One of the Greatest Korean Horror Movies That Inspired a Forgotten Hollywood Remake Is Streaming for Free

The early aughts saw a string of major Korean genre movies that crossed over to the West. Director Park Chan-wook delivered the revenge classic Oldboy, while Bong Joon-ho directed the mystery film Memories of Murder. Around the same time, Kim Jee-woon released the folk-horror film A Tale of Two Sisters, which was remade in Hollywood a few years later as The Uninvited. Largely forgotten unlike the Korean original, the remake is currently streaming for free on the Pluto TV service domestically. However, it'll leave the platform at the end of the month, leaving you with little time to check it out. Released in 2009, The Uninvited earned mixed reviews and didn't exactly break out at the box office.

Starring Emily Browning and Arielle Kebbel, the movie earned a little over $40 million at the global box office. It's now sitting at a 31% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics' consensus reads, "The Uninvited is moody and reasonably involving, but suffers from predictable plot twists." Largely dismissed by critics, the movie found support from none other than Roger Ebert. In his review at the time, the great critic praised Browning's performance, writing, "She makes an ideal heroine for a horror movie: innocent, troubled, haunted by nightmares, persecuted by a wicked stepmother, convinced her real mother was deliberately burned to death. She makes you fear for her, and that's half the battle."

A Different Kind of Korean Wave Was Unfurling in the Early 2000s

Interestingly, all three Korean filmmakers who broke out in the early 2000s went on to direct Hollywood films. Bong is the most recognizable of the lot, having directed the Oscar-winning blockbuster Parasite, after which he made the $120 million sci-fi film Mickey 17, starring Robert Pattinson. Park made the Gothic horror Stoker, and more recently directed the Robert Downey Jr.-led HBO series The Sympathizer. A Tale of Two Sisters director Kim went on to work with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Johnny Knoxville on the forgotten action film The Last Stand, and also directed the Apple TV sci-fi series Dr. Brain. Ironically, the directors of The Uninvited — the Guard Brothers — didn't direct another movie until 2023's Dead Shot. You can watch The Uninvited on Pluto TV, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Release Date

June 13, 2003

Runtime

115 Minutes

Director

Jee-woon Kim

• Geun-Young Moon Moo-hyeon