The Uninvited

💎💎UNINVITED💎💎 – After spending time in a psychiatric facility, young Anna (Emily Browning) finds significant changes in store at home. Her widowed father (David Strathairn) is now engage to her mother’s former nurse, Rachel (Elizabeth Banks). One night, the ghost of Anna’s mother appears, screaming for revenge and accusing Rachel of murder. Anna and her sister, Alex (Arielle Kebbel), start to investigate, but they may be unprepared for the lethal battle of wills that ensues. From the producers of The Ring and Disturbia comes a nail-biting thriller, THE UNINVITED. Following the suspicious death of their mother, sisters Anna and Alex become entangled in a deadly battle of wills when their father becomes engaged to Rachell their mother’s former caretaker. As the two sisters investigate Rachel’s questionable past, they are confronted with ghostly visions, terrifying nightmares and deadly consequences. All leading to an ending so shocking it will send chills down your spine! Based on Kim Jee-Woon’s 2003 Korean horror film, “Changhwa Hongryon”, “The Uninvited” revolves around Anna, who returns home after spending time in the hospital following the tragic death of her mother. Her recovery suffers a setback when she discovers her father has become engaged to her mother’s former nurse, Rachel. That night, Anna is visited by her mother’s ghost, who warns her of Rachel’s intentions. Together, Anna and her sister try to convince their father that his current fiancée is not who she pretends to be and what should have been a happy family reunion becomes a lethal battle of wills between stepdaughters and stepmother.

Filmmaking duo Thomas and Charles Guard make their feature directorial debuts as the codirectors of this remake of Kim Jee-Woon’s 2003 Korean film A Tale of Two Sisters. Produced by Asian horror remake king Roy Lee, The Uninvited tells the story of a young girl named Anna (Emily Browning), who was admitted into a menta hospital following the death of her biological mother. Returning home some time later, Anna is shocked to discover that her father (David Strathaim) has recently gotten engaged to Rachel (Elizabeth Banks), her mother’s former nurse. Anna’s suspicions about Rachel are soon confirmed when her mother reaches out from beyond to deliver a stark warning, prompting the young girl and her sister (Arielle Kebbel) to try and convince their father that Rachel is not who she appears to be. As the situation in the once-peaceful household rapidly begins to deteriorate, Rachel’s true colors finally begin boiling to the surface. In The Uninvited, a young girl and her audience find that there’s no more life left in the Asian horror retreads. Creepy figures in the night, quick yet bland scares – it’s all the same in teen fright-land. The original, by The Good, the Bad, the Weirds Lom Jee-woon, was a stylish chiller hearkening back to both Ringu and The Sixth Sense. Yet while that director imbued a cold calculated dread in the complicated proceedings, Charles and Thomas Guard’s rehash establishes itself right away as a lifeless vehicle ripe for crowds that flock to this kind of redundant spook-house fare. The only interesting bit is how the directorial duo handles the intertwining plot at the core of the flick – and how obviously they decide to present it. Insert yawns here, because those who invite this sucker into their viewing schedule deserve what they get. There’s something not right in Anna’s (Emily Browning) household. Upon being released from a mental institution, she returns home to find her dead mother’s nurse (Elizabeth Banks) shacked up with her father (David Strathaim) and an older sister (Arielle Kebble) who’s hardly acknowledged within the family unit. Memories of the accident and took her mother’s life haunt her, as do visions of a trio of ghostly children. Anna soon finds out that there’s something more dastardly going on here than she could ever imagine as she delves into the mystery surrounding her family’s tragedy and a local child killer who could be posing as her new mother-to-be. One thing the Guard Brothers know is how to exact cheap scares. In fact, there are more than a few jolts in the feature, but it’s mostly due to loud sound FX and lightning strikes rather than anything that would get under your skin. In the plot department, the decision to ramp up Banks’s moustache-twirling stepmom-from-hell is old, tired and downright laughable at times. And the relationship between the sisters, which the original hinged so heavily upon, is resigned to just a few simple scenes of interaction that basically undo much of the reveal at the end. It’s obvious that none of the picture’s target audience will be that familiar with the original, so it’s possible they might still get some bit of a surprise when the rug is pulled out from under them. That said, the paying customers will most likely find the proceedings flat and uninspiring. It’s best to tine The Uninvited right up on the soon-to-be-forgotten shelves next to the now third-generation Asian remakes and wait for the next effective foreign genre fare for Hollywood to butcher and rehash. Review by Jeremy Wheeler

Anna has been in a psychiatric institution for ten months, following her suicide attempt after her terminally ill mother died in a boathouse fire. Now, she is being discharged and has no memory of the actual fire, though she is frequently plagued by nightmares from that night. She is picked up by her father, Steven, a writer who has dedicated his latest book to Anna and her sister Alex. At home, Anna reunites with Alex, with whom she is close. The sisters stand against Steven’s girlfriend Rachel, who had been their mother’s live-in nurse. Alex criticizes Steven for sleeping with Rachel while the girls’ mother was still alive and sick in bed. Anna describes to Alex how scenes from her dreams have started happening while she is awake. The sisters become convinced that the hallucinations are messages from their mother, telling them that she was murdered by Rachel so Rachel could be with their father. Anna catches up with her old boyfriend Matt, who tells her he saw what happened the night of her mother’s death. The two secretly plan to meet that night, but he fails to show up and she returns home. In her room, she has a ghastly hallucination of him and the next morning, his dead body is pulled out of the water, his back broken just the way Anna saw it in her vision. The police state he fell and drowned. After the sisters are unable to find a record of Rachel with the State Nursing Association, they conclude she is actually Mildred Kemp, a nanny who killed three children she was paid to care for because she was obsessed with their widowed father. They try to warn Steven, but he ignores their concerns. The girls try to gather evidence against Rachel to show the police, but Rachel catches them and sedates Alex. Anna escapes and goes to the local police station, but they do not believe her and call Rachel to take her home.

As Rachel puts Anna to bed, Anna sees Alex in the doorway with a knife before passing out. When she wakes up, she finds that Alex has killed Rachel and thrown her body in the dumpster. When their father arrives home, Anna explains that Rachel tried to murder them, but Alex saved them by killing her. Confused and in panic, Steven tells Anna that Alex died in the fire along with their mother. Anna looks down to find that she is holding the bloody knife rather than her sister’s hand. Anna finally remembers what happened on the night of the fire: After catching her father and Rachel having sex, Anna filled a watering can from a gasoline tank in the boathouse and carried it towards the house, intending to burn it down. However, she spilled a trail of gasoline that ignited when a candle fell over. Her mother was killed in the resulting explosion, as was Alex. It is revealed that Anna has symptoms of both severe Schizophrenia and Dissociative Identity Disorder. Flashbacks reveal that Anna had bene hallucinating Alex since she left the institution: This is why none of the characters had ever responded to Alex’s presence; only Anna’s. She remembers killing Matt (who did show up at their planned meeting) by letting him fall off the cliff because he saw what Anna had done. She also remembers killing Rachel, who was actually a kind person; Anna had imagined her callousness. The next morning, as police arrest Anna for murder, the question Steven who reveals that Rachel changed her last name to escape an abusive ex-boyfriend. At the mental institution, Anna is welcomed back by the patient across from her, whose name plate says “Mildred Kemp.”

Anna returns home after a stint in a mental hospital, but her recovery is jeopardized by her cruel stepmother and ghastly visions of her dead mother. After the death of her ill mother in a fire, teenager Anna tries to commit suicide and is sent to a mental hospital for treatment. 10 months later, she still can’t remember what happened the night her mother died, but her psychiatrist, Dr. Silberling, discharges her, telling her that she has resolved her issues. Her father Steven, a successful author, brings her back home to their isolated mansion near the coast, where Anna finds that her mother’s former nurse, Rachel Summers, is her stepmother now. Anna is happier to see her beloved sister Alex, who is swimming in the sea. Alex and Anna decide to look for evidence to prove that Rachel murdered their mother, as they investigate the fire in the boathouse, Anna returns home after being institutionalized and tries to adapt to her new home situations. Her father Steven is now living with her late mother’s nurse, Rachel Summers, whom Anna and her older sister Alex believe was responsible for their mother’s death in a boathouse fire the previous year. Soon after her arrival, Anna begins to receive warnings from her late mother and three children who are always silent but point her to a tragedy that occurred years before in a nearby county. The evidence she and Alex gather all points to Rachel having a secret past and now living under an assumed identity. Just when she thinks she has all the evidence she needs against Rachel new information emerges that puts earlier events in a different light. Anna returns home after being institutionalized because she attempted suicide after her mother died in a fire at their own boathouse. After 10 months, Anna’s psychiatrist believes that she is ready to be discharged. At home, Anna joyfully greets her beloved sister Alex and discovers that their father Steven, a successful author, is now with their mother’s former nurse, Rachel. Believing that Rachel was involved in their mother’s death, the sisters search for evidence that will prove this. Freshly released from the psychiatric clinic after her mother’s tragi death, troubled and partially-amnesiac Anna finally returns home, but her homecoming is blemished by Rachel, her late mother’s live-in nurse, who has become her recently-bereaved father’s girlfriend. As Anna and her sister Alex search for answers, haunting apparitions of the restless dead demand appeasement. Who knows what truly happened that fateful night at the boathouse?

Anna (Emily Browning) has been in a psychiatric institution for ten months, following her suicide attempt after her terminally-ill mother died in a boathouse fire. Now she is being discharged and has no memory of the fire, only dreams about it that involve three strange children. While packing, Anna is startled by a talkative patient. She is finally able to leave with her father, Steven (David Strathairn). At home, Anna reunites with her sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel). The sisters ae very close and they are united against Steven’s girlfriend Rachel (Elizabeth Banks), who was their mother’s live-in nurse. Alex criticizes Steven for sleeping with Rachel while the girls’ mother was still alive, but he ignores her. Anna describes to Alex how scenes from her dreams have started happening while she is awake. The sisters become convinced that their mother is sending a message: The fire was murder and Rachel is the killer. Anna sees her old boyfriend Matt (Jesse Moss) and kisses him. He tells her that he saw everything at the fire and the two secretly plan to meet, but he doesn’t show up.

Later, she awakens from another dream to find him climbing into her window. He says she needs to know the truth; he had a warning from her mother. His body warps, his back breaking. Anna runs from the room and suddenly it is morning and Matt’s dead body is pulled out of the water, his back broken just the way Anna saw it. The sisters are unable to find a record of Rachel with the State Nursing Association. Finally, they learn she is actually Mildred Kemp, a nanny who killed the three children from Anna’s dreams because she was obsessed with their widowed father. They try to warn Steven, but he gets upset and leaves for work. The girls try to gather evidence, but they are confronted by Rachel who drugs Alex. Anna escapes and goes to the police. Skeptical, they call Rachel to sedate Anna and drive her home. Rachel carries Anna to bed. Anna sees Alex in the doorway with a knife and passes out. Later, Anna wakes and finds a large blood trail leading to the dumpster and Rachel’s body inside. Alex is nearby with the knife. The girls comfort each other and Steven comes home. Ann explains that Rachel attacked them and Alex saved her.

Confused, Steven says that Alex died in the fire. Anna sees she’s not holding Alex’s hand like she thought, but the blood knife Anna finally remembers the fire. After catching her father and Rachel together, Anna filled a watering can from a large gasoline take in the boathouse and carried to towards the house, intending to burn it down. She left a trail that ignited when a candle fell over; Alex and her mother were killed in the resulting explosion. She remembers meeting Matt as planned and killing him. Flashbacks reveal that whenever it appeared as if the two sisters were together, Anna had always been alone. Anna realizes that Steven was not ignoring Alex earlier; her sister was never there. She sees that she had the knife used to kill Rachel all along. Steven tells the police that Rachel changed her name because of an abusive boyfriend as Anna is arrested and taken back to the institution. The police ask why Anna would make up the Mildred story, but Steven has no answers. Anna is welcomed back by the patient that scared her earlier; the name plate on the door says “Mildred Kemp.”

💎💎JANGHWA HONGRYEON JEON💎💎- Janghwa Hongryeon Jeon (literally The Story of Janghwa and Hongryeon) is a Joseon-era Korean folktale. Once upon a time, there was a man named Muryong whose wife had a dream where an angel gave her a beautiful flower. Nine months later, she gave birth to a pretty baby girl, who the couple named “Janghwa” (“Rose Flower”). Two years later, they had another pretty girl and named her “Hongryeon” (“Red Lotus”). Unfortunately, the mother died when Hongryeon was 5 years old; and soon thereafter, the father remarried to continue his line. The new stepmother was both ugly and cruel. She hated her stepdaughters, but hid those feelings, only to reveal them once she had three sons in a row, which gave her a good deal of power and she abused the girls in every possible way. But Janghwa and Hongryeon never told their father about any of it.

When Janghwa came of age and got engaged, Father told his second wife to help Janghwa plan a wedding ceremony. Stepmother became angry, not wanting to spend a penny of “her family’s money” or “her sons’ future fortune” on Janghwa. So, she came up with a dirty plan: One night when Janghwa was sleeping, Stepmother had her eldest son put a dead skinned rat in Janghwa’s bed. Early the next morning, she brought Father to Janghwa’s room, telling him she’s had a bad dream about her elder stepdaughter. When she pulled back the covers on Janghwa’s bed, something that looked like a very bloody miscarriage shocked everybody in the room. Stepmother accused Janghwa of unchaste behavior, having an out-of-wedlock child. Father believed this. Janghwa did not know what to do so she ran out of the house to a small pond in the nearby woods. Stepmother ordered her eldest son to follow Janghwa and push her into the pond. As Janghwa drowned, suddenly came a huge tiger who attacked Stepmother’s eldest son, taking one leg and one arm from him. Stepmother got what she wanted – Janghwa’s death – but at the cost of her own son’s health. She turned her anger upon Hongryeon, hating and abusing this remaining stepdaughter more than ever. Unable to bear this treatment on top of the loss of her beloved sister, Hongryeon soon followed Janghwa; her body was found in the same pond in which Janghwa had drowned. After that, whenever a new Mayor came to the village, he was found dead a day after his arrival. As this kept happening, mysterious rumors spread through the village, but no one knew for sure what had happened to the men or for what reason.

A brave young man came to the village as a new Mayor. He was aware of the deaths of predecessors, but he was not afraid for his own life. When night came, he was sitting in his room when his candle was suddenly blown out and gruesome noises filled the air. The door opened to reveal no one, at first, but then the new Mayor saw two young female ghosts. He asked them who they were and why they had killed the previous Mayors. Weeping, the elder sister explained that all they wanted was to let people know the truth: The elder girl had not been an unchaste girl who committed suicide in shame. She had been framed by her stepmother and murdered by her eldest half-brother. The Mayor asked the ghost of Janghwa for any evidence of this. Janghwa told him to examine the miscarried fetus that Stepmother had shown to the villagers.

The next morning, the new Mayor did what the sisters’ ghosts had asked him to do. He summoned Father, Stepmother and the eldest son and examined the fetus that Stepmother insisted had come from Janghwa’s body. When he split it with a knife, it was revealed to be a rat. Stepmother and her eldest son were sentenced to death. Father, however, was set free because the Mayor thought Father had known nothing of Stepmother’s evil plan and in fact was just another victim. Years later, Father married again. On the night of this third wedding, he saw his two daughters in a dream. They said that since things were as they should be, they wanted to come back to him. Nine months later, Father’s third wife delivered twin girls. Father named these twins “Janghwa” and Hongryeon” and loved them very much. The new family lived happily ever after.

The story has been adapted to film a number of times and formed the basis of the 2003 Kim Jee-Woon film A Tale of Two Sisters and the 2009 American remake The Uninvited.

💎💎KONGJWI AND PATJWI💎💎- Kongji and Patzzi (Hangul: Also romanized as “Kongjwi and Patjwi”) is a traditional Korean romance story from the Joseon Dynasty. It is the story of humble Kongji’s triumph over adversity. The moral of the story is that virtuous people who think positively and work diligently will be happy, encapsulating the Western Proverb “Heaven helps those who help themselves.”

A childless couple was granted with a very beautiful baby girl whom they named Kongji. Her mother died when Kongji was 100 days old. She grew up with her father. The man remarried again when Kongji was fourteen years old. To replace his wife, he found a cruel widow who had a very ugly daughter named Patzzi. Her father died eventually. From that time onwards, the stepmother and Patzzi treated Kongji very unfairly. They starved her, dressed her in rags and forced her to do all the dirtiest work in the house. One day, the stepmother forced Kongji to plow a field with a wooden hoe. The hoe soon broke, leaving Kongji in tears, for fear that her stepmother would beat her again. A cow appeared and comforted her. He plowed the field in her place and sent Kongji home with a basket of apples, a gift from the cow. Her stepmother accused her of stealing the apples, gave the entire basket to Patzzi and refused to give Kongji her supper. The next day, the stepmother gave Kongji an enormous pot with a hole in the bottom and told her she must fill it with water before she and Patzzi returned home from town. Kongji kept bringing baskets of water but the pot was never filled. The water leaked out from the hole. A turtle appeared and blocked the hole for her. With his help, Kongji filled the pot with water. The stepmother was even angrier. She spanked Kongji black and blue.

After a time, the town leader announced that he was looking for a wife. A dance would be given in his honor and every maiden was to attend. Kongji and Patzzi were invited. The stepmother was hopeful that Patzzi would be the lucky one, but afraid that Kongji would spoil her own daughter’s chance. Before they left, the stepmother gave Kongji a huge sack of rice to hull, which she had to accomplish before they returned from the dance. Kongji asked for help from the heavens and a flock of sparrows appeared and hulled the rice. A fairy came down from heaven and dressed Kongji in a beautiful gown and a delicate pair of colorful shoes. She was transported to the palace by four men in a magnificent palanquin. Kongji hurried towards the dance. Everyone admired her because of her beauty. The town leader went to her to ask her name. But when Kongji saw her stepmother and stepsister among the guests, she fled with terror. Patzzi remarked to her mother that the strange girl looked like Kongji. As Kongji crossed a bridge, she tripped. One of her shoes fell into the stream. The town leader found the shoe and vowed to marry the woman it belonged to. Servants tried the shoe on every woman in the land, until they arrived in Kongji’s village. It fit no one except Kongji. She was the last to try the shoe. Then, she produced her clothes and the other pair of her shoes. The town leader and Kongji were married.

Patzzi was jealous of Kongji’s marriage and drowned her in a river. Patzzi disguised herself as Kongji to live with the town leader. Kongji’s spirit would haunt anyone in the river. A brave man confronted her ghost and she told him everything. The man reported this to the town leader and the town leader went into the river. Instead of a dead body, he retrieved a golden lotus. He kissed the lotus and it was changed back into Kongji. The town leader sentenced Patzzi to death and had the servants make sauce from her body. They sent it to the stepmother. The stepmother ate the sauce greedily, mistaking it as a gift from her daughter. A cook revealed everything to her. When she learned of Patzzi’s death, Kongji’s stepmother fell into a faint from which she never awoke.

The legend of Kongji and Patzzi was passed down orally for many generations before it was first recorded, producing numerous regional variations. For example, some versions of the story cast a frog in place of the turtle as Kongji’s helper, while others have been reduced to the Cinderella-esque first portion. Although the first part of the story shares elements with the Western fairy tale Cinderella, the traditional Korean belief of kwon seon jing ak, the importance of encouraging virtue and punishing vice, similar to the older Chinese legend of Ye Xian, pervades the traditional tale coming to fruition with the deserved deaths of Kongji’s stepmother and stepsister in the second part of the story.

Although the story itself contains fantastic elements, its setting is believed to be the real-life village of Dunsan, Keumgu Township, Gimje-si. Both Dunsan village and the village in which the novel Kongji and Patzzi is set are shaped like a cow. The turtle which blocked the hole in Kongji’s pot is associated with Dunsan’s turtle rock. People say that Kongji dropped her shoes in Duwol brook outside Dunsan.