THE INVITATION: An Atmospheric And Rewarding Thriller

Two years after his ex-wife disappeared, Will (Logan Marshall-Green) and his new girlfriend Kira (Emayatzy Corinealdi) get an invitation to a dinner party his ex-wife is throwing out of the blue. The couple is hesitant, the invitation is too elaborately fancy, and it all feels slightly off, especially after such a long time of complete silence. On their way to the party, they hit a coyote, which Will kills out of mercy. The tone of Karyn Kusama‘s The Invitation is set deftly in its first five minutes.

What follows is one of the most intense, slow-burning, unnerving dinner parties ever. With Will as the distrusting and mentally unsteady protagonist, we slowly find that the party isn’t as fun and amicable as the hosts are trying hard to make it seem.

This review is largely spoiler-free.

Slow-burning paranoia

The Invitation is like a game of Clue – every character is suspicious. In every scene, we see Will analyze the behavior of his fellow party guests closely. When Will’s ex-wife’s new husband David (Michiel Huisman) locks the doors, Will erupts for the first time – and it’s then brushed off as Will being too paranoid for his own good.

Logan Marshall-Green plays the role of Will with an disconcerting, quiet intensity – he is always looking at the crowd from a distance, rarely participating, only observing – his eyes often watery. It makes his outbursts all the more unpredictable, powerful and harrowing. We observe his fellow guests with him, often in over the shoulder shots, making it as first person perspective as you can go in film (before going full-on Hardcore Henry). With every minute, we grow more paranoid and anxious right along with him.

It soon becomes clear that Eden and Will went through something awful before Eden disappeared – their son died in a horrible accident. The grief and trauma is lingering, taking its toll, and Will is still having a hard time coping, showing PTSD-like symptoms. He’s clearly unstable, and you’re made to question his sanity – as he’s the character through whose eyes we see the events unfold, you’re asked to wonder, is he a reliable narrator? Eden, on the other hand, seems to have changed completely: she says she’s happier than ever. In the time she and David were gone, they learned to accept, and even embrace death. They merely want to share that happiness with their friends, because they believe everyone deserves to be rid of their pain and grief.

Observing the guests

As the party goes on, Will frequently removes himself from the party to take a breather, often outside. During these little breaks from the party he’s privy to small glimpses of the other guests. These glimpses range from normal to downright disconcerting, but are often riddled with visions from a past long gone. In these scenes, he also gets to speak with the other guests one-on-one, and we get to know each of the diverse cast a little better. Apparently the cast had gotten quite close over the course of the shoot, and you can tell, because they were a comfortable, convincing group of friends, with plenty friendly chemistry.

There is the sweet but frivolous Gina (Michelle Krusiec) and her mystery partner Choi (Karl Yune), and their gay friends Miguel (Jordi Vilasuso), who it’s established is a doctor and not particularly trustworthy, and Tommy (Mike Doyle). Then there’s Ben (Jay Larson) and Claire (Marieh Delfino), both fairly bland characters that we learn relatively little about, yet Claire is the only one who has the courage to refuse to be part of the party any longer and leaves early.

Aside from their old friends, Eden and David also invited two people who are completely unknown to the others, Pruitt and Sadie (Lyndsay Burdge), and Will is highly suspicious of both. Pruitt is played by John Caroll Lynch, which to me seems like a bit of a misstep; he’s so often typecast. While Lynch is a long-established actor with many films under his belt (frequently playing villains), most casual watchers will know him of his most recent reprisals of horror clowns and serial killers in American Horror Story, perhaps hinting at his dodginess a smidge too soon. Unless, of course, that’s what Kusama intended.

Atmospheric and suspenseful

The slow-burning intensity is emphasized by strong foreshadowing, and while not always subtle it’s apt for the powerful ending. The use of lighting is excellent – of course, a late-night dinner party is always poorly and darkly lit, and this (lack of) light was used extensively to assist in creating the feeling of suspense. The light too was used in foreshadowing, as David’s face is often only half-lit, always hinting at a hidden agenda – a two-face. Michiel Huisman plays his role cleverly, the character written as a gracious host, who is excited to reunite with old friends, and Huisman convincingly plays David kind and caring throughout, but is just suspicious enough in his behavior to make you believe Will’s doubts of him.

Eden too is a carefully crafted character – she is dressed in a long, white dress and mostly goes barefoot, indicating a “woman in white“, representing moral purity (note her name, too), but could also be read as an “Ethical Slut” (awful term, I know), which is reinforced by her open sexuality towards all other characters. Her being dressed in a virginal white already foreshadows some of the ending as well, and while it’s not subtle, it pays off beautifully. Tammy Blanchard plays Eden befittingly erratic, adding to the mystery, suspense and discomfort.

There is a lot of sub-text to be found in The Invitation and for that alone it’s a joy to watch, so keep an eye out for it, there’s a lot to explore.

Frequent collaborator of Kusama, Theodore Shapiro, provided the dark, minimalistic score, complementing the atmosphere and suspense at the right moments, especially when Will prowls through the house, peeking into rooms, and observing the people.

We all go through loss and grief, which makes the characters instantly relatable. The film is delicate in its portrayal of that kind of loss – only ever hinting at what happened to the child in flashbacks. We all know too well what it’s like to lose someone we care deeply for, and it doesn’t even matter what happened, exactly – we can imagine. All we need to know is that it was an awful accident; all the more important is the way the parents cope, and that’s what the focus is on throughout. Kusama embraced the idea of less is more, here. Giving the antagonists this all too human pain makes it hard to dislike them, while in more typical horror or thriller films antagonists usually have poorly developed motivations; here, they weren’t “just bad”, they had just totally lost their way in their grief and trauma.

A rewarding watch

All in all, The Invitation is a tightly directed film – Karyn Kusama clearly knew what she was doing and what she wanted from her actors. She makes you feel as if you’re right there, with them, during the party; yet it’s also very cinematic. The dialogue, carefully crafted by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (who were on-set during the shoots) was beautifully natural, and altogether, with The Invitation, they and Kusama show a deep understanding of grief and trauma, and gave the story the humanity it needed to succeed.

A minimalistic, intricate film, The Invitation is ultimately very rewarding, especially in a time where giant-budget superhero films are the ever-so-exhausting norm. Logan Marshall-Green‘s hipster beard and sorrowful eyes will stick with me for a while – and the film as a whole definitely made a lasting impact. I’m eager to watch it again, while eating fancy cheese and sipping red wine, like the party guests. This could actually be a great film for a themed dinner party with friends, and it’ll keep them on the edges of their seats, guaranteed. Make sure to leave the doors unlocked, though…

What are your favorite small-scale, stage-play-like ensemble films? What do you think makes them work so well?

The Invitation is opening in U.S. cinemas on April 8. Find international release dates here.