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The Invitation makes brilliant use of its tension-rich premise to deliver a uniquely effective -- and surprisingly clever -- slow-building thriller.
All Critics (96) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (84) | Rotten (12) | DVD (1)
If you were at a creepy dinner party, and the hosts decided to show a video of their vacation in which they spent time with a crazy cult leader in Mexico, would you stick around for the main course? May 19, 2016 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…
If you were at a creepy dinner party, and the hosts decided to show a video of their vacation in which they spent time with a crazy cult leader in Mexico, would you stick around for the main course?
Rene Rodriguez
Psychological thrillers just don't get any better than this. Apr 21, 2016 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…
Psychological thrillers just don't get any better than this.
Calvin Wilson
Beautifully paced, the movie traces a steady arc from amiability to apocalypse. Apr 21, 2016 | Full Review…
Beautifully paced, the movie traces a steady arc from amiability to apocalypse.
J. R. Jones
John Carroll Lynch shares credit with a superb ensemble, but it's his halcyon turn as a pitiable demon that unifies the action. Apr 21, 2016 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
John Carroll Lynch shares credit with a superb ensemble, but it's his halcyon turn as a pitiable demon that unifies the action.
Scott Marks
All this foreboding produces no suspense: It's evident from the bloody prologue where "The Invitation" is headed. Apr 21, 2016 | Rating: 1.5/4 | Full Review…
All this foreboding produces no suspense: It's evident from the bloody prologue where "The Invitation" is headed.
Mark Jenkins
Will is the proxy through which we experience the increasingly confounding web of suspicion and surprises that are obfuscated by social niceties and facades of politesse. Apr 15, 2016 | Full Review…
Will is the proxy through which we experience the increasingly confounding web of suspicion and surprises that are obfuscated by social niceties and facades of politesse.
Katie Walsh
... moves quickly from messed up to more messed up to ... kind of a sad relief? Hold on to something {or someone} for that last bit - including the mesmerizing final shot. Mar 2, 2019 | Full Review…
... moves quickly from messed up to more messed up to ... kind of a sad relief? Hold on to something {or someone} for that last bit - including the mesmerizing final shot.
Amie Simon
The Invitation is a masterful exercise in unbearable tension. Oct 30, 2018 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…
The Invitation is a masterful exercise in unbearable tension.
Trace Thurman
I really wanted to like this film, but it never came together for me. The character motivations made little sense and the twist at the end had zero payoff. Oct 23, 2018 | Full Review…
I really wanted to like this film, but it never came together for me. The character motivations made little sense and the twist at the end had zero payoff.
Lindsay Pugh
The Invitation is a great potboiler of a film, rich with character and atmosphere. You know you're onto something special when a slap, a twist of a key or an after dinner toast can instil fear and dread. Sep 21, 2018 | Full Review…
The Invitation is a great potboiler of a film, rich with character and atmosphere. You know you're onto something special when a slap, a twist of a key or an after dinner toast can instil fear and dread.
Joe Lipsett
[It's] a delightful and ambitious origin story about mass redemption. Aug 23, 2018 | Full Review…
[It's] a delightful and ambitious origin story about mass redemption.
Glenn Heath Jr.
We've spent an hour and a half trying to figure out their secrets. Once all is revealed, they're no longer very interesting. Jul 14, 2017 | Full Review…
We've spent an hour and a half trying to figure out their secrets. Once all is revealed, they're no longer very interesting.
Mary Angela Rowe
Interesting idea. Drags out a little long, but decent Netflix watch.
Super Reviewer
The tension built up over the 90% of movie to meet its climax is simply tedious. I wish I was uninvited to the movie night ð???
Kusama's direction is excellent, especially in the way she explores the mise-en-scène and the geography of the house where the narrative takes place, and she knows very well how to create an uncomfortable feeling of unrest as we follow it from the point of view of its main character.
Writers Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi really take their time in establishing the characters. Hosts Eden and David are so cordial. Are they overtly so or is that just in our heads? Will senses something is amiss. He grows ever more anxious. There is a fair amount of build up. So much so that after awhile you may be checking your watch as to where all this is headed. Rest assured, the gradual unfolding of the narrative serves to make the denouement even more effective. Karyn Kusama is an American director who first made a critical splash with the independent Girlfight in 2000. Then went Hollywood with bigger budgets and did Æon Flux (2005) and Jennifer's Body (2009). The Invitation would suggest that she's at her best with smaller scale pictures free from studio interference. I haven't gone into the point of The Invitation. That's something the viewer needs to decide after watching. All I can say is, it most definitively made me feel something and I liked the experience. fastfilmreviews.com
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