The Invitation (2015)

The Invitation will certainly go down as a hidden gem in the thriller/horror genre in the coming months. It was recently released on VOD with damn near no publicity so hopefully word-of-mouth will save this movie. So far it is a critical hit (over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes) and was a hit at the numerous film festivals it premiered at months ago.

LMG plays a damaged man who has been through a lot in his life and is still grieving for his past mistakes. He and a few others get invited to a mysterious dinner party where things go from normal to strange very, very quickly. But the interesting thing is only one character (LMG) seems to see the strangeness while everyone else is laughing it up and enjoying the night. It's interesting because he isn't afraid to speak his mind about how he feels the night is going and what he finds 'strange'. But the sad part is, he's seen as a damaged soul so his outbursts are immediately dismissed. It's the subtle clues he notices (something as basic as a drinking game or a bottle of expensive wine) that make The Invitation suspenseful. Tiny clues that leave you guessing that something larger is at play, which may or may not be the case.

To say anything more would be potentially spoiling the movie, and with most movies, it's the ending that makes or breaks a movie and this one is no different. The ending is well worth the wait, so if you are a fan of suspenseful movies, this is one of the years must see thrillers.

Fmovies: A powerful feature film. Despite some reminiscence (group of friends, dinner, the house atmosphere, colors) with "Coherence" is undoubtedly an original movie. A very interesting point made by the director (who had already done Girlfight and Jennifer's Body) over a possible processing of the pain of a loss, in a quite denying way, perhaps cynical, reaching extremes of aggressiveness. A lot of tension, making us doubt who you believe (or even what is real) at every step, until the crux of the matter comes; you may wait a little for that, but it's worth it. Point for the director for not using low blows. Worthwhile if you want to spend a very intense time. With regards to actors' work, "Will" comes out unscathed. "Eden" maybe a little artificial, but I think it is an intentional nuance given by the director. The rest comes off well. The screenplay is pretty good. Although it is not revolutionary, the pace is accurate, keeps the suspense, and plays with ambiguity.

I don´t mind the slow build-up, I think it´s justified, kind of like the calm before the storm. The problem is how much of it is wasted. We focus on the main character´s grief, which in the end isn´t that important, while the other characters are completely ignored. One tiny conversation with each one of them, that´s all we know. The girlfriend Kira literally disappears for an hour. It often feels like Will is all by himself in that house. Suspicion gets bigger but none of the guests seem to care about anything. There are some small comments, of course, but we have 5 or 6 characters devoid of any personality or will. I feel like some events could have been much stronger if those characters weren´t merely filling the space.

There are some fine things, though, I´d never wanted to punch John Carroll Lynch so hard in the face. The same goes for Lindsay Burdge.

The Invitation fmovies. This is the kind of film that invites much thought during and afterward. The story leads you to constantly question what is really happening at any given moment, and whenever you are certain that you know exactly what is going to happen, something new appears to make you question that. There is a powerful and intense atmosphere of dread and stress throughout, all building to a terrifying conclusion, but I was taken unawares by how emotional the whole thing would be. This is a very poignant film. The characters seem real, and the performances are excellent, especially from the lead, Logan Marshall-Green. This film casts a very potent spell and I can say that days later I am still thinking about it. I can't think of anything quite like it. It certainly made me frightened to visit California.

I'm not going to give a review of this film. I'll leave that to others who can argue whether it was worth watch or not. For me, I feel it was one of the best thrillers with a horror bent that I have seen in a long while. But here's the thing, I don't really like horror films, avoid them most of the time, unless I heard a good word of mouth from someone. That's how I found The Invitation.

After reading the reviews here, I would say the criticism falls in to two opposing camps. Those that thought it was thrilling, terrifying and well done movie and those who thought it was a waste of their time, slow and they saw all the punches coming.

I think the difference is this, the latter camp watches a lot of horror films, nothing surprises them, they are looking for all the little nuances of all the other horror movies they have watched and are comparing them to the film they are currently watching. They are two - three steps ahead of a conventional audience and thus, nothing surprises them. To these folks, I can understand why the film fell flat, it's clear if you put the movie under a microscope you can tell what's going to happen and naturally with the purposefully drawn out pace of this film, they get bored waiting for the payoff.

I, as well as the people who I have give / shown this film to, fall in to the other camp. We rarely watch films like this and therefore are willing to let it all play out without trying the guess what's going to happen next. It's certainly a creepy film and while we might imagine where it's going, we are willing to suspend our expectations and go along for the ride.

My advice, watch this if you enjoy the ride up on the climbing roller coaster without thinking about the plunge when you reach the top.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the score for this film. It doesn't do it any justice, and some of the reviews I've read here don't make valid points in my opinion. So, I felt I owed this film my own review.

First of all, the tension: man this thing has a killer build-up! You could call it slow (if you're a Transformers kind of guy), but it never gets "boring". You're on the edge of your seat from the moment the film starts, partly due to a very subtle but creepy soundtrack, which reminded me of sound effects in some of David Lynch's movies. Adding to that is the fantastic performance of Logan Marshall-Green as the tormented Will. He, and the events that follow, will keep you guessing about his mental health and whether his paranoia is justified or not, almost until the end. Michiel Huisman plays the very smooth and lulling host to great effect, and the rest of the group of friends is also very believable and natural.

THE scene (no spoilers, you'll know which one I'm talking about when you see it!) was so well done I really had the feeling I was there. It all happens so slow, so eerily apropos, and so jaw-droppingly unexpected that you really get the feeling of "oh my, that could be me out there". The little twist in the last couple of minutes is the cherry on the cake, and makes you even more uncomfortable than you already were.

This is a case of an "ignore the scores, just watch it already!" film, and I hope you enjoy it every bit as much as I did!