28 October,2022 04:32 PM IST | Mumbai | Johnson Thomas
A still from `The Invitation`
A horror thriller with a vampiric premise, this film starts off pretty well. Director and co-writer Jessica M. Thompson builds up the spooky suspense with smart ingenuity. But that interest goes down the chute when the spooks come in.
Evie (Nathalie Emmanuel, better known for her Game of Thrones stint) is a struggling New York artist who also moonlights as a catering waitress. She has just lost her mother and is looking to belong when she is called for duty at an event for a new DNA testing company. She manages to snag a swag bag and takes the test. While goes online and checks out her lineage and to her surprise, finds that she's got a bunch of White British cousins. An enthusiastic second cousin (Hugh Skinner) invites Evie to join him for a posh family wedding at a decadent English estate. Evie is skeptical but he convinces her that one of her ancestors was the spawn of a scandalous affair (that explains her African genes), and the family now is just dying to meet her. On her arrival she finds out she is the only odd one out, besides the maids. Evie is suitably warned-off entering rooms other than her bedroom and getting into a tryst with the resident host. But as is the case in most horror films, she doesn't pay heed. Her romantic entanglement with the dashing Walter (Thomas Doherty) is swift and easy, in spite of the forebodings. The lavish estate and gothic manor look mysterious and the head butler, Mr. Field (Sean Pertwee), is suitably creepy. Thereafter comes the bloodletting and bloodsucking!
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That was clearly the better part of the narrative because after that it's all so dark and perverted that you can barely see or feel thrilled by what is happening. The three-day wedding festivities get underway and Evie is subjected to some jump scares that one can see coming quite easily. The initial atmospherics is lost in the attempt to shock and awe. Evie is invited to a Spa with catty, glamorous maids of honor (Stephanie Corneliussen and Alana Boden) doing their bit to make her feel furthermore insecure. The final Reveal happens at a masked dinner party where the truth is unmasked with all its gory implications. But there's not much suspense to be had till that happens so the effect, though odious, lacks punch. What transpires thereafter is pretty much standard fare, feels silly and campy to the core. Thompson has nothing new to offer other than rehashing familiar horror beats.
Danielle Knox's costume design makes everyone look good even when they are doing horrible things. Nathalie Emmanuel has a fairly good screen presence, so, she looks appealing and interesting throughout. The script had some elements which could have brought on a deeper, more satisfying effect - but Thompson and Blair Butler's efforts are concerned with gliding through those implications and not exploring them thoroughly for greater affect. There is nothing surprising here, just hackneyed and uninteresting tropes being recycled!
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