The Uninvited

During a 1937 coastal holiday in Cornwall, Rick Fitzgerald and his sister Pamela fall in love with Windward House and decide to buy it. They purchase the abandoned seaside home from Commander Beech for £1200, beginning their plan to make it their own. The purchase marks the start of Windward House's pull on the family.

In the nearby town of Biddlecombe, Rick and Pamela meet Beech’s granddaughter, Stella Meredith. Stella is deeply attached to Windward House, hinting at the strong connections the house will have with her. This encounter sets the stage for Stella’s involvement with the couple and the house.

Commander Beech forbids Stella to see Rick or enter Windward House. Stella defies him, and Rick becomes increasingly infatuated with her, drawn into the house’s mysterious allure. The tension between family authority, romance, and the house’s past begins to tighten.

The Fitzgeralds unlock an artist’s studio within Windward House and feel an inexplicable chill. Just before dawn, Rick hears the sobs of an unseen woman while Pamela waits with Lizzie Flynn, their Irish housekeeper. These events mark the first clear signs that Windward House is haunted.

Lizzie notices a peculiar draft on the stairs, the cat refuses to go upstairs, and the Fitzgeralds’ dog flees the house permanently. The atmosphere grows colder and more oppressive as the haunting intensifies. The family begins to understand that Windward House harbors something unsettled.

Rick and Pamela realize Windward House is haunted as the phenomena escalate—objects move and sounds echo where no one is present. They decide to investigate further despite their fear, seeking rational explanations that keep slipping away. The house’s history starts to surface in earnest.

Stella visits Windward House for dinner and senses a spirit. She experiences a calming presence instead of fear, associating it with her mother. This connection deepens Stella’s bond with the house and its secrets.

Stella suddenly runs toward the cliff from which her mother fell; Rick catches her just in time. She does not remember the near-fatal incident afterward, leaving the moment as a spectral memory rather than a conscious recollection. The incident demonstrates the house’s pull over Stella’s fate.

Dr. Scott and the Fitzgeralds uncover a backstory: Stella’s father had an affair with his model, Carmel, a Spanish gypsy. The revelation connects Windward House to a history of passion and tragedy that fuels the haunting. The town begins to see the house as a repository of old sins.

Rick stages a séance to persuade Stella that her mother wants her to stay away from Windward House; however, the ghost takes over and Stella mutters in Spanish. The possession intensifies the haunting and deepens Stella’s bond with the spirit. The group recognizes the danger the spirit now poses.

Beech, distressed by Stella’s renewed involvement, sends her to a sanatorium run by Miss Holloway. The Fitzgeralds remain concerned and press Holloway for answers about Stella’s condition and past events. Holloway begins to reveal a tangled history involving Stella, Carmel, and Mary.

Holloway explains a chain of events: Mary discovered the affair, Carmel was brought to Paris, Carmel returned to England and abducted Stella as a baby, and Mary died after being pushed from the cliff. Holloway cared for Carmel, who later died of pneumonia. Dr. Scott’s research hints that Holloway may have hastened Carmel’s death.

Holloway informs that Stella is on her way back to Windward House, and Stella happily takes the train home. She returns to confront the accumulating tensions with Beech still fragile in spirit. Beech, sensing the ghostly presence, begs Stella to leave Windward House behind.

A ghost manifests in the studio as Stella faces the last of the house’s demands, and Beech dies of a heart attack. Rick and the others rush to protect Stella in the final moments of the haunting. The death marks a turning point in the spiritual siege of Windward House.

The group discovers Carmel is Stella’s mother, which frees Carmel’s spirit to depart Windward House. Yet a lingering evil remains as they face Mary Meredith’s spirit one last time. Rick tells Mary they are no longer afraid and that she has no power over them, after which her spirit departs.