MovieChat Forums > The Uninvited (1944) Discussion > Good, Not Great

Good, Not Great

posted 10 years ago by haunt_freak
9 replies | jump to latest

I had really high hopes for this movie. I absolutely love horror films, especially old ones that create an eerie atmosphere.

This wasn't one of them.

It's too funny to be scary ("She could've been my mother-in-law!") and never really felt suspenseful. Sure, it has its moments, like the seance scene and the cool "dimming" effect of the candles. Some pretty cool stuff considering the time it was made. I figured out about halfway through that Carmel was the girl's real mother.

If you're looking for a good ghost movie, watch The Innocents, The Shining, Carnival of Souls, or the original version of The Haunting.

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[–] hobnob53 10 years ago

Of course all this is a matter of individual taste, but I couldn't disagree with you more, haunt_freak.

Mostly I disagree that The Uninvited is a "horror film". It's a supernatural film, a "ghost movie" if you wish, but not a "horror" film, which usually pertains to blood-and-gore or more blatant kinds of stuff. You yourself refer to The Innocents, The Haunting or Carnival of Souls as "ghost movies", though I suppose there are elements of true horror in the latter film. Of the four you mentioned The Shining is in fact mainly a horror film, not really a ghost movie.

I also disagree that The Uninvited is "too funny to be scary". Obviously it has moments of humor that may occasionally be a bit labored, but overall these serve as moments of balance to the general narrative of the movie and in any case take up only small, incidental portions of it. There's certainly not enough humor to distract one from the eeriness of the film or to call the film "funny".

I also can't imagine why you'd say the film "never really felt suspenseful". Virtually everyone I know finds much of this film suspenseful, though if course it's not unrelievedly so. I wouldn't call The Shining suspenseful except in a small handful of spots, such as the climax.

Anyway, as I said, it's all a matter of personal opinion. I never much cared for The Innocents, for example; I acknowledge it as a good film but it just never grabbed me, so I can understand that some people might feel similarly about The Uninvited. But I'm sorry you didn't like it too much.

[–] haunt_freak 10 years ago

It's a supernatural film, a "ghost movie" if you wish, but not a "horror" film, which usually pertains to blood-and-gore or more blatant kinds of stuff.

Not necessarily. I consider The Innocents to be horror and that doesn't have an ounce of blood or gore.

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[–] hobnob53 10 years ago

Well, I said blood and gore or more blatant things. True horror films usually rely on visual impact and little in the way of cerebral chills. It's the latter qualities that imbue The Uninvited and The Innocents.

Therefore, I wouldn't consider The Innocents a horror film at all. Similarly, The Uninvited is by no stretch a horror movie. There are those who call Val Lewton's RKO thrillers "horror films", which they most definitely aren't. On the other hand, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man are horror films, as is The Shining.

Anyway, each to his own taste, and definitions.

[–] MsELLERYqueen2 10 years ago

I think that this film was intended to be a bit lighthearted. I think it had its suspenseful moments. Nothing wrong with a great ending to the film.

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JimHutton (1934-79) & ElleryQueen

[–] TheRedDeath30 10 years ago

I would say that the definition of horror is very subjective, but this definitely fits, as do The Innocents, The Haunting, The Others, etc. You do not need gore, blood or outright scares to fit as horror. I would submit, though that it is unfair to compare this to movies made 20 years later as effects and directing techniques had changed drastically.

Thst said, I too would agree that this is good, not great. Far too slow in the middle and overlong.

[–] WarpedRecord 10 years ago

All of the films you mentioned were much better than this, which is a decent little thriller with some good ideas but a few too many detours. 7/10 stars from me.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Trax-3 10 years ago

For me, unlike The Haunting, this film actually had couple of genuinely scary moments.

[–] PrometheusTree64 10 years ago

If you're looking for a good ghost movie, watch The Innocents, The Shining, Carnival of Souls, or the original version of The Haunting.

For me, 1963's THE HAUNTING will always, always be tops.

But THE UNINVITED is as good a ghost movie as we'd had up thru the 1940s (and until the early-'60s), elegant and classy.

I like THE INNOCENTS, which has many brilliantly-realized macabre vignettes to boast, although Deborah Kerr is too shrill and actress-y for my tastes.

CARNIVAL OF SOULS is delightfully creepy but obviously of the low-budget "B" variety.

And 2001's THE OTHERS with Nicole Kidman I'd place among the Top 4 best ghost movies, certainly haunted house movies.

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The most profound of sin is tragedy unremembered.