THE UNINVITED

Anna (Emily Browning) talks to her psychiatrist, Dr Silberling (Dean Paul Gibson) about a recurring dream she suffers from. In the dream, she tends to her sick mother in their boathouse, before running to the main house to answer her father Steven's (David Strathairn) call. The house ends up in flames as Anna enters it, and she flees - passing a curious red-headed girl on her way.

Silberling reasons with Anna that the dreams are the product of guilt; memories of a tragic night in which she was powerless to save her mother from a house fire. It was a trauma that led to Anna slashing her wrists shortly afterwards, ever since which she has been locked away in an asylum.

Until now. In a medical decision to rival that of the doctors that release George Tatum in NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN, Silberling suggests that Anna has overcome the worst of her psychosis and is free to return home.

Excitedly, Anna packs her stuff and is driven home by the welcoming Steven. On the way, writer Steven gives Anna a copy of his latest book - dedicated inside to his daughters Anna and Alex. The reunion only turns sour when Steven mentions that home help Rachel (Elizabeth Banks) is now his partner. Anna, it soon becomes apparent, hates Rachel.

When they arrive home, Anna rushes to her bedroom and settles back in. When she's called to meet Rachel in the kitchen, Anna is civil but quite clearly not at ease - despite the woman's best efforts to befriend her. Anna hastily takes off to the nearby boathouse, where she meets Alex (Arielle Kebbel). It should be a joyful reunion, but Alex is pissed off at Anna for leaving her in the house with Rachel.

Shortly afterwards, Anna begins to suffer from nightmarish visions: her mother appears to her as an apparition, pointing her finger at Anna and hissing "Murderer!"; the red-headed girl turns up at a coffee house and a cemetery, only to disappear abruptly on both occasions.

Despite Rachel's best efforts to buddy up to Anna, Anna withdraws from the woman and instead chooses to confide in Alex. Sharing their keepsakes of their late mother - family photographs, the bell their mother used to ring when she was ill - the girls soon start to suspect that Rachel was sleeping with Steven prior to their mother's death, and that perhaps Rachel was responsible for the house fire ...

The plot thickens when Anna befriends local errand boy Matt (Jesse Moss), who suggests to her in passing that the fire was not an accident. But he ends up dead in the nearby lake before he can reveal too much. Is Rachel responsible? Can Anna and Alex prove her guilt and save their father from marrying this wicked woman? Or is there something far more spooky going on?

This decade has become the decade of the horror remake. It grew tiresome many moons back, and yet the rehashes, revisions and reimaginings have kept on coming thick and fast. So much so that it's impossible not to fear the worst whenever a new remake is announced.

I was particularly sceptical when I heard that a redo of Ji-woon Kim's A TALE OF TWO SISTERS was in the works. How on Earth could American filmmakers translate such a rich, multi-textured and challenging take on a piece of Korean folklore? How would they retain that film's uncompromising ambiguity and at times baffling but ultimately rewarding storytelling dynamics?

The short answer is, they don't even attempt these things. Instead, the tale has been simplified and ironed out into a much more straightforward thriller formula that, while nowhere near as densely satisfying as it's source inspiration, is at least a lot more palatable for a mainstream audience. Or at least that's what the producers believe, because audiences ... are thick.

It's a rum do when filmmakers don't credit their audience with having the brains to figure something out, and in my opinion it's a truly wasted opportunity that this remake didn't attempt to match the original film for it's subtleties and metaphorical clues.

Still, taken on it's own merits, this film is a pretty decent drama in it's own right. The big drawback it has going against it is, of course, the fact that most horror fans will be familiar with the storyline and therefore already know the big twist. Even for the uninitiated, the twist is likely to be predicted early into proceedings. So it falls short of the mark as a mystery. And, unlike the original, THE UNINVITED does not hold up to repeated viewings because it is not pregnant with moments of rediscovery and new reveals, as the first film continues to be.

The film wisely stays away from trying to copy SISTERS scene-for-scene and, on the rare occasion it does attempt this (the girl appearing beneath the kitchen units, for example) it manages it moderately well ... but still serves to remind us that Kim's film is much better.

Having said that, THE UNINVITED benefits from a solid cast, great sympathetic performances from Strathairn and Browning, and a wonderfully balanced portrayal from standout Banks. The visuals are frequently gorgeous, and the editing is extremely slick throughout. This is a highly polished production, with an assured ocular approach from co-directors Thomas and Charles Guard (former music video directors - surprise, surprise).

With a couple of decent shock scenes and style to spare, THE UNINVITED is actually one of the better remakes of recent years. But it's still not a patch on its complicated and enormously rewarding source material.

The film is presented uncut in an anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer. It looks stunning. Bright colours and fine detail are evident throughout, while the clean and pin-sharp picture exhibits a really nice depth. It's a lovely presentation indeed.

English audio is provided in a strongly balanced 5.1 mix, offering a rousing soundtrack and good, audible dialogue from beginning to end. A 5.1 English audio descriptive track is also proffered. Optional subtitles are provided for the film in English, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and English for the Hard of Hearing.

Static menus include a scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 15 chapters.

Extras begin with "Unlocking the Uninvited", an 18-minute Making Of featurette. This is a slickly conceived promotional effort that boasts some decent cast and crew interviews, alongside clips from the film. Beware, it's rife with plot spoilers. The good thing about this featurette is that it gives credit to A TALE OF TWO SISTERS. I appreciated the candour of the producers too, admitting that they loved the original film but had trouble following it ...

Four deleted scenes follow, running for 5 minutes in total. These are shown in non-anamorphic widescreen and arguably should all have made the final cut. They include an additional argument between Anna and Rachel. These come with their own sub-menu, allowing you the option of watching them individually or in one successive run.

An alternative ending completes the film-related extras, clocking in at less than a minute in length. Granted, it's not as good as the one in the film. Again, this is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen.

All of the above extras come with optional subtitles in English, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish.

The disc opens with trailers for TRANSFORMERS 2: RISE OF THE FALLEN, STAR TREK, GI JOE and I LOVE YOU MAN.

It's tempting to suggest that the best thing about THE UNINVITED is Browning's formidable pout. But that's unfair; this is a stylish, attractive and engaging film in it's own right, with committed performances (especially from Banks) and a few interesting fresh spins on the original story. Just don't compare it to A TALE OF TWO SISTERS, because it remains inferior in every way. Unless you're thick ...

Also available on Blu-ray.

Review by Stu Willis