The Invitation
Logan Marshall-Green tries to figure out what’s going on at dinner in Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation.
And you thought the dinner party in The Office was bad.
What’s The Invitation About?
After losing his son in a tragic accident, Will (Logan Marshall-Green) has just managed to pull his life back together. So it’s a shock when Will’s ex-wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard) invites him to a lavish party.
Will decides to go — it’s been ages since he’s seen any of his friends and he still cares for Eden and worries for her after their son’s death — but the night feels odd. At first, Will is awkwardly trying to reconnect with his friends, but with the arrival of Pruitt (John Carroll Lynch), the night gets downright weird.
Eden credits Pruitt and a system called The Invitation for helping her to move past her grief. Her friends all try to be polite, but Will is disturbed. The whole thing sounds like a cult. His friends tell him he’s being paranoid, but something isn’t right.
As Will tries to discover whether his ex-wife is a cult member, he sneaks around the home they used to share. Plagued by memories of his happy life and tender moments with his son, Will’s tenuous control over his grief begins to slip. Is Eden a cult member? Or is Will losing his grip on reality?
What Makes The Invitation Good?
Have you ever gone to a dinner party and immediately regretted it? The good news is, no matter how awkward your talk was with Kevin at Table 9 of your cousin’s wedding, it’s not as harrowing as Will trying to figure out if his wife is in a death cult while slowly choking down PTSD flashbacks.
Director Karyn Kusama makes the audience live in that awkward social limbo through most of The Invitation. Everyone at the dinner party is trying so hard to be polite. Everyone is trying to reconnect and ignore red flags. Everyone is about to have a really bad night.
Kusama is a master of building dread. Everything is just slightly off, and the more Will picks at the polite surface of the party, the bigger the problems become. It’s a great lesson in how to build a slow-burn horror film, where the audience isn’t screaming at jump scares, they’re squirming at the uncomfortable build-up. Even the cinematography by Bobby Shore compliments the mood. Everything looks just a little dingy, the shadows too dark, and the details of the rooms and people’s expressions just a little obscure. By the time Kusama reveals what’s happening to the audience, it’s almost a relief — violence would be preferable to another horribly tense dinner conversation.
The movie also lucks out on location. Kusama sets the film in a beautiful home in the Hollywood Hills. While in daylight, the home is spacious and airy, as the darkness falls, the house becomes suffocating. Long shadows loom in the corners, hallways trail into darkness, and the open plan means that there are few places to hide when things start devolving. It’s a great location for a locked-room-type situation, and the characters are trapped in luxury, with nowhere to hide from each other.
At the film’s heart is a truly wonderful performance from Marshall-Green. His Will is profoundly broken, still deeply mourning the loss of his son and the happy life he’s had. He’s taken tentative steps to move forward, but it’s clear he’s still fragile. But even emotionally compromised, Will seems attuned to the emotions of others. He just knows something is wrong in his former home, and he won’t rest until he uncovers it.
The whole movie feels like an anxiety attack as we watch Will reel and Kusama ratchets up the tension. This is a movie for people who enjoy disturbing horror, things that will keep you up at night — and keep you from accepting a glass of wine at dinner.
Verdict
This isn’t a jump-scare slasher, The Invitation is a movie about building dread. If you enjoy a slow-burner that explodes into astounding violence, check this movie out. Just don’t host a dinner party while you watch.
The Invitation is rated R and available via Shudder.
