The Uninvited (1996)

Purely Joyful Movie!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

I believe the writers were inspired by older films to write this script and it's characters - unimaginative. The little boy will smile and follows the ghost sometimes (he reminds me a little bit of the boy in The Shining at times). The father with an axe, although Beau Bridges' characters didn't go crazy he had to use an axe on the door, reflections of The Amityville Horror and The Shining here. The psychic and the ending of the film reeks of Poltergeist.In these types of films, why is it the neighbors will never see all the bright blinding "strobe lights" and all the screaming from the family being terrorized? This usually happens at the end/climax of the film. Yea sure blame it on sleep but all that screaming and loud "ghost noises" should have awakened one neighbor up! LOL.This movie has a family-styled film written all over it... especially the colorful orbs from the little boy ghost. And the cutesy moments that happen, in particular with the mom, psychic and ghosts.It's far from being a good haunted house movie but it's got a few moments of being fun. - Jeff Bridges is good in this one, he seems like an average dad with a wife seemingly going "mad".5/10

Methinks somebody has been watching POLTERGEIST one too many times...as is the case with many, many mid '90s television movies, this is utter rubbish. Just as I expected. Throughout the film little happens, apart from a few inexplicable events. The climax arrives with zero tension or suspense and a big poorly-animated CGI head arrives floating in the air. Maybe Jan de Bont saw this when he was making THE HAUNTING. Absolutely nothing here is original, and even the best scare, a bath overrunning with blood, has been taken from countless other films (THE SHINING to name just one). The acting is poor and Beau Bridges should be ashamed of appearing in this one. He also has a wife about twenty years younger than him.So, if your idea of fear is a few doors banging shut and a bath filling with water, then this film is for you. Unfortunately the film makers saw fit to have a sickening "cute" ghost around too, appearing via some "wondrous" special effects of sparkling lights. I'm being just ever so slightly sarcastic here. Oh, and they couldn't even spell cemetery correctly in the epilogue, either. Every plot twist is predictable, every moment boring. I had a battle of wills while watching this; the sensible half of me wanted to switch it off, the stubborn side wanted to watch it for the sake of completeness. I did, in the end, but I wish I hadn't bothered. Dull, pointless and totally irredeemable, this is just another in a long line of television movies that didn't deserve to have been made.

The Victim of the Haunt, aka The Uninvited,(1996) was a made for TV movie. It was directed by Larry 'Shaw, and was written by Karen Clark, She gives us a decidedly feminist take on Poltergeist. Spoilers ahead, read on if you don't care. Even as The Uninvited I had no recollection of this I decided to give it a go,The, "Family moves into a house with a Dark past" genera was formulaic, even back then. The "made for TV" factor, rendered this project toothless. Not that the show ever lacked forward momentum and innuendo It was entertaining as it hit all the clichés, An observation; The rotary dial phone was still common. That was less then twenty years ago. Oh, the changes we've seen, but not in the plot.The young couple here, Patty and Charles, played by Sharon Lawrence and Beau Bridges with their little ones, Jonathan and Molly, played by Alex Linz and Emily Bridges, move into a new home. Daddy is always away at work, but Mom and the kids know that there is something not right with the house. Formula plot point ahead. Patty befriends a psychic reader, What is unusual here is the feminist slant. Since the men are too blind to see whats going on, as well as their intentions may be, they are in the background. It will be a woman's love that overpowers the forces of darkness,Favorite inevitable line, "Oh honey, I should have listened to you!" Six dreary stars out of Ten, the special effects must have seemed epic, not! a homage to Spielberg none the less. 

I read a post by aesgaard41 of Hendersonville, TN, about this movie. This person wrote: " There's the bodies buried on the property (it's not built on a cemetery as some commenters have thought)". I just watched this movie, for the second time, and it IS on a cemetery. Maybe not a public one, it's a family cemetery, but still a cemetery. The bodies are buried around a huge, contorted tree and Beau Bridges digs around the tree looking for proof that it was a burial ground. He finds several headstones before running into the house to his children. I really like movies with Beau Bridges and the woman who played the mother showed love for children. I have only 2 complaints. The first is one I have of many horror movies, is that the characters take too long to react. A few seconds may not sound like a long time but if your child was drowning in a tub, you wouldn't stand there in the hall and watch for a few seconds before deciding to run and help him out. The second is that the family proves the house is haunted and even wins a lawsuit (it's written at the end of the movie) but the house is shown being sold again, and still haunted. The family doesn't stop the next homeowners from suffering the same fate.I just read another post on it. Khultman from New York writes: "the poltergeist, of course, turns menacing". That's incorrect. The "playful supernatural force" he/she refers to is the first of 2 spirits in the house. The first one is a playful little boy, the second is the father who murdered him. The second one is the menacing one, they are not the same spirit.