Naty's Spooky Corner

The Invitation

★★★★★

Sunday, May 16, 2021, 11:11 PM

This 2015 film is built around the intense reunion between Will and his ex-wife, Eden, who is throwing a dinner party amongst old friends after disappearing for two years to a mysterious place in Mexico. During the party, Will is haunted by recurring memories of his now dead son and his wifes attempted suicide. Although set with good intentions, the group of old friends become steadily uncomfortable and Will begins to suspect that something deeply sinister is going on between his ex-wife, her new beau David, their odd guests Sadie and Pruitt.

Spoiler Time!!

I don’t say this often, but I highly encourage everyone to watch this film. It offers a palpably tense look into how death and trauma can tear a once loving couple apart and drive one of them to seek more drastic self-help. The more culty type of self-help. Tension is the group’s constant companion during their dinner party, as the two main members, Will and Eden clash, outraged with the others coping mechanism after their tragic loss. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Naty, I sure hope that I don’t join a murderous cult to escape the death of a loved one cause that’s super fucked up”. And you’re right dear reader, while unfortunate that this was the comfort niche that Eden needed, there’s still an underlying sense of empathy, even pity, that I felt towards her character. It's never easy to lose a loved one, even less so to lose your own child unexpectedly.

Another aspect of the film that I enjoyed greatly, was that the plot does such an excellent job at misdirection. Up until the climax of the film, there are a number of scenes that sprinkle in a hint of doubt, a touch of questioning, that all feed into the idea that perhaps Will is an unreliable narrator. While his friends are patient and supportive to all the pain that he’s been going through, they even begin to question his own sanity at his incessant asking of “Where’s Choi?”, one of their friends who should have been among the first to arrive. Of course, Choi arrives later than late, making the group doubt Will even more, until till, of course, the “don’t drink the koolaid” scene where the true intentions of Eden and David are revealed via poisoned wine. Honestly, I think that one of the more tragic parts of the movie was the fact that Choi arrived incredibly late to the reunion of his old friends, just to watch his girlfriend die less than an hour later…that’s rough buddy.

There’s also the issue of Pruitt. Dear old Pruitt. Dear old wife-murdering Pruitt. Egh...Never have I cheered on a shitty character's death more than Pruitt’s. His character is understandably one that you're meant to hate, because how else would you react when facing such a disgusting self-pardoning monster? (Have I mentioned just how much I hate Pruitt? I don’t think that I have...)

Finally, I have to give a shout-out to the closing scene that depicts just how many other red-lanterned houses in the LA area were also facing a similar attack and betrayal from their once loved ones. I found this scene to be especially haunting, and of course, similar to the ending of 1 BR. Which, feel free to check out that review as well and see both movies for yourself because they share a number of similarities, ranging from a tragic death of an animal, a community shared death of an elderly person, and a whole lot of fun cult-fueled murder. Well….as fun as it can be of course.

Spooky Rating: 4/5
Overall Rating: 5/5

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