The film begins when Lilia Capistrano, suddenly waking up realizing that her only daughter Lily, hasn't returned home. Ten years after, Lilia posed herself as Eva Candelaria and went to the 55th birthday of wealthy businessman Guilly Vega. Guilly is also doing illegal businesses like smuggling, drugs and killing innocent people. He has an only daughter Nicole, who hates her father's wrongdoing, and would often spend time with her boyfriend Mark. Guilly's birthday celebration is also a way of thanksgiving because his father and grandfather died in their early 50s due to cancer. As Lilia looks around, she remembers the day her daughter died. Lily and her boyfriend Tofy were abducted by Guilly's men, Celso, his bodyguard, Jigger, his right hand man, Randall, a rogue police officer who cleans Guilly's crimes and Jomar, a pimp who abducts every young women to be brought to Guilly. There, Guilly raped Lily and his men had beaten Tofy. As Guilly's men brought Lily, Tofy was shot dead. Lily and Tofy's lifeless bodies were found, leaving Lilia and Tofy's mother Norma devastated. Norma would have with her a list of Guilly's victims. No one was able to file a case against Guilly as they would bribe law enforcement for their silence.
Upon learning about the unfortunate fate of one of Guilly's victims, Tanya Gatdula, who died in a hit-and-run, Lilia talked to her father Elmer, and gave her the list of Guilly's lackeys. She promised to her daughter's grave that she will never leave anyone alive. She first killed Jomar when she ran over him. At the party, Lilia stole a carving knife and killed Celso. When Randall saw Celso's lifeless body, he tells Guilly that Lilia gatecrashed the party.
Meanwhile, Katrina, Guilly's wife, had an illicit affair with Jigger. When Guilly noticed it, he shot Jigger dead. Randall chased Lilia, and upon firing shots, Nicole was accidentally shot. Randall was shot by Lilia, and tells Nicole that she must know about her father's crimes. Nicole confessed to Lilia that Guilly abused her sexually when she was 7 years old, but Katrina ignores it. Guilly came and confronted Lilia on how she gatecrashed the party. He was about to shoot Lilia, but Nicole stopped him and said, she will do it. But she shot at Guilly instead and Lilia repeatedly stabbed him to death. Nicole then asked Lilia to leave and while the party is underway, a fireworks display went and Lilia walks free.
The mid-credits scene ends with Red, Guilly's former friend stand at his lifeless body.
Cast
Cast of Uninvited during the MMFF Parade of Stars 2024 in Manila
Main Cast
Vilma Santos as Lilia Capistrano / Eva Candelaria, a woman who poses as a socialite to crash Guilly's party to avenge her deceased daughter's death.[3][4][5][6]
Aga Muhlach as Guilly Vega, a billionaire who hosts a lavish party for his own birthday. He murdered Eva's only daughter a decade ago before the start of the film's main story.[5][7]
Nadine Lustre as Nicolette Chantal "Nicole" Remegio Vega, Guilly's daughter who is involved in a lot of vices and hates her father.
Uninvited with a working title of Project Red,[7] was co-produced by Mentorque Productions and Project 8 Projects with Dan Villegas as its director and Dodo Dayao as its writer.[9] While Dayao is credited as Uninvited's writer, co-star Vilma Santos provided significant output for the film's story. Due to Santos' candidacy for Batangas governor in the upcoming 2025 Philippine elections, production of the film was expedited.[10]Uninvited also marks as Villegas' return in film directing since Hintayan ng Langit in 2018.[3][11]
Mentorque has hinted that it has proposed several film projects for Santos as early as May 2024. Among these proposals were for a thriller film and Santos expressed interest to star in a type of project that she has never done before.[12] In August 2024, Mentorque announced its collaboration with Project 8 Projects for a "dark" film starring Santos.[13] Santos describes the film as a happening in 24 hours which starts nice but ends as "dilapidated".[14] Lustre agreed to work in Uninvited after learning that Santos and Mulach are involved in the film.[15] Lustre remarked that her role as Nicole is "very extreme" and is largely a "polar opposite" on how she acts in real life.[16]
Principal photography was already underway for the film as of September 2024. Production for Uninvited needed to be finished by the end of the month to be an eligible entry for the second batch of films for the 2024 Metro Manila Film Festival.[17] The title of the film was announced in that month.[18]Uninvited was filmed in several houses with the scenes edited in post-production to make it seem like they were set in one huge mansion.[19]
The production team claims that Uninvited is the first film in the Philippines to be filmed with a pair of custom-built Cooke OpticsAnamorphicFull Frame Special Flare lenses fitted in an Arri Alexa 35 digital cinema camera. CMB Film Services procured the equipment with the preferred specifications given by cinematographer Pao Orendain. The studio says the cost of the lens alone is enough to produce another film by itself.[5]
Uninvited was released theatrically on December 25, 2024, as one of the entries for the 50th Metro Manila Film Festival[2] by Warner Bros. Pictures.[10] It is also planned to be screened in cinemas outside the Philippines during the film festival's run. The organizers have allowed screenings for the film, provided that it would not be streamed online during the exhibitions' runs.[5]
