THE MOVIE PAGES presents EMILY BROWNING & ELIZABETH BANKS in THE UNINVITED theuninvited.htm

What Do The Critics Say?

"A skeleton in the closet? Oh, that's nothing: Anna's family has them in the boathouse, the bedroom and even the kitchen, too. That's what you get at "The Uninvited", a thriller about a tragedy and its aftermath from an adolescent's point of view. Though The Uninvited is a remake of a Korean horror film, it's more psychological thriller than ghost story, and as such is blessedly short on undead things scuttling up and down the walls with their heads twisted on backward. The performances are believable. Elizabeth Banks may be well known for her comedic performances, but she is wonderfully chilly here and adept at arousing suspicion. And men. It's a good combo for the thriller genre, and very much in the Hand That Rocks The Cradle scheme of things."
Liz Braun JAM! MOVIES
"A standard supernatural thriller, carefully and thoughtfully crafted with little sign of cheap gore, about two sisters coping with the death of their mother and the arrival of Dad's new girlfriend."
Simon Weaving SCREENWIZE
"It's a slick, bloodless affair that's neither as suggestive as the classic general-audiences ghost stories of the past. Gone is the original film's ambiguous, psychosexual bent; it's replaced by unsettled ghosts dropping by to parse out information in the spookiest way possible."
Scott Tobias AV CLUB
"What stands out about the production above all else is the quality of the casting."
Jeremy Heilman MOVIEMARTYR
"Appearing as the despised Nurse Rachel, Elizabeth Banks, a deservedly busy actress seen in a massive five movies last year, does commendable work as the movie’s boogie woman. Twenty-year-old Australian actress Emily Browning (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events) and Arielle Kebbel (Gilmore Girls, The Grudge 2, House Bunny) complete the principal cast as Anna and Alex."
John Wirt THE ADVOCATE

"It's a curious thing about scary movies – they often contain the most skillfully evocative images of any genre. Great visuals empower the peek-a-boo thrill by making it harder for the viewer to turn away. Case in point is "The Uninvited", a supernatural thriller with poison-tinged eye candy to spare. There's a mystery here: the story is cribbed from a South Korean picture called "Changwa, Hongryon": but even a mention of the movies it resembles would be a spoiler."
Zachary Woodruff SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
"The Uninvited is that too-seldom-seen thing: a traditional psycho-horror movie made with smarts and style, which arrives at a creepy conclusion with its honor intact."
Kurt Loder MTV
"A teenager's resistance to her father's new girlfriend provides the emotional underpinnings for The Uninvited, a spooky, if narcotic, psychological thriller adapted from a 2003 K-horror suspenser."
Steven Rea PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
"The premise is good, with the right mix of elements - teenage hysteria, jealousy, a hint of madness and unwelcome visitors. The script has some well-kept surprises, too. Tom and Charlie Guard are English brothers who have seen a lot of horror films."
Paul Byrnes THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
"Better-than-average American remake of a mediocre Korean horror film, courtesy of two British filmmaking brothers named Guard. The Uninvited manages to serve up the familiar ingredients in a sufficiently novel way that the audience can dig it anew."
Luke Y. Thompson E! ONLINE
"There's a substantial twist in The Uninvited, a pretty fair and reasonably scary remake of South Korean director Kim Jee-Woon's thriller A Tale of Two Sisters. The actors are strong: Banks in particular shows some skill and wiles in keeping her rascally stepmother stereotype lively."
Michael Phillips CHICAGO TRIBUNE

The Inside Story When Anna’s psychiatrist releases her from a sanitarium, where she has been recovering from an attempted suicide following her mother’s tragic death, she is shocked that her father, Steven, has become romantically involved with Rachel, her mother’s former nurse. Feeling betrayed and frightened, she seeks solace from her older sister, Alex. But Alex is strangely distant at first. As Emily Browning ("Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events") puts it, "Anna suddenly feels lost. Ever since her father fell in love with Rachel, she doesn’t know where she fits in with her family. Even her sister, Alex, feels a little hostile towards her. Worse, Rachel, who has taken over the house and seems determined to erase all memories of Anna and Alex’s mother" Eventually, Alex confesses that she felt abandoned by Anna and was left alone to cope with Rachel. Notes Arielle Kebbel ("Be Cool" & "The Grudge 2"), "Anna is trying to tell her how awful life was in the mental hospital, but Alex is saying that life at home was pretty terrible as well. It’s interesting, because you can tell how happy Alex is to have Anna back, but she doesn’t want to show it too much because she feels that she was deserted and left to deal with everything at home. The fact that he’s moved on so quickly from Mom devastates her." Kebell explained that her character keeps telling herself, "I’m over it. I don’t need Dad; or anyone else. I’ve already been hurt enough." Anna and Alex reconnect in their dislike for dad’s new girlfriend, and given Steven’s poor parenting skills, they feel totally abandoned. "My intention is to be a good father to her now," observes 2005 Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup winner David Strathairn ("Good Night, and Good Luck."), "but my career remains my top priority. Before, family matters were attended to by my wife. Now she's gone and I’m plagued with regret and guilt for not having been as involved in my children’s lives as I should have. So I'm trying to catch up, not only as a dad but as a friend, as a confidante, as somebody who can support Anna. It's difficult, because I don’t really know my daughter. I have expectations of what a father-daughter relationship should be, but I’m really not prepared to handle it all." Another barrier is his new relationship, which blossomed not long after his wife’s death. "I want to marry Rachel," admits Strathairn. "I’m in love with her, because she brought me back from grief. But Anna can’t see it that way because she's lost her mother and now this woman is trying to replace her. Anna is just not ready for that. On top of it, she's a teenager, a time in life that is already delicate and tricky." When Rachel tries to connect with Anna, the resentment turns to hate as Rachel tries to erase all traces of the family’s past life. But, according to 2003 Young Hollywood Award winner Elizabeth Banks (Exciting New Face Category), who plays Rachel, it isn’t that clear-cut. "Rachel is very much in love with the idea of this family and of loving Steven," explains Banks("Meet Dave" & "Bill"). "Rachel sees this as an opportunity at motherhood. She's been placed in this horrible position of being the classic stepmother, of having to stifle her happiness at being in love and having a family because Anna clearly thinks she’s moving too fast. But from Rachel's perspective, all she wants is to help this family heal and be whole again."

Every loving moment between Rachel and Steven makes Anna feel more threatened. "It’s one of the major relationships in the film, but we don't really say that much to each other," says Strathairn ("The Spiderwick Chronicles" & "Sneakers"). "It’s a pivotal relationship, yet most of it is conveyed with looks and touches, those in-between moments that truly cement a relationship." The chance of any bond ever existing between Anna and Rachel is officially crushed when the young girl begins having terrifying visions of her dead mother reaching out to her for help and suggesting that Rachel may have caused her death. Frightened and confused by the visions, and egged on by Alex’s overt hostility toward Rachel, Anna becomes determined to assert her place in the house and protect her family." "Anna is a worthy opponent," says Banks ("Definately, Maybe"). "And Emily’s approach to the role was very instinctual. Both Anna and Emily look very frail and sweet on the outside, but they’re actually very determined underneath." That balance of vulnerability and strength in Anna is what attracted young Australian actress Browning to the role. "Anna could have so easily been the victim character," says Browning who played Grace Kelly in the late Heath Ledger film, "Ned Kelly". "But that’s not how she’s written. She's not seeking sympathy. Even though she’s fragile, there's a toughness to Anna that comes through despite the terrible things that have happened to her." The closeness that the sisters enjoy is a significant plot point for both Browning and Kebbel. "The thing about sisters is you have an opportunity to share a bond that you don't have with anyone else," says Kebbel ("John Tucker Must Die"). "Emily and I really wanted to bring as much of that to the storyline of following two sisters, which meant that the scenes where we shared the intimate moments of laughing together, crying today and sleeping side by side were very important to us in telling the story." "Arielle Kebbel and I both used some similar slang," Melbourne born Browning revealed. "The directors and the producers were really open to us adding our own touches, which were small, but meant so much to us." So where did this highly interesting and very scary story come from? In 2002, producers Walter F Parkes and Laurie MacDonald produced the hit horror thriller, "The Ring", a groundbreaking remake of the Japanese film "Ringu", that signaled the start of a new trend in genre films: the thought-provoking thriller. They would subsequently produce the film’s successful sequel "The Ring Two", in 2005. Since first starting this new cycle of Asian horror film adaptations, Parkes and MacDonald searched for a project they felt was as ingeniously conceived and executed as "The Ring", and finally found it when producer Roy Lee brought the original Korean hit movie on which the "The Uninvited" is based to their attention. "It was a very intriguing story that had, at its heart, something that was ripe for translation," recalls Parkes. "The best of these movies are similar to fairy tales in that there is a strong moral undertone, which is a terrific foundation on which to build a horror tale. Look at "The Omen", in which Gregory Peck's child dies at birth and he steals another baby and doesn’t tell his wife. The original Korean movie that inspired "The Uninvited" also possesses an interesting and classically primal story of a teenager ."

After securing the rights, Parkes and MacDonald began the process of what Parkes refers to as 'translation'. "I use the word 'translate' for a reason," 2008 Christopher Award winning producer Parkes ("The Kite Runner") insists. "It's not just mimicking; it's understanding what something means over there and turning it into what is meaningful here. Not just translating the language but also the context, the social environment, and how audiences here perceive stories, which is different than how Korean audiences do." Parkes believes "The Uninvited" finds inspiration in, and pays homage to, the classic horror films. "As in Hitchcock’s "Shadow of a Doubt", there’s a sense that a family member may have a past that’s not exactly as presented. And, as in a more recent film like "What Lies Beneath", there’s the sense that there’s something wrong in what appears to be a beautiful environment. Much of ‘The Uninvited’ deals with memory and how we invest ourselves emotionally in the places we grow up in. Every little nook seems to have a special meaning for Anna. And then, as we crossover into young adulthood, we look at everything from a different angle and start asking questions: what really happened during all those years?" The next step was securing the right director: or in this case, directors. They chose novice British filmmakers the Guard brothers. "With Tom and Charlie, the first thing we saw was that they were real, fresh and stylish, almost classical in their approach," Parkes recalled. "We're drawn to scary material in a psychological sense. "Rosemary's Baby", "The Others", "The Sixth Sense": they're psychological thrillers as well as horror films," notes Charles Guard. "The thing that attracted us to this project is that it blurred the boundaries between the genres, which we found exciting. Our taste has always been toward the more classic end of the spectrum." "We're very influenced by Asian terror," adds brother Tom, "because it’s all implied. A lot of it is in the characters’ expressions and in the anticipation." Arielle Kebbel is a huge fan of the hit Korean film. She says the Guard brothers have successfully captured the cinematic mastery of the original in their adaptation. "In the original film, I was captivated by the beautiful coloration because it made everything dramatic and fairy tale-like. I think that Charlie and Tom did such a great job of incorporating that mysterious feeling into this film because they were able to make a beautiful film that is still horrific to watch. It is not the gore that makes a scary story, it’s what happens when real people are put in such dark circumstances that it forces them to do things they wouldn’t normally do." 'A psychological thriller was not a genre I had ever participated in, so it was a curiosity to me," says Strathairn. Banks was attracted by idea of finally playing the villainess, someone "a little edgier, whose sexuality is right out there." And how did Browning end up in the lead role? Evidently, toward the end of shooting 'Lemony Snicket' Parkes and MacDonald looked at each other and said, "This girl should be in a thriller." "It was just one of those happy accidents where our knowledge of what she could do and the material were a perfect fit," says Parkes. "Emily is fabulously gifted, professional and lovely to be around," Banks notes. "And she’s very witty, which I think is great in someone so young. I was very impressed." Synopsis

Troubled teen Anna has been given good news: she is ready to return home and move on in her life. Her time in a psychiatric institution, is over. Having witnessed the accidental death of her ailing mother, and having been saved from a subsequent suicide attempt, Anna knows that the road to recovery will be long and bumpy. Once home, her older sister Alex, takes Anna under her wing. There are hurdles to get over. Their deceased mother's former nursemaid Rachel, will soon become become their step-mom. Already bound by their resentment of her, the two sisters come to suspect Rachel of foul play. A terrified Anna is visited by the ghosts of children from a murdered family, their dead mother and recently departed friend Matt, who warn her of impending danger. But as the girls prepare to reveal who Rachel really is, a terrible truth threatens to emerge and destroy the family forever.

The Verdict

"I, like many cinemagoers have never seen the Ji-woon Kim Korean film "Changhwa, Hongryon", and that's probably a good thing. I remember the hype behind the asian horror film "Ringu" when it came out. It was a very disappointing experience: one that was vindicated when they did, as I suggested in my review, remake it with an english speaking cast and relocate it to America. It was a reasonable success. Naomi Watts was cast in the lead role of Rachel Keller and the film grossed $US249,348,933. "The Uninvited" is far scarier than "The Ring". The cast all perform extremely well. David Strathairn is perfect as Steven, the girls father, who you can sense is constantly on edge, holding back the news of his pending marriage. With Anna out of a psychiatric ward, he's walking on eggshells. Elizabeth banks goes from saucy, fun loving let's make a 'porno' girl in "Zac And Miri Make A Porno", to become in this film, the object of Steven's two daughters angst and suspicion. After all, their deceased mothers former nurse is now about to marry daddy. That's enough to make most teenagers reach for the cutlery draw. Arielle Kebbel plays the supportive sister with ease. Whenever Anna wavers or retreats, she is there as a steadying influence. But the film belongs to young Australian actress Emily Browning, who after a highly successful role alongside Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep in "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events", put her acting career on hold, while she finished high school. As for the idyilic setting featured in the film: well, "The Uninvited" was shot at one location. It's a stunning waterfront property on British Columbia’s Bowen Island, a short ferry ride west from mainland Vancouver. It's a house of horror's as cinemagoers will quickly discover. "The Uninvited" is a scary, very well constructed film with a huge twist not many will see coming. Hang on to your seats fans: it's a great ride. 4 STARS." Who Plays Who?

Emily Browning
Arielle Kebbel
David Strathairn
Elizabeth Banks
Maya Massar
Kevin McNulty
Jesse Moss
Dean Paul Gibson
Don S. Davis
Lex Burnham
Matthew Bristol
Danny Bristol
Heather Doerksen
John Prowse
Alfred E Humphreys
Ryan Cowie
Troy Rudolph

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Anna
Alex
Steven
Rachael
Mom
Sheriff Emery
Matt
Dr Silberling
Mr Henson
Iris
MDavid
Samuel
Mildred
Butcher
Priest
Orderly #1
Orderly #2

The Production Team

Director
Screenplay
Adapated from
Producers

Original Music
D.O.P
Film Editor
Casting
Production Designer
Art Direction
Set Decoration
Costume Designer

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Charles & Thomas Guard (The Guard Brothers)
Craig Rosenberg/Doug Miro/Carlo Bernard
the Ji-woon Kim Korean film "Changhwa, Hongryon"
Roy Lee/Laurie MacDonald
Walter F. Parkes/Riyoko Tanaka
Christopher Young
Daniel Landin
Jim Page & Christian Wagner
Debra Zane
Andrew Menzies
Margot Ready
Dominique Fauquet-Lemaitre
Trish Keating