More than a troubled teen invited to this troubled movie

Emily Browning, who played the extremely self-possessed Violet Baudelaire in the ill-fated "Lemony Snicket" movie a couple of years back, has her work cut out for her in the by-the-numbers thriller "The Uninvited." As troubled teen Anna, who's just returned home from a stay in a mental institution, she spends most of the movie cringing in fear as she fends off a) the ghost of her dead mother, b) advances from a former boyfriend who appears to have something nasty emerging from his spinal cord, and c) the snakeish smile of her father's girlfriend Rachel (Elizabeth Banks), who is clearly Up To No Good.

Based on a 2003 Korean horror film by Kim Jee-Woon (which I devoutly hope was better than this) and directed by a mysterious entity called The Guard Brothers, "The Uninvited" goes through its motions efficiently, if soullessly. It's a busy movie, full of nightmares featuring bloody hands, a strange theme of creepy garbage bags, an odd little redheaded girl who keeps popping up like a misplaced Weasley from "Harry Potter," and, of course, poor Anna reacting to all of these things. A plot twist at the end is unexpected, for a second — but it's one we've seen before.

Banks, at least, seems to be having a little fun; her hissy-voiced Rachel stabs a roast with such gusto you fear that it's the movie's real victim. Meanwhile, David Strathairn as the father looks worried, as if he's wondering whether the check's going to clear, and poor Browning purses her lips and gamely sobs. She's a lovely presence, during the few moments in the movie when she's allowed to be calm; surely the movie world can find something better for her than this.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com