The Uninvited comes incredibly close to greatness, just narrowly missing a diabolically genius Hitchcock-like plot twist by inches, opting for a stale twist instead. But in between that distance is a world of hurt. This is an unfortunately terrible horror movie – if one can even call it that.
The thrills and chills are pretty cheap and mostly come during the ghostly visions that Anna experiences. Most borrow quite heavily from better horror films like either versions of The Ring or The Grudge, with contorted, body-bending villains moving about with cheap, gory jump scares fueling the fire. In between, we're treated to a boring mystery narrative as Anna and Alex attempt to figure out whether or not their possible step-mom, Rachel, is a cold-blooded killer with designs of offing their family.
Genre mashing can often be a messy thing or a stroke of absolute genius, but unfortunately this film does little to fix the clutter. Bogged down by pointless ghost sequences that do barely move the plot forward, there's not much here that's really, truly scary, and almost no tension is built throughout. Tear away the pieces of the horror and you'll not find much of interest. Anna is underdeveloped (on purpose). So is Alex (on purpose), so is her father (also on purpose) and so is Rachel (again, on purpose). But since these characters dominate the show, there's not a single developed, rounded character worth rooting for. What's the point if no one is likeable?
