For anyone who doesn’t know, I am referring to this movie, which opened this past Friday and which starts Emily Browning, David Straithern, Arielle Kebbel, and Elizabeth Banks.
I’m not sure why I should bother boxing the spoiler (since only persons who have seen the movie already can answer the thread question, but I’ll go ahead:
[spoiler]Emily Browning plays Anna, a girl apparently in her late teens who has spent the last 10 months in a mental institution, to which she was committed after attempting sucide in the aftermath of her mother’s death in a fire. Upon her release she learns that her father, Steven (portrayed by Straithern) is engaged to be married to her mother’s nurse, Rachel (portrayed by Banks). This angers both Anna and her older sister, Alex (Kebbel). Anna begins having visions of what she believes to be her mother’s ghost who seems to be emulating Hamlet’s father. She and Alex investigate Rachel and discover that she has changed her name; they come to believe that she is Mildred, a woman who, 14 years earlier, murderered three children 14 years in a nearby town.
But there is no ghost; Anna is delusional. Not only are the visions of her mother only hallucinations, but so is Alex; she too died in the fire, which Anna accidentally started on the night she discovered Steven and Rachel’s affair. As the story ends, Anna eventually murders Rachel (though in her delusion she initially thinks Alex did it). At the end of the movie she is returned to the institution, and we discover that one of the other inmates is Mildred, and it’s implied that she put the idea of committing the murder into Anna’s head.[/spoiler]
I haven’t seen this movie, but I will say that it’s based on a better Korean movie called “A Tale of Two Sisters.” Everything I’ve read about this American remake sounds inferior to the original. While the twist remains the same, the execution of the original just seems much tighter and played much closer to the chest. The big reveal in the original is extremely shocking and makes you want to restart the movie immediately to go back and catch all the subtle clues hidden in the film.
I may have to see “The Uninvited” so I can fairly compare the two, but for now I will suggest that you find a copy of the original and watch it if you can.
You’re right about it being a remake. The only problem with your suggestion is that knowing that, and knowing the big reveal of The Uninvited, makes the earlier movie difficult to enjoy on a purely plot level. But there are many better reasons to watch it; it is quite lyrical.
I guessed the twist just from reading a couple of reviews. Haute Tension had the same twist. Hopefully The Univited at least managed to avoid the same gaping plot holes.
If at all possible, scrub this movie from your brain and watch the fantastic A Tale of Two Sisters. If anything, you’ll get even more enjoyment out of ATTS because you’ll be able to track the intricate development of the plot and the subsequent twist. It’s much subtler and disturbing.