Uninvited (1988) Review

 

A criminal multimillionaire, passengers, and crew bound for the Cayman Islands are terrorized by an escaped test subject mutant cat.

Director-writer Greydon Clark offers a novel idea that may have been better set at night, as the daylight scenes take away some much-needed atmosphere, if only to hide some of the dodgy practical special effects. What starts off as hopeful B-fodder, becomes very messy, despite its sparseness. Oddly, it would appear that the far superior 'Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan' borrows plenty of beats from Clark’s 'Uninvited.'

There’s no getting away from Travis Clark & Tom Gunn’s bumpy editing, the thin script, and various clunky production issues; even lines are repeated unnecessarily taken from multiple takes and the like, possibly to pad out the running time.

Both Toni Hudson as Rachel and Clare Carey as Bobbie (usually bikini-clad) are notable. Alex Cord, as sleazy Walter Graham, is memorable. Acting veteran George Kennedy seems as surprised to be in the film as we are to see him. Clu Gulager is unrecognizable but gives an outlandish performance as assassin Albert. The unwanted attention by Cord’s Walter is genuinely creepier than some of the jump scares; in one scene, Carey in her aerobics attire offers a scene-stealing performance when dealing with a Walter’s advances. 

The shortcomings of the 1980s effects are much better and more ingenious than the majority of poor CGI seen over the last 20 years. Also, the Halloween-like theme and much of the score by Dan Slider are highlight of the film. However, with no irony, the true scene-stealer throughout is the excellent cat.

The main issues aside, including its unevenness, is that it lacks anyone to really root for, as anyone with a hint of likability is picked off early. Still, it’s good 80’s B-movie fun, but far from a cult classic.