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Richard von Busack of MovieTimes.com and Metroactive.com writes:
Having stripped the poetry out of the Ji-woon Kim’s distinguished 2003 Korean horror film “A Tale of Two Sisters,†the Yank remake, “The Univited†(by British directors Charles and Thomas Guard) provides a standard but amusing shock machine. It delivers a couple of genuine spinal-glissandos. The best of these tingles is provided by Maya Massar as a mother who won’t stay dead; Massar uses the ever-effective trick of moving very slowly and smiling her head off. Why do we fear the dead, when they’re so nice and so glad to see us? The film is old-fashioned enough to work an imitation Bernard Herrmann soundtrack, to creaking doors, to a flash of an untrustworthy mirror and to a disfigured ghost hissing “Murder!â€
In the mental hospital where she’s recovering from a suicide attempt, Anna (Emily Browning) has a recurring nightmare about her terminally ill mother and the night she perished in a fiery explosion. The details include quivering 35-gallon trash bags full of semidead humans; one figure is a spectral red-haired girl who looks like a shrunken and anemic Tilda Swinton. Anna’s useless psychiatrist calms her by saying, “We survive by remembering, but sometimes we survive by forgetting.†That, of course, is the motto of the modern horror filmmaker.
Anna returns home to her father’s place on the coast of Maine. Widowed dad Steven (David Strathairn) has taken up with Rachael (Elizabeth Banks), a handsome working-class blonde who got kicked upstairs from nurse to mistress. Rachael was on duty the night Mom went up in flames. Also waiting for Anna is her wilder sister, Alex (Arielle Kebbel); she hasn’t been too distracted by beach parties and boys to watch the situation develop. In her opinion, Rachael “helps Dad cope. Three times a night.â€
As Rachael, the former nurse, Banks turns in another keen performance; she keeps the inflections down and lets the audience pick up on the nuances. “My first order of business is to fatten her up,†she says of Anna. Banks says this so coolly that it’s a second or two before the audience remembers Hansel and Gretel.
Browning, who plays the poor haunted girl, is smoothly and vacantly pretty, with large cushiony lips. (Banks gives us a little lesbian shock by applying some lipstick on the girl, a process that takes a moment because there’s so much surface area to cover.) Unfortunately, Anna doesn’t look like someone who just got out of the mental hospital; she doesn’t smoke, for instance. In the original Korean film, with its old-world, silent family, no one could be trusted. The downcast daughter was isolated from her father. What one misses is the original film’s simple moment of tragic recognition between the sisters; an effect as simple as an offstage clap of thunder.
This movie was better than I thought it was going to be. It seems to be pretty easy to understand except for the one thing we don't find out until the end. Also at the end there is like 5 minutes of “WHAT THE HEll?.. OHHHHHHHH.“ Pretty good. It messes with your head, a bit at the end. Still good. Two Thumbs Up. And Don't leave to go get popcorn or drinks, because throughout the movie are little hints of the conclusion. If you miss anything.. you will be super confused at the end.
This movie had perfect pace. Not too fast nor slow. I am a very picky horror fan, I hate the kind that uses cheap "Boo" tactics to get the audience all on edge. This Movie provides actual scares that makes the movie more real. I only like physcological hoor. I'll takes Freddie over Jason any time. Blood baths that are senseless are another cheap tactic. But in The Univited the gore was part of the story. Best of all, there are no loose ends. In the moment at the end when the truth has become real, the story transforms into it's own sequel. I am no genious and I've never written a review, but I have to say this movie is now in my top 10. If you are looking for a blood & guts movie, do not bother. This Movie Is Great!
Richard von Busack of MovieTimes.com and Metroactive.com writes:
This movie wasn\'t as good as i thought it was going to be. I\'m a person whom loves scary things because I love the adrenaline ( spelled wrong) and I love the excitement and I love to jump and be scared. But this movie just didn\'t do it for me. It was hard to follow and very confusing until the very end. I\'d rather go see a different movie. Bottom line it wasn\'t that good.