Our next stop on this terrifying trip through time looking at the very best ghostly films, is a classic of its era. Released in 1944 and adapted from a book by Dorothy Macardle, the film has become an early staple of this ghoulish genre. Why, yes, it’s The Uninvited.
The basic premise of the movie involves a brother and sister who fall in love with a beautiful house…with a sinister secret. You guessed it, the house is haunted. Whilst this may sound cliched by today’s standards, The Uninvitied was a groundbreaking movie; a forerunner of these films. For the first time in Hollywood history, the movie depicted ghosts as a supernatural entity to be scared off. Previously, Hollywood had either used phantoms to create comedy as seen with The Ghost Goes West, Bob Hope’s The Cat And The Cannary as well as the Topper movies, or alternatively revealed the ghosts to be nothing more than an elaborate hoax. But for the first time, The Uninvited‘s ghosts were very much real. Maybe a little too real, however as reportedly Paramount was worried what the reaction would be with purely invisible ghosts, so added several short shots of a ghostly outline.
The Uninvited is not only a classic of the genre, but was quite a big budgeted and highly respected movie in the 40s. The cast, for instance, contained such huge stars as Ray Milland (who would later go on to star in Hitchcock’s Dial M For Murder) and Donald Crisp for Withering Heights and Lassie fame.
This black and white film may feel slightly dated now, but is full of atmosphere, charm and fear. A very important film in this genre of the invisible dead.
Break-out horror movie smash of the year that has been electrifying hardened genre fans and non-horror fans alike, “The Pact” combines the supernatural terrors of “Paranormal Activity” with the tense atmospherics of a serial killer thriller to create a unique, modern-day take on the classic ghost story.
And it’s out on October 1st! Pre-order yours here.
Previous Parts:
- Part I: Things That Stay Silent In The Night!
- Part II: The Terrifying Twenties
- Part III: The Uninvited
- Part IV: House On Haunted Hill
- Part V: Ghoulish Gimmicks & Shocking Spookshows
- Part VI: The Innocents – Classic British Chills
- Part VII: The Haunting
- Part VIII: Low Budget Terrors – Let’s Scare Jessica To Death!
- Part IX: The Amityville Horror
- Part X: There’s Something In The Fog!
- Part XI: The Shining
- Part XII: The Changeling
