The Uninvited (1996)

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 saw this movie on TV last Halloween. I'm not saying it was a bad movie but then again I'm not saying it was good either. It was just okay.I was hoping to see something really creepy and scary and that's NOT what I got. The story was pretty good, it had one or two spooky moments but it was not a scary movie. And I'm a person that scares very easily. It also had a sort of a cheeseball ending too. The effects were good but it was over done and it just wasn't that cool. But it was interesting.I haven't seen very many scary movies in my lifetime. Not as many as I would like to anyway. But this definitely wasn't a movie I would buy.

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.

I loved this movie. it was filmed 4 houses down from me, in my friend sean's house! i loved meeting the cast! my friends were all in it! like the boys playing with water guns and the girls roller'blading! i was even walking on the street in one scene! The orchard is not there anymore! now there is a much larger neighborhood connected to it! and we don't actually live on a family cemetary!(thank god!) if you have questions, please e-mail me!