January is when movie studios like to dump films they shouldn't have made (read: Inkheart, The Unborn, Bride Wars, Paul Bart: Mall Cop, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans). There's usually some poor attempts at remaking already poor J/K-Horror films. Last January it was One Missed Call, which has a whopping 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This year it's a remake of the Korean film, A Tale of Two Sisters. Apparently that title doesn't work for Americans, so it's now called The Uninvited. Expectations were low, but I figured that Elizabeth Banks would be good enough to make it worthwhile. She was. And the film is actually pretty excellent on a bunch of different levels. For a PG-13 horror film, it's exceedingly well-written. The film opens with the main character making out with a guy on the beach. He says, "I love you. I have a condom." In case you didn't know, that's amazing. Elizabeth Banks is turned up to eleven. Ms. Banks seems to be channeling Jamie Lee Curtis in Mother's Boys, which is a good thing. The whole movie is pretty much played out like a late 80s/early 90s piece of schlock. It reminded me of The Good Son and The Tie That Binds. They don't make movies like this anymore. Anyway, then there's the horror stuff. Not since Pet Sematary have I seen such incredible images of abject horror in a mainstream film. And a PG-13 one! There's a lot of bodies doing things that bodies should not be doing. Backs breaking, necks twisting, spines bending. And then there's the mother's "illness." I don't recall if they actually say that the mother has cancer, but it's clearly hinted at. The way her diseased body is presented is incredible. I'm not sure if any of this was intentional. I don't know what the movie was trying to be. What it ends up as is a satisfying B movie with some incredible scenes of abjection and an over-the-top performance by Elizabeth Banks. It's probably going to be one of my favorite films of the year. See it.
Tetro
Marie And Bruce
Sorority Row
Unmade Beds
Inglourious Basterds
The Immaculate Conception Of Little Dizzle
A Perfect Getaway
Adoration
Drag Me To Hell
Orphan
Where The Wild Things Are
Quarantine
World’s Greatest Dad
We Live In Public
Trick ‘R Treat
Two Lovers
The Uninvited
Franklyn
Deadgirl
Assassination Of A High School President
Bronson
Love Songs
A Single Man
Homecoming
Life During Wartime
A Christmas Carol
Adventureland
Bigger Than Life
Blind Date
Borderline
Breaking Upwards
Cat Dancers
Coraline
Downloading Nancy
Em
Grace
Humpday
In The Loop
Just Another Love Story
La Belle Personne
Lymelife
Moon
Precious: Based On A Novel Push By Sapphire
Spread
Spring Breakdown
Stay Cool
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Girlfriend Experience
The House Of The Devil
The Last House On The Left
The Living Wake
Trash Humpers
Visioneers
Watchmen
Witch Hunt
AVATAR
