It was one of the first more dramatic, adult treatments of the poltergeist subject during a time when the horror genre was in danger of getting tired and cliched, depending on sequels and heavily made up monsters.
Milland plays a composer and writer who falls in love with an abandoned house on the English seaside, and moves there with his sister hoping for some productive peace and quiet. From the moment they notice the flowers wilt, and that neither dog nor cat will go up the stairs, the siblings soon discover the place is haunted and dangerous; no wonder they got it for practically nothing.
The Uninvited also gives you the chance to watch the gorgeous and tragic actress Gail Russell; she made her mark in noir and westerns, but her career derailed due to alcoholism and she died aged thirty-six. Her look and acting made her compelling in any movie, but she's especially gripping here, as a fragile, disturbed woman whose mother’s strange death is causing the creeps in the house, and who may be the next victim.
Standard disclaimer applies to modern audiences used to graphic gore and conditioned to expect drastic scares; you might find Uninvited pretty mild, but basic thrills like these, set to amazing music with good acting and atmosphere is often more effective than expensive FX, operating on the often more effective theory that what you don’t see, what's created by your imagination, can be scarier than anything conjured up on screen.
See it Wednesday, October 10 at 10:00 PM on TCM.
Find me at the Speakeasy for much more classic entertainment.
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