PREMISE
A young woman is courted and swept off her feet, only to realize a gothic conspiracy is afoot.
THE GOOD STUFF
NATHALIE EMMANUEL- If you are at all familiar with the FAST AND FURIOUS movies or GAME OF THRONES (and I imagine at this point that’s damn near everybody), then you are pretty familiar with Emmanuel. But if you are not, and you are going to this movie not knowing who she is, then I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Emmanuel carries this movie more or less, bringing as much earnestness as she possibly can. It is a performance to be appreciated, given the material she has to work with.
THE BAD STUFF
Thomas Doherty– As hard as Emmanuel is trying to bring some gravity, emotion, and genuine soul into this film, Thomas Doherty’s performance is here for the schlock. Although I’m pretty sure he’s at least attempting some sense of earnestness in this performance, it is evident that Doherty has graduated with a doctorate from CW Network University, with a master’s degree in… the smolder.
Many, many, MANY actors in the game have variations of the smolder. But Doherty’s is next f****** level. The smolder is his only facial expression for the first two acts of this film. And because he is the apex of CW-level handsome, you genuinely believe that the ridiculous things he does in this movie to gain the admiration of everybody would work simply because of the sheer power of this smolder.
And because it is so ridiculous, it is unintentionally funny. And I don’t know if this is a bad thing because, without this ridiculousness, this movie is a more challenging sit-through than it is.
THE UGLY STUFF
*steps on soapbox*
PG-13 HORROR- As the years go by, I can’t help but ask what the point of PG-13 horror films is. I can’t help but think that the good PG-13 horror movies that exist (insidious, scary stories to tell in the dark, arachnophobia, tremors, drag me to hell) are low-key miracles, given how handicapped filmmakers are in displaying the horror. There’s a reason it’s called horror because you’re supposed to show horror-type s***.
Amidst all this CW romance in the second act of this film, there are unrelated cutaways to horror scenes. But because we can’t show blood…or things like stabbing, or shootings… or the aftermath of the violence that we know has been committed. We get multiple scenes of people going around corners and peeking underneath things with a music cue building oh so slowly until it finally crescendos, there’s a scream, and then the film cuts to the next scene without us knowing what’s going on.
This film does it no less than four different times. (Yes, I counted) and at first, I was furious. But then I realized that’s what you must do to effectively tell PG-13 horror. It’s anticlimactic as hell, and it looks amateurish no matter how good everything else looks. But hey, if one walks into a movie that they know is PG-13 horror, then they should know what they’re getting by this point, right? There are so many bad examples of this that I almost feel I don’t have a right to be annoyed about it anymore.
*********************
Ultimately, this movie is a much more dramatic rendition of a film that came out three years ago called ready or not. It is impossible not to think of that movie when watching it. And if I were to make a suggestion, instead of watching the invitation I would rent ready or not and have a much better time.
THE INVITATION is in theatres now.