`The Uninvited' is the US remake of Korean horror film A Tale of Two Sisters and tells the story of Anna, a young girl who has been in a mental institution for the past 10 months since her ill mother dies in a mysterious house fire. Her father now is living with his new girlfriend who was also Anna's mother's nurse before her death. Anna and her sister Alex believe that their father's new girlfriend may be the reason for the fire and also fear what plans she has in store for them too, especially after Anna begins to receive visits from the ghost of her dead mother.
I watched this film not expecting much as generally US remakes of J-Horror classics tend to be pretty rubbish - just look at the awful Ring, Grudge, Shutter and One Missed Call remakes. This however was surprisingly excellent. The story gripped me from the opening scene, combining psychological horror with mystery and suspense, this film really did make the most of a decent plotline and turned it into a genuinely scary and well thought out thriller. The acting was very good - I felt the relationship between the two sisters as well as the relationship with their love-blind father was very believable. The setting was very picturesque with some very impressive camerawork displaying the beautiful ocean view during the daytime scenes then turning it into a very dark and creepy haunted house feel to it during the night-time scenes. The story itself could have worked without the ghost elements of it too but this just made the film all the more scary. I also really didn't expect any of the surprises at all and was actually shocked by the ending which I found to be incredibly unpredictable and well done.
Overall this is definitely one of the best horror thrillers that I've seen for ages and is without a doubt the best J-Horror remake that I've ever seen. I can't recommend this film highly enough as there's next-to nothing about it that I can comment negatively about other than it not getting the spotlight as much as some of the other, inferior remakes like The Ring and The Grudge. Just don't expect an easy night's sleep afterwards as it will stick in your head long after it's finished...especially when lying in bed in the dark!