We delve once again in the world of black and white cinema fantastique. As I've said before I am always on the hunt for lost cinematic treasures. One of the usual dead giveaways is when a film is released by The Criterion Collection: "a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films..." The Criterion Collection is a label for dvd and blu-ray releases known for their extremely high quality restorations and releases, loaded with special features, and dedicated to preserving the landmark influential and overall greatest films of all time from across the globe, both foreign and domestic, young and old. In short their dvds and blu-ray are boss. I love me some Criterion Collection. A lot of the films they release were either lost or forgotten or nobody thought to give two shits about. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well they do charge are high figure for their movies and rightly so.
ANYWAY, they released an old Paramount Pictures horror classic from 1944 on dvd and blu-ray not too long ago. It had been on my radar ever since they released it and this last month I finally added it to the NinjaMitche Collection.
THE UNINVITED is a classic haunted house story prior to such epics like The Haunting (1963) and The House On Haunted Hill (1959). It's fairly typical of the 1940's big studio horror films of the time. During the not-so scary moments it's lighthearted with goofy music almost reminding you of a comedy. But when we get to the scary moments it gets scary. The filmmakers and actors treat the subject seriously and it comes across magnificently on screen.
A brother and sister wander along a lonely beach looking for a way out of their current big city lives. The death of their parents weighs on their minds. Their inheritance gives them an opportunity but to do what? They climb a cliff-side and looming at the top is a beautiful two story house. A peak through the windows tells them it's abandoned. Their little dog chases a squirrel in through an ajar window. They go inside after the dog and marvel at the house's magnificence. A long winding staircase rises in the center of the house. The dog for some reason won't dare go up the stairs. Ignoring him, the siblings go up to check out the rest of the house. All the rooms are amazing. The final room is a large studio with an entire wall of windows looking out over the cliffs and ocean. The instant they enter both get an uneasy feeling. The room has a funny smell to it along with random cold spots. They exit the house and Pam turns to her brother Rick, "Let's buy it! We can get out of the city and start all over again."
The house is far out in the England countryside near a small rural town. They are told stories of how the previous owners were driven away, scared of something in the house. All their plants seem to die in the house and their dog runs away. Rick wakes up late one night hearing crying outside his room. He thinks it's Pam. But when Pam steps next to him white as a sheet his perceptions alter dramatically. They discover two women died in their house, one over the cliff-side and another within the house.
The story begins taking shape at the mysterious appearance of a local young woman found wandering about the property. Rick is attracted to the young woman immediately. She explains how she was somehow drawn to this house, the very house where her mother died. She lives with her grandfather in town who forbids her from ever returning to this house. Believing it to be the spirit of her deceased mother, Pam, Rick, and the young woman Stella perform a seance. The spirit in the house grows angry! It tells them that another evil spirit haunts the house! In the end it comes down to unraveling a mystery of what the spirits want, Stella discovering a dark past in her family, and supernatural fight for survival!
A lot of that sounds like cliche haunted house troupe, right? Well keep in mind that it wasn't cliche at the time. These concepts were still fairly new to the silver screen in 1944. Audiences weren't as familiar with haunted house stories as we are today. And done so well too. The movie manages some genuinely scary and creepy moments. It is one of the most effective horror films of the 1930's and 1940's that I have seen. The only elements that bother me are the whimsical scores for some of the daytime scenes. Other than that it really impressed me. As far as haunted house movies go THE UNINVITED is essential viewing and great horror cinema.
Overall Ranking: 7 out of 10.
I am aware of a 2009 horror film titled The Uninvited too. I have yet to see it but I do remember the trailers for it. It seems quite a bit different it is indeed a remake. It may just be another film by the same title though. It's on my watch list and I'll get back to you with my findings. Oh yeah, and incase I didn't drive home this point to you at the beginning, the blu-ray/dvd of this film is superb! Not much for special features by high quality resolution and sound.
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