – sound familiar? – serve little purpose and are frankly unimpressive. Certainly, if you’re looking to get scared, this is the wrong movie.
The Uninvited, which incidentally has seemingly nothing to do with its title, is the same horror/mystery you’ve seen a hundred times before. So you spend your time wondering what twist to expect which is a shame; as there is something to be said for the central relationship of the main characters, and also because the ending is so head-bangingly over the top to justify the dredging up of this story, that’s almost a genre in itself. The incoherent bombardment of (largely borrowed) twists in the finale is the final nail in the coffin of the film and proves that you can get away with anything if your central character is a mental.
However, this kerfuffle is understandable. The Guard brothers are very new to the silver screen and considered promising and it would be ignorant to say there’s not potential in this film but perhaps in this early stage there is some issue working with the two-part directing force – unless were talking the Coens its very understandable that the cooks will cock-up the broth. They could’ve made something interesting out of this film and it is almost worth watching for these glimmers but in the end the film merely rests at the top-end of the pile of mediocre horror. Instead of giving this film a look, I will say keep an eye on these directors – they may surprise us yet.
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