The Uninvited
(HK All Region DVD)
(2003)
review by Don't Feed the Dead

A lot of hype for the Uninvited came out of the Fantasia Film Festival this year, so I figured I'd give it a go and see what the buzz was about. Honestly, Lee Soo-yeon's film makes for a decent drama, but that's about it. Whether it was the 123 minute running time, or that the story didn't entirely make sense, the Uninvited was a bit too "un-inspiring" for me.

 

Jung-won (Park Shin-yang) falls asleep on the train on his way home from work one day. He awakens at the last stop as the conductor warns against passengers being locked up on the train for the night. Realizing he must exit the train, Jung doesn't initially notice the two girls that remain in the car he left until its doors shut. Not thinking much of the situation, Jung goes on his way home. The next day, Jung hears that a couple of young girls were found dead in the same car of the train that he travelled in the previous night. Weighing heavily on his mind, he has an accident at work and is forced to go home. Consumed by the death of the two girls, Jung begins to see their ghosts sitting at his kitchen table, slumped over in a lifeless form.

 

Frightened by the appearance of the dead children, Jung flees his apartment to his father's church, where he meets Yun (Jeon Ji-hyun), a troubled woman that he has seen before exiting a psychologist's office. Jung ends up driving Yun home from the church to the same apartment complex that he resides in, only to have her faint in his car on the way there. Yun recovers from her onset of narcolepsy at Jung's house and as she is leaving she reminds him that he should "put his children to bed". Intrigued and frightened by the fact that Yun could also see the dead children's apparitions, Jung seeks Yun out to further explore why the ghosts are visible to the duo. Unfortunately for Jung, psychosis is beginning to set in and Yun opens up doors in his mind that lead to a terrible discovery of Jung's lost memories.

 

A clever title, the Uninvited has a dual meaning for the film from both a supernatural and psychological standpoint. As the movie progresses the focus of the lead role shifts between Jung and Yun's characters, as we see that Yun's unlocking of peoples' pasts are as unwelcome as the visions that the subjects suffer from. Although the story progresses at a steady pace leading to a rather unclimactic, yet effective ending, the payoff for the 120 minutes is not enough to satisfy the viewer. There are some interesting scare points in the film and the visions of past events are often shocking and involve some graphic child death. However, it took a great deal of pondering to tie together a plot that is often conveluded and strays from the film's true intentions.

 

Park Shin-yang does a wonderful job of showing off mental disintegration as his character, Jung, slowly loses his mind throughout the film. I've been extremely impressed by the quality performances that have been coming from Korean horror films, especially since the emphasis in Asian horror has usually been placed on the shock value of well placed lighting and audio bits. More and more, the emphasis of these films has a very human characteristic emerging to define the plot and the actors and actresses have been up to the task of providing such performances to facilitate the director's intent.

 

The extras on the all region disc are complimentary to the film, providing an insight to the film's score composition, an interview with director Lee Soo-yeon, trailers for upcoming releases and a making of featurette. A bit more can be learned about the film through these outlets, and is recommended for exploration to those (such as myself) that didn't quite grasp the film's ideas initially.

 

Overall, the Uninvited is a decent flick that should be seen as a challenge by some viewers. It's nice once in a while to get a film that makes you think, but not one that debunks the viewer's reasoning and ability to interpret what the director is trying to say. If the Uninvited was a little more straight forward in its approach, we could possibly be looking at the next "Ringu" sensation from Asia. Unfortunately, major market audiences will most certainly have issues with this film, mainly the length and plot clarity (or lack of).