“The Invitation” has the kind of scenario that you might dream up while sitting at a dinner party as it grows increasingly awkward.
What if this weren’t really a casual get-together? What if the hosts actually wanted to indoctrinate the guests into some kind of religious cult during the course of the evening?
That would explain why the hosts are so keen on locking the doors of the house. And why they’ve invited a couple of unsettling strangers to join this group of old friends.
On the other hand, what if all this is completely innocent, and such thoughts are the paranoid worries of Will (Logan Marshall-Green, from “Prometheus”), the most troubled of the old friends? “The Invitation” takes its sweet time in tipping its hand about which scenario might be playing out.
That’s the fun of watching this film, if “fun” is a fair description of its creepy-crawly tension. Director Karyn Kusama (“Jennifer’s Body”) finds a dark groove early on and holds the movie to it, even through a handful of unlikely moments.
Will and new girlfriend Kira (Emayatzy Corinealdi) are already tense. The party is bringing him back to the house in the Hollywood hills he used to share with ex-wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard), a place where a domestic tragedy occurred some years before.
Eden has a new husband (Michiel Huisman, from “Game of Thrones”), and they’ve just returned from a long sojourn in Mexico. There they embraced the Invitation, a self-help cult that they insist on sharing with the assembled.
That explains the strangers: wide-eyed Sadie (Lindsay Burdge), who has Manson Family written all over her, and the eerily calm Pruitt (John Carroll Lynch), a true believer in the Invitation. Lynch is a familiar character actor who always brings his game — as soon as he walks into the party, you know the dynamic is going to change.
These characters, and a few others, go through various stages of puzzlement and relaxation during the evening. Screenwriters Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi have devised a series of nicely paced events to keep us guessing, including one Hitchcockian moment when a party guest decides to leave and Pruitt walks her to her car.
That doesn’t sound like much. But when “The Invitation” is working, every little thing becomes suspect. This movie has its overripe moments, but if you like watching the vise tighten for 100 minutes, you’ll appreciate its tricks.
“The Invitation” (3 stars)
A dinner party in the Hollywood hills takes on sinister overtones, although we can’t be sure whether it’s truly something weird or all in the paranoid mind of one character (played by Logan Marshall-Green). Director Karyn Kusama lets things get a little overripe at times, but for the most part this is an effectively creepy-crawly exercise in suspense.
Rating: Not rated; probably R for violence, language
Showing: Grand Illusion theater
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
