The Invitation (2022)

United States of America

Horror, Thriller

Screen Gems, Latchkey

Nathalie Emmanuel, Thomas Doherty, Sean Pertwee, Hugh Skinner, Carol Ann Crawford, Alana Boden

Jessica M. Thompson

Blair Butler

Taglines: You are cordially invited to a nightmare generations in the making.

suicide, countryside, vampire, marriage, mansion, caterer, drinking blood, ceramics, dracula

After the death of her mother, Evie is approached by an unknown cousin who invites her to a lavish wedding in the English countryside. Soon, she realizes a gothic conspiracy is afoot and must fight for survival as she uncovers twisted secrets in her family’s history.

Reviews:

Author: mooney240
**The Invitation wastes great potential and ideas by trying too hard to be clever and failing.** Reviews for The Invitation are mediocre at best but as harsh as they seem, they aren't too far off. The Invitation takes the successes of Ready or Not and blends them with the Dracula story putting a fresh new take on a familiar story. The film benefits from this new approach and introduces new characters and ideas. But that is where the good runs out. The first hour of the runtime forces a romance between the heroine and a painfully suspicious and uncomfortable forward rich guy. Unfortunately, the story gets so caught up in trying to fool the audience into thinking it is a simple romance movie, so it could shock with the vampire twist that it didn't leave time to make the conclusion feel rewarding or earned. Once the monsters finally revealed themselves, The Invitation sprinted to the end, with the inexperienced heroine easily besting Dracula and his minions; corrupt families and monsters had survived and thrived for hundreds of years. The victory sadly does not convince or satisfy. If The Invitation had spent less time on the failed love story and more time developing the vampire story, this could have been a good movie.