The road to Halloween is paved with good films. Wherein we countdown to the spirited season with a hundred doses of horror. 1 day to go.
The Uninvited is arguably one of the most well remembered of director Lewis Allen’s filmography. The film starring Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey and Gail Russell is of the haunted house genre but far more sophisticated and stylish than its peers. Often with such fare you have the usual tropes paraded out such as decrepit quarters, cartoonish howls by nightfall and jump-scares aplenty. Here is a tale of ghostly apparitions taking grip of a house that is far more subtle than the garden variety you may find elsewhere in your Halloween favorites.
Our story starts out with the Fitzgerald siblings out for a windswept stroll along the coasts of Cornwall, trusted dog by their side and nothing but a mild spring day in their way. An abandoned home sits atop a cliff; a home that retains the essence of the luxury it must have radiated once during its glory days, but now sits empty and forlorn. Roderick (Ray Milland) is a bit more hesitant of the home, while Pamela (Ruth Hussey) sees nothing but potential and possibility as she speaks of how they should go about purchasing it and making it their own.
The Uninvited shares a lot of similarities as far as tone and style with Rebecca (1940). Both share stories that deal in suspense but get their thrills from atmospheric feelings rather than visceral and obvious scares. The two are very different stories but the comparison deserves to be mentioned as both share love stories strained at first by elusive interference from the past and coded lesbian subplots of devotion and longing.
The center of this story moves beyond just the siblings and narrows in on the young and fragile Stella Meredith (Gail Russell) who once lived in the grand home as a little girl before the horrific death of her mother and later passing of her father. She at first resents her grandfather giving the place away to strangers as she believes her mother’s spirit still resides there. This could all be the ramblings of an only child still grappling with the grief she obtained as a child but the claims are not in vain as Roderick and Pamela soon witness paranormal activity happen as soon as they move in.
The evidence of a phantom presence are subtle as they can be at first. Odd things that are a touch uncanny but in hindsight could be brushed off as nothing. Such things as a dog refusing to go upstairs, clammy air that chills to the bone and an loyal housemaid refusing to spend the night due to the atmosphere.
Things grow though as the budding relationship between Roderick and Stella develops and she spends more time on the property, much to the chagrin of her grandfather. But there is more to the story than we are lead to believe and the fuzzier parts of Stella’s past become clearer with harrowing revelations and chilling occurrences. It is hard to divulge more without revealing some of best sequences that are enjoyed most when viewed for the first time.
The film does wonders in making itself at home in its style and at face value hardly appears to be a horror film. It leads you in with a fragrant hand to a picture postcard of coastal England. A place where in its black and white picture paint and image of comfort and ease. Once it has you settled and feeling at home that is when the chills get elevated little by little till you find yourself completely unnerved.
True, by today’s standards The Uninvited would be considered hardly scary but that is a misjudgment. What we have here is a practice in a tale of the paranormal that doesn’t need to slap you upside the head in nonstop scares but rather elusive hints that can be just as suspenseful.
