Most-awaited horror film, “The Invitation” hit theaters on Aug. 26, 2022. This new horror and mystery movie proved to be a mediocre film for this fall season.
The film follows Evie, played by Nathalie Emmanuel. The plot starts when Evie takes a DNA test to find her long-lost relatives. Her mother recently passed away, steering her to be curious about the distant relatives she had from England.
Shortly after meeting for the very first time, second cousin Oliver, played by Hugh Skinner, asks her to attend a lavish wedding. Suspicious enough, Oliver also offers to pay for her entire trip. Evie is told she can stay at Daville Estate, where she will meet Walter.
Thomas Doherty, who played the Lord of the Daville Estate also known as Walter, did a phenomenal job the entire movie. From being a sly, mysterious rich boy to a romantic, Doherty executes it all. Doherty played bad boy and villain roles in many productions And he once again plays this role with perfection, creating the perfect chemistry with Emmanuel.
For the most part up until the climax of the movie, it was mostly filler. The fillers Consisted of dinner parties, a Romance between Walter and Evie, the oddly placed spa day, and a fight scene between Walter and Evie. Even with those, there are just plot holes that even one’s mind can’t infer.
There is a scene at the beginning where the Butler tells Evie places where she could not go. The library was one of these places where Evie was not allowed in yet they built barely any tension to tempt her to go in or to stay away. The butler claimed it to be under construction. Somehow she managed to get into the library even though she briefly saw someone enter the library from the second floor. The Invitation had barely any suspense and the times it did it was choppy and never relevant to the story.
Well, finally she finds out her real purpose on why her second cousin was so adamant about her attending this lavish wedding. She is the bride and newsflash Walter is a Vampire, so are his two other wives. This is where the story does get a little unsettling. From the forced kidnapping, to the escape plans just for people to be murdered, and then Evie killing all three of the vampires. Predictably, she turns into a vampire before killing the others because if Walter dies all of his wives will turn human. That is the only smart choice she has made in the film.
New York Times critic Natalie Winkelman felt disappointed with the scares, “For a fright-fest as broad as this one, there’s an awful lot of banal dialogue, and the scare patterns are repetitive enough that even the easiest startlers (I count myself among them) grow immune early on.”
For a horror movie, the “scary” scenes often fell flat. They were short and there was not enough suspense, so these characters are forgotten. The “scary” scenes consisted of predictable killings of the maids and nightmares.
Lydia Wilson, a Pleasant Valley student expressed her feelings about the movie, “They gave the whole plot line in the trailer.” She commented, “I was overall disappointed.”
The Invitation takes inspiration from Dracula by Bram Stoker. The movie hides nothing about its plot twist, which was very disappointing. As Wilson said, the twist was revealed in the trailer, letting all the viewers know the vampire twist and forced bride situation.
Despite the plot and the movie’s lack of scare, the way Jessica Thompson created the mood through cinematography is fantastic. Not to mention the costumes were absolutely beautiful for every single character, especially the wedding dress and veil that Winkelman wore. The actors did a wonderful job acting within the story; from Doherty playing the mysterious, sweet rich man to the villain of the film. Wilkelman, evolving into a strong, independent new woman who is ready to get her revenge, was also done wonderfully. Other than the issues presented, this movie is an enjoyable watch.
