The Victim of the Haunt, aka The Uninvited,(1996) was a made for TV movie. It was directed by Larry 'Shaw, and was written by Karen Clark, She gives us a decidedly feminist take on Poltergeist. Spoilers ahead, read on if you don't care. Even as The Uninvited I had no recollection of this I decided to give it a go,The, "Family moves into a house with a Dark past" genera was formulaic, even back then. The "made for TV" factor, rendered this project toothless. Not that the show ever lacked forward momentum and innuendo It was entertaining as it hit all the clichés, An observation; The rotary dial phone was still common. That was less then twenty years ago. Oh, the changes we've seen, but not in the plot.The young couple here, Patty and Charles, played by Sharon Lawrence and Beau Bridges with their little ones, Jonathan and Molly, played by Alex Linz and Emily Bridges, move into a new home. Daddy is always away at work, but Mom and the kids know that there is something not right with the house. Formula plot point ahead. Patty befriends a psychic reader, What is unusual here is the feminist slant. Since the men are too blind to see whats going on, as well as their intentions may be, they are in the background. It will be a woman's love that overpowers the forces of darkness,Favorite inevitable line, "Oh honey, I should have listened to you!" Six dreary stars out of Ten, the special effects must have seemed epic, not! a homage to Spielberg none the less. 

This movie had to be made by liftime television for women, it just had that type of feel of one of their movies, i think it had some of the same actos too. It was pretty bad all around, if this was supposedly based on some true story I'm pretty sure it didn't go down the way it was portrayed in this film. If it did, then that lady's kid is one stupid child. I mean, what kid goes down into a flooded basement and just sits down and plays in the water? Then just sits there and doesn't move when a hose is coming for him. Stupid. And the guy that played the father had to be the weakest human being on the planet for not being able to break through a door with a huge ax and pick, yet he was able to dig a huge whole to uncover the graves buried in the backyard - oh thats right, did I mention this is a rip off of poltergiest? Its entertaining, thats true, not scary and I wouldn't mind any of these actors being killed by the ghosts in the movie but undortantly it didn't happen

Pattie and Charles and their two young children Molly and Jonathan move into a brand new house in suburbia. Soon, little colored lights are flying around and the bath tub is belching up blood. When little Jonathan nearly drowns in the same tub and is levitated above it right before Pattie's eyes, she seeks assistance from a local whackjob psychic woman. Their investigation leads them to a little old lady who informs them that she once lived on the land where the new house now stands, and that there is a family plot on the property. She also informs them that her brother was murdered many years ago by their father, and now it seems as though the wicked ghost has the same intentions for Jonathan. But Charles, concerned for Pattie's mental state, has her admitted to a hospital for psychiatric observation and takes the children home. Pattie now has to find a way to escape from the hospital and save her son before history repeats itself.Yaaawwn. This is a very blatant rip-off of Poltergeist, watered down for television and starring a bunch of people who look like they should be on the Lifetime Afternoon Movie instead. How the hell Beau Bridges ended up in this silly mess is beyond me - he deserves better. The special effects are lame, the dialog is so corny it's painful and any seasoned horror fan is going to be bored stiff by this predictable tale. Skip it.

I read a post by aesgaard41 of Hendersonville, TN, about this movie. This person wrote: " There's the bodies buried on the property (it's not built on a cemetery as some commenters have thought)". I just watched this movie, for the second time, and it IS on a cemetery. Maybe not a public one, it's a family cemetery, but still a cemetery. The bodies are buried around a huge, contorted tree and Beau Bridges digs around the tree looking for proof that it was a burial ground. He finds several headstones before running into the house to his children. I really like movies with Beau Bridges and the woman who played the mother showed love for children. I have only 2 complaints. The first is one I have of many horror movies, is that the characters take too long to react. A few seconds may not sound like a long time but if your child was drowning in a tub, you wouldn't stand there in the hall and watch for a few seconds before deciding to run and help him out. The second is that the family proves the house is haunted and even wins a lawsuit (it's written at the end of the movie) but the house is shown being sold again, and still haunted. The family doesn't stop the next homeowners from suffering the same fate.I just read another post on it. Khultman from New York writes: "the poltergeist, of course, turns menacing". That's incorrect. The "playful supernatural force" he/she refers to is the first of 2 spirits in the house. The first one is a playful little boy, the second is the father who murdered him. The second one is the menacing one, they are not the same spirit.