Sometimes a slow build can be what makes a movie scary. You know something is going to pop off but just don't know when. I think those are the scariest movies because they resemble real life. But, when the payoff isn't that big it can make you hate the movie with a passion. I hate The Invitation with a passion. Nobody will make me believe this is a good movie.
The film, if you can call it that, follows Will and his new girlfriend Kira as they go to a party hosted by his ex-wife that divorced them after their child died. It's Will's old house that his ex Eden now lives in with her new husband David. On the way Will kills a fox because I mean, that's scary. Will gets to the house and spends most of the time wandering thinking about what used to be his home.
Most of the guest met at a grief support group called The Invitation, because you gotta drop the movie name in there somewhere. The group helps people work through grief through "spiritual philosophy" which should have been the first clue that this was a cult. Meditation, prayer, internal reconciliation or something like that is usually how this goes, but "spiritual philosophy," that just sounds like nonsense, and it is.
The group plays some party games which leads to some same sex kissing and people wanting to leave. Will starts to think David is trying to keep people inside the house for some reason. After dinner Will starts yelling about this being a cult and they laugh it off as he was in grief still. They use the word grief nearly every time because these rich people don't own a thesaurus.
Then Will is proven right as David leads a toast and people and start dying as they drink the wine. Will runs around and they try to kill him and a few others who aren't with it. In the end most of the guest are dead and they go outside to see that LA is burning and there are red lanterns everywhere because cults took over the city.
Let me tell you this is a slow burn and when it finally blows up in your face it's like a squirt gun. You just sigh that this is all over. Any logical person figures out this is a cult long before the brief fist fight over "spiritual philosophy." The cast was so into the movie and attempting to provide the best performances they could and the movie is just bad.The slow methodical build of this movie should have had some intense payoff. Instead it's just cults. Not that cults aren't serious but the idea that a single cult has taken over all of California. How? How would Jim Jones have taken over a city?
This movie is a slow burn because it burns you up as you watch it. The characters are just bad but the actors are putting their entire hearts into it. We spend too much of the film watching as Will stares off lovingly into the past. The plot is strange because in my experience you don't typically invite your ex to dinner at a home you won in the divorce. Maybe I'm just not rich enough to do that. If you watch this movie have a book on standby so you have something interesting to look at as you starve for entertainment.
You should buy Darrell's Book, watch him on the Blerds Online YouTube Channel or The CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts.
