Product Details

• Actors: Emily Browning, Arielle Kebbel, Elizabeth Banks, David Strathairn, Maya Massar
• Directors: Charles Guard, Thomas Guard
• Writers: Carlo Bernard, Craig Rosenberg, Doug Miro, Jee-woon Kim
• Producers: Casey Grant, Doug Davison
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed: French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Dreamworks Video
• DVD Release Date: April 28, 2009
• Run Time: 87 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (113 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001U0HBQA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,115 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Uninvited" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The china-doll features of Emily Browning (A Series of Unfortunate Events) are the eerie center of The Uninvited, an American remake of the wildly popular Korean horror film A Tale of Two Sisters. Browning stars as Anna, a young girl being released from a mental hospital following the harrowing death of her mother. But when she returns home, she discovers her father (David Strathairn) has fallen under the sexual spell of her mother's former nurse, Rachael (Elizabeth Banks, Zack and Miri Make a Porno), despite the open hostility of Anna's sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel, John Tucker Must Die). When Anna sees the ghost of her mother point at Rachael and scream "Murder!", Anna and Alex begin to investigate Rachael's past and make some unsettling discoveries. The Uninvited combines two horror trends: Twist endings (in this case, more than one) and recycling Asian horror images (particularly wet, crawling corpses). There's nothing particularly outstanding about The Uninvited, but it's superior to more lackluster Asian horror remakes like One Missed Call. The three lead actresses all have strangely glossy faces that look molded out of plastic, which adds a perhaps unintentional layer of creepiness. --Bret Fetzer




Stills from The Uninvited (Click for larger image)

Product Description

From the producers of The Ring and Disturbia comes a nail-biting thriller, The Uninvited. Following the suspicious death of their mother, sisters Anna and Alex become entangled in a deadly battle of wills when their father becomes engaged to Rachel, their mother's former caretaker. As the two sisters investigate Rachel's questionable past, they are confronted with ghostly visions, terrifying nightmares and deadly consequences. All leading to an ending so shocking it will send chills down your spine!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 53 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Classy, fun and, yes, kind of scary April 6, 2009

By Terry Mesnard VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

The Uninvited begins with our protagonist, Anna, in a mental ward after dealing with the emotional trauma of losing her mother in a freak fire. As the film begins, her psychiatrist believes she is ready to go back into the real world and she is allowed to move back in with her father and her older sister, Alex. Unfortunately, father is now seeing Rachel, a nurse who was in charge of Anna's mother. This weird situation is further complicated by the fact that Anna is becoming more and more convinced that her mom wasn't killed in a freak accident...maybe she was murdered.

So if you have watched ghost movies over the last ten or so years, you basically know this film. It hits all of the major plot points, has a couple requisite twists and throws weird scares at you (it is based on a Korean film, you know). I expected all of this. I even expected one twist that I thought was revealed very early on. Even so, the ending still surprised me and I have to say that this film was classy in telling a familiar story. The truth is, there hasn't really been a genre-changing film in the ghost story genre for awhile now. The Uninvited is no different. So, what is important is not what is being told (as there's nothing new under the sun), but how it's told.

Here The Uninvited soars where a lot of recent ghost stories (Unborn, for example) have failed. The storytelling is far classier than it has any right to be, the script is well-written and convincing and the actors are terrific. Emily Browning, playing Anna, practically carries the weight of the film on her slender shoulders. With her forlorn and innocent gaze, you really start to feel for her increasingly desperate plight. Meanwhile, her sister is played perfectly by Arielle Kebbel who brings a sexy older sibling charm to the proceedings. And then there's Elizabeth Banks, playing the stepmother who might not be all she says she is.

All of this is pitted against a murder mystery or two and wrapped up in a perfect bow. There's not a dull moment in the film, the scares actually startled me, even when I expected them and some of the ghostly hauntings could give the weird factor of The Grudge/Ring a run for their money. It's effective and very well done.

I definitely recommend going to see it. The Korean film, A Tale of Two Sisters, is definitely in my scope now, to see how it stacks up. Go see The Uninvited if you're in the mood for a fun, classy and, yes, sometimes scary ghost story.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars READ ME FIRST June 26, 2010

By Michael TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

DON'T READ ANY OTHER REVIEWS as it may ruin the movie for you. This is a 5 star suspense/drama/horror/mystery. Just go watch it. Knowing about the movie will simply ruin the ending. Trust me. Just watch it, don't even read the box.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the better psychological thrillers August 28, 2010

By RC

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I love classic ghost stories and psychological thrillers - the ones that don't have a lot of gore but do have sympathetic characters you can feel anxious for plus an element of mystery. A number of people have pointed out that this is a well done movie but doesn't have a lot of new elements. I have to point out that there have been no truly surprising plot twists in ghost movies since "The Sixth Sense" came out - the best ghost stories since then have all had plot twists that are some variation of that famous movie or older horror films. There has also been a deluge of remakes of Asian horror films, the Ring and the Grudge being the most famous, plus a host of others I can't even recall right now. The Univited contains elements from everything: Asian horror films and your favorite old thrillers: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Poison Ivy, Hide and Seek - I could go on and on.

None of this impeded my enjoyment of the movie. All the necessary elements are there: 1. A huge house in a gorgeous wooded and secluded setting; 2. A dangerous intruder in the form of Dad's former mistress now fiance who invades the family sacred space and threatens to turn him against his daughters; 3. A concerned but distant father who puts his traumatized daughter's needs after his own sexual ones; 4. Two very sympathic daughter heroines - the younger one ethereal and tormented by something she saw but can't quite remember and the older one sassy and assertive but funny rather than annoying and 5. The mystery - how much of what we are watching is real and what is perception? Can we trust the perceptions of our heroine or is she crazy? Are the ghosts real? Is the stepmother a killer or just an opportunistic - well, you know what.

The photography is beautiful and the acting is good. The two girls are fantastic and Elizabeth Banks as the "wicked stepmother" has a subtle nastiness that contrasts wonderfully with her summy, sexy exterior. The actor playing the father comes off as sympathetic and tormented instead of slimy even though you want to shake him for his cluelessness.

I don't want to give any of the surprises away, so let me just say that this is one of the few keepers for me in the ghostly genre. It will do fine until the next "Sixth Sense" or "the Village" comes out - and I have a feeling I could be waiting quite a long time for another original.