Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

A Disappointing Continuation

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

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. 

Pattie and Charles and their two young children Molly and Jonathan move into a brand new house in suburbia. Soon, little colored lights are flying around and the bath tub is belching up blood. When little Jonathan nearly drowns in the same tub and is levitated above it right before Pattie's eyes, she seeks assistance from a local whackjob psychic woman. Their investigation leads them to a little old lady who informs them that she once lived on the land where the new house now stands, and that there is a family plot on the property. She also informs them that her brother was murdered many years ago by their father, and now it seems as though the wicked ghost has the same intentions for Jonathan. But Charles, concerned for Pattie's mental state, has her admitted to a hospital for psychiatric observation and takes the children home. Pattie now has to find a way to escape from the hospital and save her son before history repeats itself.Yaaawwn. This is a very blatant rip-off of Poltergeist, watered down for television and starring a bunch of people who look like they should be on the Lifetime Afternoon Movie instead. How the hell Beau Bridges ended up in this silly mess is beyond me - he deserves better. The special effects are lame, the dialog is so corny it's painful and any seasoned horror fan is going to be bored stiff by this predictable tale. Skip it.

Beau Bridges,(Charles Johnson), tried his best to believe his wife, Pattie Johnson,(Sharon Lawrence), that their brand new house was having strange things happen in the bathroom and closets. Charles Johnson, was a truck driver and had very little time to worry about his wife's problems, having lost a child during her pregnancy. There is a tree in the film, that looks like a pretzel all bend out of shape, and I really think the director's brain was twisted just like it. The actors did their very best to carry this film on their backs, namely: Sharon Lawrence and Beau Bridges; they both must have had plenty of laughs making this film, because in some ways, it was comical and stupid. The name I viewed this film under, was called: "The Victim of the Haunt"! WOW

I saw this film for the first time recently and was amazed at the striking similarities between this movie and the original Poltergeist, made in 1982. "The Uninvited takes place in an affluent, Cuesta-Verde-like neighborhood. The family's house has a twisted old tree much like the one that the Freelings' have in Poltergeist. The story here is a tad different, with Sharon Lawrence's character having a baby that is stillborn. It is after this that she begins to witness strange phenomena in her house. At this point, the parallels begin: When the poltergeist-like phenomena start to happen, she is amused by it and thinks of it as a "playful supernatural force" that we don't yet understand. This also happens in Poltergeist: Remember Diane and Carol-Anne playing with their poltergeist in the kitchen. Later in "The Uninvited" the poltergeist, of course, turns menacing, posing a particular threat to Sharon Lawrence's young son, played by Alex D. Linz, just as the poltergeist targets Carol-Anne in the original. Sharon Lawrence soon enlists the aid of an older psychic woman to help her make sense of it all. She informs us that the "heart" of the house is in the child's closet. In a scene that mirrors the original poltergeist, the closet lights up and opens to reveal all of the toys (including wind-up toys) moving around on their own. Then comes an earthquake-like shaking followed by a shot of Sharon Lawrence clinging to the psychic with tears running down her face saying "Go into the light! Your mother is waiting for you in the light!" We also learn that the house is built on a cemetery where, surprise surprise, they didn't move the bodies. If you have seen Poltergeist, you will recognize the similar scenarios and camera shots throughout "The Uninvited:" The mother running down a moving hallway to reach her children to have the door slammed in her face and the door locked by the poltergeist; The classic "stacking" scene- here done with eggs rather than chairs; The father searching around a mud pit in the pouring rain discovers the remains of the cemetery; The confrontation between the mother and the poltergeist that, when it becomes visible, looks like the twin of the one in the Spielberg movie. Bottom line: Rent the horror classic "Poltergeist" and forget this unofficial remake.