Friday, January 30, 2009

Movie review: The Uninvited

Barefoot in the blood.

By John P. Meyer

The Uninvited is one of those remakes of an Asian horror film that the Hollywood dream factory is so fond of injecting into our cinematic consciousness at this time of year, for some strange reason.

This movie marks the feature film directing debut of Charles and Thomas Guard, who might one day join the ranks of directing brothers of distinction (think Coen or Wachowski or Duplass, or maybe Pang, if you want to toe the Asian horror line). I'm not ruling out the possibility. This being their first effort, we'll give them the benefit of the doubt and describe their first tandem filmmaking effort as serviceable, and certainly effective from the standpoint of delivering on some leap-from-the-seat scares.

Anna and Alex: something's rotten in the estate of Rydell

Anna (Emily Browning) has been having bad dreams, which she relates in detail to her psychologist (Dean Paul Gibson, as Dr. Siberling) - with whom she's on extremely close terms, thanks to her current resident status in a mental hospital. She's there as the result of a breakdown experienced following the death of her mother in a fire at the family home - an ostentatious Kennebunkport-esque estate on the forested Maine coastline. (The forested coastline of British Columbia stands in, and does a magnificent job of it.)

As we pick up Anna's story, she's leaving the nuthatch in the company of dear ol' dad, Steven (David Strathairn, reduced to doing little more than looking variously bothered, confused and concerned). While Anna's been undergoing treatment, Dad has taken up connubial relations with the former live-in nurse of Anna's departed mom (Maya Massar). Steven's new bedpartner - a usurper in the eyes of Anna and her sister - is a fetching blond named Rachael (lovely Elizabeth Banks, getting a chance to exercise her mean side).

Matt is about to engage in some extreme chiropractic tricks

Anna's sister Alex is played by Arielle Kebbel, who does a fine job acting the part of a supportive, compassionate and engagingly mischevious older sibling who is willing to buy into some of the misgivings Anna harbors in regard to their stepmom-to-be. Misgivings might be an understatement, actually, given that Anna thinks Rachael may have been instrumental in their mother's death.

Poor Steven: he's stuck in a house (albeit a luxurious one) with three feisty females, none of whom can find a way to be simultaneously friendly and well-adjusted in each others' company. Which makes one wonder how he ever gets any writing done, such being his trade. (Not unlike another Maine-based scribbler we know and love.) At least he'll have that whole disfunctional family vibe to draw upon.

"Let me tell you what boys really want."

Speaking of vibes: the one we get from the increasingly disturbing series of real or imagined events going on at the Rydell estate is very much Let's Scare Jessica to Death, to the point that we begin to wonder how much of what's going on is being manufactured for some nefarious, perhaps inheritance-based, purpose. Whether or not this ends up being a thematic red herring, I leave it to you to discover - or not, depending on your interest in plunking down dollars on a ticket to this middling-good, moderately entertaining supernatural thrill ride.

A highlight to look out for: extreme chiropractics employed by Anna's hunky love interest, Matt (Jesse Moss). *Kids: don't try this at home.

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