31 Nights of Halloween Horror - The Uninvited

The Uninvited
99 mins.
Dir. Lewis Allen
1944/USA

Tonight we are going back to a classic black and white ghost story story called The Uninvited.  It tells the tale of a brother and sister who purchase an old house by the sea that may already a have a couple residents living in it of the supernatural nature.

Roderick and Pamela Fitzgerald stumble a cross an old empty house on the edge of a cliff looking over the sea in England.  Pamela instantly falls in love with the place and convinces her brother Roderick they should purchase it.  Why a brother and sister in their 30s feel the need to purchase a house to live in together makes little sense, but it was the 40s, so I have to assume things were different back then.  They locate the owner of the estate and first meet his granddaughter Stella, who tries to brush them off by saying the house is not for sale, but her grandfather quickly corrects her and sells it to them cheap.  Turns out it was his daughter, Stella's mother, that fell from the cliff on the edge of the house and plunged to her death.  While the grandfather wants to be rid of the house and its memory, Stella feels a connection to the house that she used to live in up until she was three.

Not long after the Fitzgeralds get the house do they notice strange drafts and chills in a certain room.  One night they hear the cries of a woman, but can not pinpoint the location or find anyone responsible.  Around this time Roderick takes a fancy to Stella who is only 20 and at least 10 years his junior. 1940s man, an odd time indeed.  He brings Stella to the house and she believes her mother's spirit haunts the place.  They conduct a seance to try and contact Stella's mother and learn there are in fact two spirits in the house and with some further investigation it turns out that maybe Stella's mom did not fall from the cliff but was pushed.

The further the movie goes the deeper the story unravels and things are not all what they seem.  The thing with The Uninvited is, it was one of the first ghost movies made that played the theme of a haunted house and ghosts seriously.  Pervious haunted house movies were usually played out as comedies or revealed that the criminals were hiding in a house and pretended to have haunted it.  The Uninvited makes no qualms about it, this house is haunted and there are ghosts.  It even goes so far as to show us actual materializations.

However with that being said, I am sad to say The Uninvited does not really hold up with a contemporary audience.  That is not to say it is a bad movie, it is a classic in fact.  But at no point did I feel creeped out or get eerie feeling.  I am sure when this movie was released it scared the crap out of a lot of people and even kids who may have seen it years later on TV grew up remembering what an impact this movie had on them.  But seeing it for the first time, it never truly grabbed me as a scary movie.  However if you are a fan of classic black and white movies, especially ghost films like The Haunting, you can do no wrong with The Uninvited.  The acting is a stand out especially with Ray Milland as Roderick Fitzgerald and Gail Russell as Stella Meredith.  There is a sense of unease as pets refuse to go upstairs and the cries of a woman permeant the house.  The black and white film stock only adds to the shadows that lie within.  But if this is your first time seeing the movie, you may find it a little lackluster in the suspense and fright department.  However the mystery of who the ghosts are and what they want are a classic tale that can hopefully retain your interest.

That's it folks, tomorrow is the big day.  One more movie to go.  Get a good nights rest because tomorrow we hit the road.