The Invitation
The Invitation
Starring Nathalie Emmanuel, Thomas Doherty, Stephanie Corneliussen, Alana Boden
Directed by Jessica Thompson
Starring Nathalie Emmanuel, Thomas Doherty, Stephanie Corneliussen, Alana Boden
Directed by Jessica Thompson
You are cordially invited to the most boring, simple, and completely devoid of scares horror movie of 2022 - a film that makes "Morbius" look like a grand opus by comparison, and which steals from "Get Out" and "Ready Or Not" and turns them into a humdrum mediocre existence of a film that questions its own existence by throwing in a popular gothic tale to try and make it relevant, but failing to do so, much like the entirety of the film fails to elicit anything more than groans and repeated views of your watch to wait for this mediocrity to end. Obviously, this is an invitation you should not just reject, but throw into the fire.
Evie Jackson (Nathalie Emmanuel) recently lost her only relative - her mother - to cancer, and is going through life in a hopeless void as she works as a caterer and feels like she has no one left. After a DNA test, she discovered she still has living relatives living in England, including her cousin Oliver (Hugh Skinner), who invites her to England to attend a family wedding and meet the rest of her relatives. Upon arriving at the mansion, she meets its owner, Walter De Ville (Thomas Doherty), and is immediately smitten by his charm and appearance. While it seems to be a fairy tale, a darker story looms at night, as maids begin disappearing and Evie discovers the dark nature of Walter and the real reason why she was brought to the mansion in the first place.
"The Invitation" is a by-the-books vampire tale that tries to steal the thunder from the classic Bram Stoker by introducing us to a different kind of Dracula type, but fails to elicit any response other than eye-rolls. There's nothing new, nothing exciting, and nothing at all worth of note about this drivel, and feels like a waste of words to write a full-length review on it. It's sad because Nathanie Emmanuel is such a tremendous actress, but her talents are wasted in this dreck-filled mess. Nothing about this film is worth remembering, because even during the "scary" parts the screen is so dark you don't know what's happening - all you see is helpless maids flying off by some unseen attacker. The jump scares are numerous and cheap, and the dinner party where "all is revealed" (not that any of it was any surprise) is laughably bad in its execution.
The film tries to be a "Morbius" by introducing a PG-13 vampire tale, but somehow it managed to make the much-maligned anti-hero Sony film seem better by comparison. By introducing Emmanuel's African-American Evie to her all-white English relatives, it seems akin to the likes of Jordan Peele's "Get Out," but lacks any social commentary with one expository reason as to why she's the "black sheep" of the family so to say. Finally the tale of a bride who's being hunted by her newfound kin seems akin to the likes of the witty, hilarious "Ready Or Not," but forgets the witty and the hilarious. Essentially, it takes from other things and reduces them to their most tedious forms.
"The Invitation" is a 2015 psychological thriller directed by "Jennifer's Body" director Karyn Kusama, and is one of the best psychological thrillers in recent memory, culminating in an unforgettable climax that still resonates with me seven years after its release. This "The Invitation" is a 2022 gothic romance horror film directed by Jessica Thompson that will be forgotten the second you get up from your seat, filled with PG-13 rated vampire violence that typically neuters the story but doesn't in this case because, well, there was no story to begin with. If you're given a choice between the two, quickly accept Kusama's "Invitation" and throw Thompson's in the trash.
The Score: D-
Evie Jackson (Nathalie Emmanuel) recently lost her only relative - her mother - to cancer, and is going through life in a hopeless void as she works as a caterer and feels like she has no one left. After a DNA test, she discovered she still has living relatives living in England, including her cousin Oliver (Hugh Skinner), who invites her to England to attend a family wedding and meet the rest of her relatives. Upon arriving at the mansion, she meets its owner, Walter De Ville (Thomas Doherty), and is immediately smitten by his charm and appearance. While it seems to be a fairy tale, a darker story looms at night, as maids begin disappearing and Evie discovers the dark nature of Walter and the real reason why she was brought to the mansion in the first place.
"The Invitation" is a by-the-books vampire tale that tries to steal the thunder from the classic Bram Stoker by introducing us to a different kind of Dracula type, but fails to elicit any response other than eye-rolls. There's nothing new, nothing exciting, and nothing at all worth of note about this drivel, and feels like a waste of words to write a full-length review on it. It's sad because Nathanie Emmanuel is such a tremendous actress, but her talents are wasted in this dreck-filled mess. Nothing about this film is worth remembering, because even during the "scary" parts the screen is so dark you don't know what's happening - all you see is helpless maids flying off by some unseen attacker. The jump scares are numerous and cheap, and the dinner party where "all is revealed" (not that any of it was any surprise) is laughably bad in its execution.
The film tries to be a "Morbius" by introducing a PG-13 vampire tale, but somehow it managed to make the much-maligned anti-hero Sony film seem better by comparison. By introducing Emmanuel's African-American Evie to her all-white English relatives, it seems akin to the likes of Jordan Peele's "Get Out," but lacks any social commentary with one expository reason as to why she's the "black sheep" of the family so to say. Finally the tale of a bride who's being hunted by her newfound kin seems akin to the likes of the witty, hilarious "Ready Or Not," but forgets the witty and the hilarious. Essentially, it takes from other things and reduces them to their most tedious forms.
"The Invitation" is a 2015 psychological thriller directed by "Jennifer's Body" director Karyn Kusama, and is one of the best psychological thrillers in recent memory, culminating in an unforgettable climax that still resonates with me seven years after its release. This "The Invitation" is a 2022 gothic romance horror film directed by Jessica Thompson that will be forgotten the second you get up from your seat, filled with PG-13 rated vampire violence that typically neuters the story but doesn't in this case because, well, there was no story to begin with. If you're given a choice between the two, quickly accept Kusama's "Invitation" and throw Thompson's in the trash.
The Score: D-
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