Such a frustrating disappointment

A different way of telling a story

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The Uninvited is a movie about two people namely,Jung-won and Yun, who met accidentally and have a developed a friendship as they relate together about the psychological horrors and trauma that they have experienced in life. Both are narcoleptic. As their bond became stronger, they have realized the similarities about they experiences they have undergone and tried to help each other in their daily lives. The story could have been a good one but unfortunately, the plot was extremely slow and its presentation could be confusing to many viewers as it wasn't presented in a straightforward manner,which was the major flaw of the film. One has to realize though that it was directed by a neophyte,Lee Soo- youn. Despite of the many awards he has garnered as Best New Director, one has to realize that his inexperience was evident on how the film was shot. The acting was commendable as far as the leads are concerned. Park Shin-yang as Jung-won and Gianna Jun as Yun, who worked together before in White Valentine, have shown great chemistry. Aside from that, both have excellent performance as people with psychological problems. The Uninvited was definitely not a horror film as advertised. It was a dark film that presented themes on how people try to cope with their their bad experiences and traumas in life. The film could have been better if the story had a conclusion instead of being open-ended and direction were better. But nevertheless,it is worth checking out.

The first time I watched "The Uninvited" (2003, Korea) I thought it was boring. The second time I watched it I thought it was good but needed approximately 20 minutes edited out. Last night I watched it for the third time and was captivated from start to finish. It's truly one of the most effectively depressing films of the past decade, and is essential viewing for lovers of slow-burning, psychological, dramatic horror films with heaping quantities of character development.The key to enjoying this film is to pay attention to the subtle details. Even the most ordinary dialogue is used meaningfully here. These characters have experienced horrific acts of death and violence in their pasts and have also experienced dysfunctional relationships with others. These dysfunctional relationships are communicated in a fragmented, nonchronological manner that's similar to most East Asian horror films. There's also some slight ambiguity, but only in little patches that can be filled quite easily with some common sense and logic. It's important to achieve that understanding though, because absent this understanding the viewer will never be able to appreciate the characters' suffering nor the motivations for their actions. And let me tell you, these are some of the most gloomy, disheartened, and interesting characters you'll ever see.The acting is what we've come to expect from South Korea, first rate. Ji-hyun Jun gives one of the best performances of her entire career. She's utterly convincing in an atypical, dark role that establishes her diverse acting range once and for all. Her depression isn't presented in a typical, psychotic, over-the-top manner. It's a very restrained exhibition, even in those few cases where she suffers a mental breakdown of sorts. The film uses her character's interaction with others, a steady tone, and a longer running time (2 full hours) to slowly but surely communicate her despair to the viewer. It's impossible not to sympathize with her and hope for her recovery. The quality of acting doesn't begin and end with Ji-hyun though. Everyone comes off looking well here.Another important point to make is that the entire foundation of this film is human suffering inflicted by humans. Contrary to what one might expect, there's really no ghostly activity present at all. Even the opening 30 minutes, which makes the film seem like it's going to travel oft-explored ghostly themes, can be interpreted as entirely psychological. Almost all of the horror sequences focus on disturbing historical events involving horrific accidents or murders that are presented in disturbing ways despite the absence of graphic violence. It might seem like an oxymoron to say that "The Uninvited" has more balls than the slew of vacation torture movies of recent years, but it really does trump those movies in pure guts because the acts of violence here are inflicted upon very fragile, defenseless victims. Some sequences are, in fact, jaw-dropping because most filmmakers (and their producers) are too timid to show such things.This is a damn good film that somehow fell between the cracks during the oft-referenced (but not entirely accurate) period known as the "hey day" of Asian horror (circa 1998-2005). I never hear it mentioned or referenced, but it deserves more attention than overrated, boring tripe like "Gozu" (2003). Watch both films and it's fairly obvious that "The Uninvited" is the better of the two in almost every conceivable aspect of film-making.

I thought I would comment to address the disparity between the relatively favorable comments and the modest rating of 5.8 (as of April 2008) of "The Uninvited." First off, as others have noted, this movie isn't really a horror, at least not in the way most people think of modern Asian horror. It's much more of a psychological thriller. I don't know why it is marketed as a horror, perhaps to cash in on the sizable j-horror crowd. Though I don't personally care that it was not a j-horror (which all seem derivative to me anyway), conflicting expectations were probably one reason this movie got such poor ratings.The second reason is that the plot was ridiculously complicated and confusing. The main character is haunted by recent deaths of two girls on the subway. Yet the plot also concerns the murder trial of two(?) infants by a lady who may have played a role in the death of the subway girls. Meanwhile, the lady has the ability to help others recall traumatic events from their early childhoods. Consequently, the movie jumps all over in place and time. Is this another flashback? Where are we now? Wait, scenes x, y, z were all in one day? Is this for real or in his imagination? What does X have to do with Y?? Who is character abc anyway? This was one of the most difficult movies I have ever watched to keep track of connections between different characters and events.Now I can appreciate a movie with open-ended plots and countering interpretations, but there comes a point where a story is simply poorly told. And this is aggravated by the long run time, over two hours (despite the fact that the DVD box says 96 minutes). Very few movies, IMO, have any business going over two hours, and this was not one of them.Yes, the movie is nicely shot, with some interesting visuals and good atmosphere, but style can only bolster strong substance. Others have compared this movie to The Sixth Sense, but I would compare it more to Unbreakable.

Wow this movie disappointed me so much, I love Korean horror movies but this movie is falsely marketed as a horror i.m.o. I had high expectations after reading some reviews, but Uninvited is just emotional drama with a few super national elements. It doesn't even try to be scary. It starts out great with those two kids, but at the end it just went on and on in slow motion, even after it was more than obvious what the point of the movie was. The story went into a direction which seems dull to me. I liked the visual style and I have nothing against drama or a slightly confusing plot in a Korean horror movie such as in A Tale of two sisters, but Uninvited really isn't horror although the back of the DVD case promises the viewer a chilling horror movie. I respect peoples opinion for liking it but horror fans beware!