Review: The Invitation

There is already something in the air at the outset of the tense and chilling horror thriller, The Invitation. It may be the Hollywood Hills, a setting where reality can easily be mistaken for a simulation, especially at night and especially when under the influence of wine, prescription pills, and a blanket of grief.

A couple, Will and Kira (Logan Marshall-Green and Emayatzy Corinealdi), are on their way to a dinner party. He's visibly reluctant - how strange to be attending a dinner party with people he hasn't seen or heard from in two years. It seems too obvious a sign of things to come when they accidentally kill a coyote before arriving at the dinner, but it makes sense given the film's themes of displacement and disorientation.

The dinner is held in the house where Will used to live, the hostess is Will's former wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard), now with David (Michiel Huisman), who eerily resembles Will. There are assorted friends - Tommy and Miguel (Mike Doyle and Jordi Vilasuso), Gina (Michelle Krusiec), Ben (Jay Larson), and Claire (Marieh Delfino) - as well as newcomers to the social circle, Pruitt and Sadie (John Carroll Lynch and Lindsay Burdge), both of whom unsettle Will. In fact, much unsettles Will as the night progresses as he wanders through the home that is no longer his, dredging up memories of happier times when his young son was alive, watching his ex-wife exalt her newfound happiness and, most disturbingly, hearing Eden and David talk of their time in Mexico where they met one another via the titular group, The Invitation.

The film cleverly dances around the word "cult," but there's no other way to describe the group of which Eden speaks. This group, she reveals, cured her of the pain and grief that consumed her when she and Will lost their child. "Pain is optional," she goes on, it's just a chemical reaction and we can choose to be free of it. Death is nothing to be afraid of. Most of their guests take The Invitation as a joke, others reason that Eden and David are simply doing what they can to get by, to each their own. Yet Will, for whom his son's death is still a fresh wound, senses something sinister afoot. Why is David keeping all of the doors locked? What are the pills Eden is taking when no one is around? Why do Eden and David make such a fuss when Claire, uneasy with the dangerous undercurrent of their conversation, insists upon leaving? What happened to Choi, who arrived early and yet is nowhere to be found? Why is everyone so relaxed and not questioning their hosts' motives?

Part of the effectiveness of The Invitation is one is never entirely certain if Will is a reliable witness. Is he too crippled by his pain to see things clearly? Is he angry that Eden has moved on, that's she has been able to let go of their son's death so quickly? Karyn Kusama, who impressed with her directorial debut Girlfight before sliding into mere competence and mediocrity with Aeon Flux and Jennifer's Body, perfectly calibrates the psychological dread. Though she provides an appropriately grisly climax for this particular genre, it's the slow-and-steady buildup that marks The Invitation as a must-watch.

The Invitation

Directed by: Karyn Kusama

Written by: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi

Starring: Logan Marshall-Green, Tammy Blanchard, Michiel Huisman, John Carroll Lynch, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Mike Doyle, Jordi Vilasuso, Michelle Krusiec, Jay Larson, Marieh Delfino, Lindsay Burdge, Toby Huss, Karl Yune