Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 31% of 128 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "The Uninvited is moody and reasonably involving but suffers from predictable plot twists." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 43 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. In Yahoo! Movies Critical Response, the average professional critical rating was a C according to 11 reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F.
Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote: "Weak even by the standard of uninspired recent Asian-horror remakes, The Uninvited is more likely to induce snickers and yawns than shudders and yelps." Kim Newman of Empire magazine gave it two out of five and called it a "slick remake.... with a new set of twists" but let down by a finale featuring "revelations you've seen far too often" and an underused role for Banks. Bloody Disgusting gave the film three out of five and noted Banks and Kebbel's fine performances but also criticised the ending, "which can be figured out within the first 20 minutes" and noting it as "perfectly acceptable as a major-studio horror film for the 13 – 17 crowd and is unlikely to insult or ruffle the feathers of any genre fan that wants to give it a go."
Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars, with particular praise for Browning: "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." Ebert also had positive notes for the cinematography, the casting of Strathairn. He expressed surprise at the PG-13 rating and cited this film as evidence that MPAA rates films based on the absence of sex, nudity, or foul language, rather than the imagery it does contain that might actually be inappropriate for younger viewers.
Claudia Puig of USA Today gave it a positive review and wrote: "Don't be too quick to turn down The Uninvited. A stylish horror thriller in the vein of 'The Ring,' it's well-acted, frightening, and handsomely produced."
