SILVER TONGUED SILVER SCREEN: SIN CITY ~ A DAME TO KILL FOR

It has been 9 years since the previous Sin City came out in theaters. August 22, 2014 we are finally offered the sequel. But still, 9 years is a long time to wait for part 2. A lot has happened in 9 years. A lot has changed. Actors have passed on, sadly both young and old. For Sin City that means actors like Britney Murphy and Michael Clark Duncan. A lot has happened for comic book movies as a genre too. There have been at least 4 or more comic book related films every year since 2005 when Sin City first came out, both good ones and bad ones. That's at least 36 films conservatively. This year alone we've seen 6 comic book related films released already with more still to come before the year is out. Needless to say we're out of the experimental phase of the comic book film genre and we know what works. What does all this mean for Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame To Kill For?

Once again we are ushered 3 interweaving stories occurring at various points in time. The iconic Sin City character and fan favorite Marv (once again played incredibly by Mickey Rourke) is present throughout 2 of the 3 but this time isn't the lead in either, yet still a big part of them. We mainly follow Clive Owen's character Dwight delving further into his sordid past with a woman named Eva, the dame to kill for. We meet Michael Clark Duncan's character Manute again and see him before he loses an eye. We learn why Dwight has a "new face" in the original Sin City and we learn a lesson in how powerful and deadly beauty can be.

Next we follow Senator Roark (Powers Boothe reprising his role) who connects our other two stories. In the first story Roark is confronted by a sly young card shark named Johnny (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who's only goal is to spread word of how he beat Senator Roark not once but twice in cards. And he's willing to risk it all to do it. Happening in tandem with this story we once again enter the life of Nancy Callahan and watch as she spirals downward after Hartigan's death. Her depression turns into self-destruction, substance abuse, bodily mutilation, murder, and revenge. She wants the man who ruined her's and Hartigan's lives: Senator Roark. She and Marv storm the Roark fortresss in a bloody final showdown.

Most of the original actors, the ones still with us, have returned to reprise their roles with a few exceptions, most notably Clive Owen as Dwight now being played by Josh Brolin. Jamie Chung takes over as Miho (whom I prefer to Devon Aoki). Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson return as well. Manute is played by Dennis Haysbert who does a wonderful job standing in for Michael Clarke Duncan. It feels good in a sequel when you've got just about everybody from the original back. Solidifies continuity between films and rewards returning audience members.

The unique style that made the original Sin City so special is also intact and rendered beautifully here. The films, despite being 9 years apart, can be viewed back to back with no extreme jarring differences. My hats off to Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller proving once again how talented they are. I do have to remind myself too that it was Sin City that kept Robert Rodriguez out of the Director's Guild. The guild refused to acknowledge Frank Miller's role as Director so Rodriguez dropped out of the guild in order to give Frank Miller a directing credit. Once again Frank Miller is credited with directing too.

So why is the movie bombing? Here is where the 9 years separation comes into play. The novelty that made the first Sin City such a unique and visceral experience has been played out. Films like 300, The Spirit, Watchmen, and others have approached the genre in similar ways and in just as graphic if not moreso violent ways. The genre has been fine tuned since 2005. Earlier this year we received another long awaited comic book sequel too, 300: Rise of An Empire, an 8 year difference. What Sin City 2 is doing has already been done this year (both with Eva Green as the female lead!). And also certain rated R films have lost some of their audience due to families. You shouldn't be taking your 5 and 6 year olds or even 9 year olds to Sin City. Also the film received a very lax marketing campaign. I don't think many people realized the movie was coming out.

In summary, the film is quite good but the elements of the film that made the original so special don't feel as special anymore. Nothing has dropped off between the two films. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is a worthy sequel. But it should have been released in 2006 or 2007. As an R-Rated film it goes all the way (a big THANK YOU! goes out to Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller). So few movies have the balls to do that anymore.

Overall Ranking: 6 out of 10
Nude-O-Meter: 7 out of 10

Watch the trailer HERE!

THE SAGA OF THE KING OF THE MONSTERS PART 27: GODZILLA ~ TOKYO S.O.S.

The second part in Godzilla's 50th anniversary trilogy is released in 2003, part 27, GODZILLA: TOKYO S.O.S. Over the years, to all the Godzilla fans, Mechagodzilla has always been a favorite among the kaiju roster. His first appearance in 1974's GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA was the high point of the Godzilla films released in the 1970's. One in which received a direct sequel in 1975, TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA. In 1993 he returned, reinvented as Earth's protector. 1993's GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA is regarded among most fans as the high point in the Heisei series (second series) of films. Mechagodzilla was slated to return to fight along side Godzilla for the 40th anniversary film GODZILLA VS SPACEGODZILLA. Can you imagine having 3 different Godzillas in one movie? Man, that would have been epic! A helluva 40th anniversary if you ask me. But that never came to pass for MechaG was replaced with Moguera for part 22 (a character I was delighted to see).

Mechagodzilla returned yet again in 2002's GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA. And once again MechaG earns another direct sequel, the only kaiju to have done so repeatedly within the Godzilla franchise. The film follows immediately after the previous one as repairs are being made to Kiryu. Mothra's twin fairies have returned and beg the return of the original Godzilla's bones to rest. Japan is reluctant to give up their greatest weapon in an event that Godzilla should return. Mothra offers to protect Japan in Kiryu's stead but even still Japan refuses.

Godzilla returns and proves to be more than a match for Mothra and both Kiryu and Mothra are needed to save Japan. In the end both Godzilla and Kiryu plunge deep into the ocean depths, hopefully never to return again. Another monster makes a very brief cameo too, Kamoebas, a kaiju sea turtle that first appeared in 1971's SPACE AMOEBA.

After the credits there is a little scene hinting at what the third part of the trilogy will be, the 50th anniversary film will be GODZILLA VS GODZILLA!! Oh wait, no. No that didn't happen. Instead we received Ryuhei Kitamura's disasterpiece (I mean that in the worst way) Godzilla: Final Wars. What was boasting to be an original new epic Godzilla film, one they spent 2 years already setting up, was shelved because of short-sighted studio executives. Once again we are all reminded that money makes the world go round and some "could've been great" movies were lost as a result.

Anyway, looking back this one, you can tell that the studio was cutting budgets. The special effects aren't as crisp and shiny as in GMK (2001) nor are the sets. The plot is still entertaining and very Japanese in that the crux of the plot is that Godzilla's bones must be returned to the earth or the spirit can never rest. One really cool thing about the film is that it brings back characters we haven't seen since 1961. Actor Hiroshi Koizumi (who made his Godzilla series debut back in 1955) returns to reprise his role from 1961's MOTHRA. Again another instance where TOHO ties all their films together. One of the aspects that makes the film a little more special.

Overall Ranking: 5 out of 10
Category: Transcendence
I've never really been a fan of Mothra though. That's just a personal taste.

CHANBARA ~ THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI: KILL!

Chanbara is a Japanese term referring to "sword fighting" films. When a Gaijin (someone not Japanese) says the word "Chanbara" they're specifically referring to samurai films. I LOVE samurai films. They're Japan's equivalent of the Western genre. What makes these movies so great? The friggin swords! If cowboys had swords then Westerns would be the greatest genre of film. In fact many great western films are based off of classic chanbara including A Fistful Of Dollars, The Magnificent Seven, and others. In the same way certain chanbara are inspired by westerns.

Kihachi Okamoto's KILL! (1968) is a black and white samurai film loosely based off of Akira Kurosawa's film SANJURO (another badass chanbara flick!) but this one adds a western influence. The film opens with twangy old west music and two hungry ronin wandering through a desolate ghost town with rolling tumbleweeds and dust devils. And there's a chicken they're both chasing after. The two ronin are Genta, a former samurai, and Tabata, a farmer who longs to be a true samurai. The high lord chamberlain and his men happen to wander through town at that moment. Genta and Tabata sit back and watch as the chamberlain is ambushed by seven samurai.

Genta and Tabata discover that the samurai were acting under orders by their lord to assassinate the evil chamberlain. An emissary of their lord arrives instructing them to hide within an old monastery and await further instructions. The seven soon realize they have been duped by their lord into carrying out his dirty work while he denies any association to the crime. The lord sends 30 men armed with muskets and bows and arrows to eliminate the seven men. The old monastery proves to be a powerful fortification difficult to infiltrate without suffering heavy casualties. So another 10 men are hired to go in and kill the seven and (unbeknownst to the 10) the 30 riflemen and archers will then kill all who remains.

The seven samurai believed they were doing good, each one a noble hearted man. The ten hired ronin are good men too, just trying to pay debts and take care of their families. The lord and his 30 men are the bastards in this story. Our heroes Genta and Tabata end up on opposite sides of the dispute. Tabata, in his relentless pursuit to become a samurai, is one of the hired 10 men. Genta, seeing the corruption of the so called "Samurai," just wants to save the good men risking their lives. Long ago when he was a samurai he was ordered to do something he did not believe in. The life of his friend ended because of that order. Now he wanders the land in search of repentance.

Dozens of plot threads, scores of characters, one evil S.O.B., and two unlikely heroes. This film captures your attention from the get-go and never lets go. The film was produced by TOHO, the studio responsible for many legendary films such as GODZILLA and SEVEN SAMURAI. Many actors from those films appear in this, actors I've watched since I was a child. Yoshio Tsuchiya, Akira Kubo, Shin Kishida and Yuriko Hoshi star in this film (all actors featured prominently in the Godzilla series). Susumu Kurobe, the lead in the classic show ULTRAMAN also has a part in the film. Our two heroes are played by Etsushi Takahashi (Tabata) and Tatsuya Nakadai (Genta). Both actors are wonderful in the film and Tabata almost steals the show! Tatsuya Nakadai however is one of my favorite actors in all chanbara films. He is an extremely versatile actor often playing opposite the great Toshiro Mifune (the greatest actor ever!). He has played descent into madness roles as in SWORD OF DOOM and light hearted roles like this film. He is probably best known for HARA-KIRI however, another incredible film.

If you like samurai films and you haven't seen KILL! yet you should. It is perhaps the most fun and delightful chanbara film I've ever seen, complete with spurting blood, severed limbs, real heart, and wildly entertaining. Seven Samurai is great but it is also "heavy reading" if you get my meaning. Kill! is light reading but not lacking in any way. It's chanbara perfected.

Overall Ranking: 9 out of 10
There. You've just been introduced to one of the films in my Top Ten List.

BETWEEN THE PANELS: STORMBREAKER - THE SAGA OF BETA RAY BILL

Back in 2005 Marvel comics released a six issue mini series starring the cosmic hammer bearer Beta Ray Bill. If you are familiar with this character you already know how awesome he is. A bio-mechanoid construct of an alien race known as the Korbinites infused with a real soul. Beta Ray was designed to be the champion and protector of the Korbinites. The demon Surtur, on a mission to destroy Asgard, destroyed the Korbinite homeworld and forced the entire race to flee on ships into outer space. Beta Ray led them while his people slept in stasis. He found himself on Asgard where he fought Thor, picked up fabled Mjolnir, and bested the thunder god in combat. Odin saw the good and noble soul within Beta Ray and bestowed upon him the hammer Stormbreaker, equal to Mjolnir in power and strength. Beta Ray became an oath-brother to Thor and has since gone back and forth shepherding his people to a new home and assisting Asgard however he can.

There. Now you're up to speed. Stormbreaker begins with an impending doom looming on the horizon for the Korbinites. Galactus, the devourer of worlds, has been spotted heading to New Korbin. But Beta Ray Bill is nowhere to be found. He is on Asgard fighting against Ragnarok. All around him his Asgardian friends are dying, Volstagg and Sif murdered before his eyes. The fight intensifies when he is suddenly transported away by the spirit of his deceased oath-brother Thor. Thor asks him to leave Asgard to its fate and protect his people while he can.

Galactus is barely recognizable, having been nearly destroyed in the events prior, and sets about feeding off the planet. Beta Ray successfully repels him until Galactus's herald arrives. Stardust, the latest harbinger of death arrives on the scene giving Beta Ray the fight of his life! Galactus resumes feeding off the planet and Beta Ray's people and world die before his eyes. The fight ends in defeat with the Korbinite champion left alone in the void of space where his planet once stood. Twice in one day he had to watch the people he loved die.

Beta Ray Bill awakes amidst the floating remains of his world. He receives a message from his faithful sentient starship Scuttlebutt that the essence of his people yet survives. Beta Ray rendezvous with his ship discovering a Meta-Orb containing the collective spirits of his people. On the monitor he sees Stardust hunting down and killing the remaining Korbinites floating in space among the debris. Burning with vengeance Beta Ray Bill engages Stardust once more, this time without the help of Galactus. Their battle destroys planets and rips holes in the dimensional fabric of space/time.

Beta Ray's retribution is absolute. Stardust, in a desperate effort to claim victory, opens a portal to another dimension, one filled with the darkest, deadliest of beings. A worm covered tentacle reaches out grabbing Beta Ray. He rips off the horrid finger and escapes being pulled into the dimension. Stardust closes the rift but the severed piece yet remains. It begins to take shape forming into the visage of the elder god Asteroth! Stardust and Beta Ray Bill have to set aside their differences and confront this terrible enemy together or risk the fate of the universe itself!

This story is awesome! Artist Andrea DiVito (best known for Annihilation and Nova) renders epic drawings and powerful imagery. The story by Dan Berman and Michael Avon Oeming is well crafted and epic in scope (everything one could ask for out of a cosmic story). The story unfolds with two narratives occurring in tandem, one of Beta Ray Bill and the other of his people preparing for Galactus's arrival. The fight scenes are beyond epic and story retains a relative simplicity. It's about faith and justice. The arrival of Asteroth propels it into a whole new level of intensity and dire threat.

It probably isn't the best story to begin with if you are unfamiliar with Beta Ray Bill and the cosmic universe but it gives you a firm grasp of who these characters are and what motivates them. It is done consistently with previous stories and respects continuity (both things I look for in the great stories of Marvel). Stardust first appears in this story and the battle between him and BRB is truly the stuff of legends. The next time we see Stardust is in the pages of Annihilation, an even greater story, one of my favorites. I was floored by the intensity and presentation of the story and for that I give it high marks!

Overall Ranking: 7 out of 10
You'll be a fan of Beta Ray Bill after reading this story.

SILVER TONGUED SILVER SCREEN: THE EXPENDABLES III

This weekend not only did I see the Ninja Turtles but I also saw another franchise favorite of mine. When I first heard about the Expendables project WAY back in 2008 I thought it was the greatest idea ever! I was so psyched for that movie and all in all it didn't disappoint. I loved it! Watched it multiple times in a theater, bought it the day it came out on Blu-Ray, and have since watched every special feature and commentary on the disc.

Two years ago we saw Expendables II. My enthusiasm for part II fell quite a bit when I heard it was going to be rated PG-13. I know why they did it. They were trying to increase ticket sales. These movies should be rated R though. Well, fan outcry on the internet was so uproarious that they changed the rating back to R. I went to it and it felt like a PG-13 movie (which is how it was intended when they shot it). It was still good but it felt like a piece of its essence had faded away. I still bought it on Blu-Ray and still watched all the special features. I just don't watch it as much as the first one.

In beautiful (every two years) tradition this August (they're always released mid-August) we were delivered THE EXPENDABLES III. They finally did it. They actually knocked it down to PG-13. It really felt like that period in the late 1980's when the MPAA cracked down on all rated R films watering them down to bare bones destroying what could have been far more intense films and even destroying the filmmaker's vision. Looking at those film nowadays like Tango & Cash or Friday The 13th part VII they are barely passable as R-Rated films in terms of violence. In fact the only scenes that earn them the R rating are quick flashes of nudity.

That was a horrible time in cinematic history, in particular for the horror and action film genres (not because the movies were bad but because of what the MPAA did to those films). Expendables III feels like a film made circa 1988 or 1989. It feels watered down compared to its predecessors. The potential for something great is still present and in fact there are many fine moments in the film but in terms of action it falls short. The way the action shots are framed, the movement of the camera and its focal points feel inappropriate and ill-timed. I asked myself while watching the film if they chose the wrong director or cinematographer because both seemed unfamiliar with filming action (a problem not present in the previous two films). Brian Tyler's music is spot on per usual and the plot has plenty of potential.

SPOILERS!!! The Expendables crew breaks out of prison one of their own, Doctor Death (Wesley Snipes), for a mission. It is revealed that Dr. Death was one of the original members of Barney's team way back in the day. The mission: a routine assassination, turns into a fight for survival. The target turns out to be Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), a man Barney thought long dead. Stonebanks shoots Caesar (Terry Crews) twice as the group escapes. Barney fears for the lives of his men and dismisses them before any others are hurt or killed. Government Agent Drummer (Harrison Ford) confronts Barney on the mission's failure. It is revealed that Agent Drummer helped The Expendables recently by removing the government spook Church (Bruce Willis) from the picture (literally). Church was always manipulating them and a thorn in Barney's side. Drummer commands Barney fix this latest screw-up or he'll make Church look like a picnic before the day's through.

Barney gathers a new team of youngsters with the help of an old friend Bonaparte (Kelsey Grammer) to go after Stonebanks. The mission is successful but Drummer wants Stonebanks brought in alive to be tried as a war criminal. While transporting him to the extraction point they are attacked. The new team is captured and Barney is left for dead (big mistake!). Barney meets up with Trench (Schwarzenegger) and the classic team of Jet Li, Jason Statham, Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, Randy Couture, and fan favorite Dolph Lundgren! Harrison Ford joins the fray too in what is an epic showdown atop an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere. Barney and Stonebanks face off mano y mano. Fisticuffs and gunfire galore! In the end the good guys win.

Many times in the movie I am reminded of classic action films from my early years. Wesley Snipes does a great job at recreating his character from Demolition Man. His scenes are good and he's a welcomed addition save for the fact that he wasn't given his own badass hand to hand fight scene at the end. In fact that is a major problem of the film for me. Aside from Mel Gibson there isn't much for the other actors to do aside from blow shit up and fire their guns a lot. What this film really needed was a team just as powerful going up against them and a lot more hand to hand combat. Harrison Ford is perfect in his role as Drummer. His lines are commanding and performance brims over with authority and badassness. Mel Gibson really shines too, channeling the crazy side of Martin Riggs in many instances. I even liked Antonio Banderas as the comic relief, reminding me of the 90's film Assassins. And Robert Davi's appearance was a wonderful surprise.

All in all I enjoyed the film simply for the nostalgia it inspired within me. But the series has suffered from being watered down too much. I liked the actors involved and they all did an excellent job with what they were given, they just weren't given enough nor was it filmed the best possible way. The series seemed to follow the scope of Stallone's action career in the 1980's. Like First Blood, Expendables was darker and more violent. Like Cobra, Expendables II boasted bigger action sequences but lacked the hard edge of the first. Like Lock-Up, Expendables III had potential that was left untapped, a film destroyed by the MPAA rating and the studio. These guys are still great but someone is holding them back.

Overall Ranking: 5 out of 10.
Honestly they should have taken a page from Fast & Furious 6.

SILVER TONGUED SILVER SCREEN: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

Summer summer summertime! The summer movie season isn't over yet despite my local theater going back to school year scheduling (stupid local theater. Don't they know it makes it harder for me to go see movies?). Oh well. I'm still managing. This last one was a special treat. We went to the closest drive-in movie theater to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Hercules all for the small price of $5.00. I was in such a good mood I don't think anything could have dampened my spirits.

The fifth Ninja Turtles movie is quite a departure from its roots. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman and produced by Michael Bay, the goal seemed to be a big budget all out relaunch of the franchise. Where the first four films all tied together this one started anew. I don't mind that so much. But it did mean that I would be strongly comparing it to the first film, a movie I've loved dearly from my childhood, and to the last installment, TMNT, my personal favorite of the series. What I would discover over the next 101 minutes is that this film isn't about "my" turtles but about someone else's.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! The turtles and Splinter were created in a lab as test subjects for a bio-organic serum with mutagenic host properties. There's a TGRI bottle in one quick shot which was a nice throwback. April's dad is one of the scientists and she names the turtles. April's dad is killed in a fire in the lab. She saves Splinter and the turtles by taking them outside to a drainpipe. The movie cements the relationship between the turtles and April far deeper than its ever been. Shredder and the Foot Clan are gun-toting mercenaries. The Foot Clan are basically terrorists, not ninjas in any way. Shredder is a magnetic robot samurai who throws knives and pulls them back via his magnets. He's simply a megalomaniac. The man with the bad plan is April's father's scientist colleague. The plan is to unleash a bio-terrorist attack over New York City unleashing a horrible genetically engineered plague and then selling the world the antidote for a gargantuan amount of money. It just so happens that the key to all this lies in the turtles blood, the mutagenic serum that transformed them.

Shredder tracks them down to their lair. Beats them all, and captures Leo, Mikey, and Donny. Raph escapes capture by being buried under a pile of rumble. Now with the turtles captured the evil plan can commence. It's up to Raphael, April, and Vernon (a character from the original cartoon) to stop them. As you can guess the rescue plan succeeds and the turtles are freed. But their blood has already been siphoned off. Now together they must stop Shredder's evil plan before it's too late! Which they do.

What I liked about the film: The final fight takes place in broad daylight. This is a first for the series and allows for us to see every detail of the fight clearly. The fight itself is okay but nothing spectacular. There's a small scene with the turtles "beat boxing" in an elevator which I thought was cute. Beyond that there wasn't much else.

I didn't care for Shredder's design or the Foot Clan at all. Karai (Shredder's daughter also featured in TMNT) was lame. Megan Fox's acting was fairly poor. And the plot seemed a little boring. But most of all the turtles didn't feel like my turtles. The designs were poor and the characters seemed dumb down and generic (something 25 years of comics, cartoons, and movies worked so hard to establish, all for nothing). They really pushed Raphael on us and he's not my favorite. Leo was a complete waste and Donny had maybe one cool moment. I honestly had flashbacks to bad 90's cinema like Street Fighter, Double Dragon, and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation while watching, as if the cast and crew did very little research as to what it was that they were actually making.

But the movie is making bukoo bucks at the box office. What didn't work for me is apparently working for the new generation. And that's what this new Ninja Turtles is, a film for audiences new to the turtles and not for those of us who remember what they were before. 2007's TMNT was a perfect blend of treating the core audience (men and women of my generation) and introducing these characters to a new audience too. I loved that movie but I certainly don't like this new one. But then again it wasn't made for me but for new fans and they definitely seem to be taking a liking to it. Either that or Michael Bay sold his soul to make this film a success. Not sure which.

Overall Ranking: 4 out of 10

And I'm told by my colleagues that I'm being too generous. It still wasn't as bad as Street Fighter Legends Chun Li.

BLOOD IN BLACK & WHITE: THE UNINVITED

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.