The Uninvited [2009] – Blu-ray Disc Review
May 20, 2009 – 8:31 PM --- by: Justin SlussTags: Arielle Kebbel, David Strathairn, Don S. Davis, DreamWorks, Elizabeth Banks, Emily Browning, Jesse Moss, Paramount
has an average rating of 6.3 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1
include basic DVD ports in Hi-Def
– 
– 2009
– 87 minutes
– DreamWorks (Paramount)
– 
This uses 23.5GB for the movie out of 28.8GB total.
Overall Verdict – Worth A Look
Buy it for $25.99 @ Amazon.com
— Review written by: Justin Sluss & Danielle Byington —
The Movie Itself is Directed by the Guard brothers, Charles & Thomas, with the writing credits of Craig Rosenburg, Doug Miro, and Carlo Bernard; all based on the 2003 South Korean film, “Janghwa, Hongryeon“, Directed and Written by Ji-Woon Kim.
The film centers on Anna (Emily Browning of “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events“), the youngest of two sisters, who we are introduced to through the reenactment of her re-occurring disturbing dream regarding the death of her ill mother. As the audience is transitioned into reality, this conversation between Anna and her therapist leads to his approval to dismiss her from the psychiatric hospital, and return to her home. At first, Anna seems to have much needed this return, exhibiting bliss amongst all of her creature comforts; with the exception of the presence of her father’s girlfriend. Though it has only been roughly a year, Anna’s father, Steven (David Strathairn), has obviously taken into a serious relationship with the new woman, Rachel (Elizabeth Banks of “Role Models“, & “Zack and Miri Make a Porno“). The irritating issue that lies within this relationship, that Anna can not cope with, is the fact that Rachel is not exactly new; Rachel was the nurse and caretaker of Anna’s mother once she had become ill.
Naturally, Anna has her suspicions, and fuel is added to that fire of thought with the aggressive suggestions of her older sister, Alex (Arielle Kebbel). As the dual investigate Rachel’s background with what means they can, ligitimate clues begin to fall into place, convincingly making the situation of the death of Anna’s mother seem not so much an accident. It is certainly a mental battle though, having convincing evidence, yet Steven strongly holds the side in defense of Rachel, while Anna is plagued by grotesque nightmares and hallucinations that push her farther to bringing justice; as she sees it.
In closing, I know at this point American audiences have received their serving of remade horror/thriller flicks from the other side of the world, reconstructed to suit what is assumed to be our general taste in suspense and fright, however, “The Uninvited” is honestly rather barable, and even watchable. The movie does not go overboard with wacky paranormal themes, but definitely retains the psychological thriller elements, making for a more favorable film compared to other re-do’s. I definitely did not want to disclose more information in the synopsis, as a further summary would cross the line of spoilers, and though the ending may cross your mind while watching, chances are you will be misled until the final moment, whether you enjoy it or not. Overall, many may see the film as, described in the supplements, like “a tragedy disguised as a horror movie”, as it receives a respectable “4 Star Rating“.
Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Judging from IMDb tech specs and behind-the-scenes footage, this was shot using Panavision cameras on traditional 35mm film and makes for an excellent Hi-Def transfer. The first thing one will notice is a black level as dark as the depths of outer space, or better yet ink. The amount of detail here is in pure abundance and really is shown off during close-ups of the actors and even objects such as a faucet, shoes and obviously the bell. The flesthones are very accurate here with a cast of photogenic females serving as great example. The color palette is very accurate as well, if at times a bit subdued to give a sense of foreboding.
The 35mm to Hi-Def transfer makes for a presentation that is extremely impressive and worthy of a “4.5 Star Rating“. I was “on the fence” about giving this a higher rating but I have to keep things like “3-D pop” and such in mind that this didn’t really have a whole lot of. It did have some “3-D pop”, don’t get me wrong, just not enough. The amount of film grain here is almost non-existent and I can’t really contribute that to DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) or EE (Edge Enhancement). The transfer is very impressive, let me just end it on that. Great job here by the folks at DreamWorks (Paramount). Kudos.
Audio Quality on this release is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround. The film starts up with excellent rear channel and bass presence which is sure to startle you a few times at least. Dialogue is driven perfectly from the center channel and requires no volume adjustments at all throughout and it is never overwhelmed by the film’s music or loud action sequences. Speaking of the film’s original music composed by Christopher Young, it comes through brilliantly in the 5.1 soundscape and fits the overly emotional vibes of the film perfectly. The original music almost at times reminds me of such classic physiological thrillers as the original 1979 “The Amityville Horror” or “Poltergeist” from 1982. One of the sounds that seems to startled me the most throughout was the sound of thunder right before something frightening appeared. It was this loud monstrous bass presence that made me jump just as much as the scary visuals. Overall the audio presentation is very solid, gets the job done very well, so much so that it earns a very respectable “4.5 Star Rating” for overall audio quality.
Bonus Materials are ALL presented in High Definition (HD) video quality using MPEG-2 and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @224kbps“. ** SPOILER ALERT ** All of these bonus materials include spoilers to the film’s surprise ending so save these for after you’ve watched the feature film itself.
- “Unlocking The Uninvited” (19:00 – HD) features interviews with The Guard Brothers (Charles & Thomas) who Directed the film as well as other crew members like Producers and one of the Screenwriters. The cast members like Emily Browning, Arielle Kebbel and Elizabeth Banks all give interviews here as well which are very informative and entertaining. This proves to be a “making of” featurette worth the watch.
- “Deleted Scenes” (5:37 – HD) are presented four in total. They are titled “Anna Arriving Home“, “Girls at Dock“, “Rachel Changes Anna’s Sheets” and “Anna Packs Her Bags“.
- “Alternate Ending” (0:50 – HD) runs very short, 50 seconds as just noted, but has a very different end to the film. I won’t provide any more info than that to avoid spoilers.
Overall, the bonus materials we get here are just the same was what the day-and-date DVD release received. They receive no exclusives to the Blu-ray release really aside from the fact they are in Hi-Def video quality. Regardless, the supplemental materials do prove to be worth the watch if you enjoyed the film but are a tad bit short.
Blu-ray Disc packaging:
Screenshots:
NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.
