The Invitation : I actually can't believe the high score

This movie sucked. The ending was the worst goddamn thing I've ever seen. Christ I can't believe how eager some people are to love it. There are so many more deserving horror films.

I think that "sucked" is a little harsh.

The movie was well-acted, layered the thriller elements with an interesting theme about dealing with grief and loss, and had some neat visual elements (things like playing with action in the foreground and background or the extended use of slow motion during one scene).

I'm not evangelical about this movie ("YOU MUST LOVE IT!!!!"), but I really liked it and have definitely recommended it to quite a few people who have also liked it.

The Invitation is a slow-burn, mostly-psychological horror. It had a deliberately slow pace. I think that movies like this either make for great viewing experiences or they irritate the heck out of you.

Now that it's been on Netflix for a week I'm sure this board is going to be slammed with the inevitable hyperbolic backlash ("Worst movie ever"). Its technical merits alone (acting, writing, shooting) set it apart as one of the better thriller/horrors of the year.

Are you interested in discussing what you didn't like about it, or were you more just wanting to vent?

Yeah my comments were really lazy, and I was just venting. I just did not like this film, particularly the absurd ending.

Other films in a (vaguely) similar vein to this one which I liked a lot more include: Coherence, Kill List, Knock Knock, The Gift, Cheap Thrills, Creep, Green Room I know there are others but I can't think of them.

EDIT: The Perfect Host is another great one very analogous to this. Would You Rather is also similar but not that good.

I hear you. And even though I liked the ending (which I felt bridged the intimate elements of what happened inside the house with the frightening "bigger picture" of what can happen when such an extremist movement gets a foothold somewhere), I can totally understand why it is divisive.

Part of what I enjoyed so much was the time and depth that the movie gave to the overall discussion and exploration of grieving and what it means to "move on" from such a profound tragedy. The movie gives space for that plot to unfold and it made the impact of the son's death feel very real to me as opposed to something that was just in the script to motivate the characters (and Eden in particular).

The part where Will takes Kira's hand when they are hiding was really powerful to me.

For my own personal enjoyment I'd probably put The Invitation a bit above Coherence and about on par with Kill List.

One problem that I had with Kill List was that it was very obvious to me that at the end (MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE KILL LIST!!!!!) he was going to be killing his wife and child. There was that whole slow motion scene where the family was play fighting in the back yard. And then I got kind of antsy and irritated waiting for that moment. I appreciated that The Invitation never really tried to hide its directionEden's outfit and spaced out behavior screams "suicide cult!"; the video they show refers to death as a "reunion" right after (or before? can't remember) Eden refers to the dinner party as a reunion; etc. For me the suspense was all about how Will was going to handle that final showdown. Would he sacrifice himself out of guilt for his son's death? Would he be able to save Eden from herself?

And as I mentioned before, I found a lot to like in both the acting (there were annoying characters, sure, but they were supposed to be annoying) and the way that the movie was shot. I liked the dreamy quality of it.

The movie this most makes me think of is "Let's Scare Jessica to Death," which has a similar slow pace and paranoia-themed plot, and which some people think is amazing and other people think is a sluggish mess.

You list some great movies there for sure.

I agree with you that the ending of "The Invitation" was probably the weakest part of the entire film. I really enjoyed the first 2/3rds of it though. These slow, atmospheric thrillers are probably one of my favorite genres. I wish more of them were done well, although I imagine it's difficult to balance and wrap up these kinds of movies "cleanly" or in a way where the majority of viewers will be content.

I watched the Green Room and Creep and agree that they are better films than the Invitation, although I didn't hate the Invitation. I will now check out the rest on your list.

In order from best to worst IMO:
- Green Room
- Coherence
- Kill List
- Creep
- The Perfect Host
- Knock Knock
- The Gift
- Cheap Thrills
- Would You Rather

great:
- kill list
- the gift

good:
- green room
- perfect host

absolutely worthless:
- Coherence

An utter insult:
- would you rather
- knock knock

i don't even know words that would do this level of bad justice:
- creep

Coherence was amazing!

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by matthew-vaughn-141-344338

 Thu Jul 21 2016 05:35:09 IMDb member since August 2011Post Edited: Thu Jul 21 2016 05:41:22

Yeah my comments were really lazy, and I was just venting. I just did not like this film, particularly the absurd ending.

Other films in a (vaguely) similar vein to this one which I liked a lot more include: Coherence, Kill List, Knock Knock, The Gift, Cheap Thrills, Creep, Green Room I know there are others but I can't think of them.

EDIT: The Perfect Host is another great one very analogous to this. Would You Rather is also similar but not that good.

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This movie is so much better than Kill List. I only single that one out because while watching this I thought back to Kill List, and how this movie does the whole normal dramatic bits so much better than Kill List does. I like Kill List quite a lot too, but when that movie just has you hanging out with the family during dinner it just doesn't really work. This movie was like a cross between Kill List, The House of the Devil, (although it's not as good as THotD) and I guess You're Next. Although tonally it's nothing at all like You're Next. Kind of made me think of that Black Mirror episode The Entire History of You too. It would have been nice if the violence had the punch of Green Room, but than nobody is doing violence as good as Jeremy Saulnier on film besides maybe, like, two other filmmakers right now.

What's absurd about the ending? The film lets you in on this cult being pretty big, it's something they all know of, and they know other people in it. How is it absurd that the same thing happening in that house is also happen in other places? And how the fck is Kill List not absurd if this is? That movie has hitmen doing work for some Lovecraftian cult.

The Perfect Host is total sht, talk about absurd endings. That movie was showing huge weaknesses before the twist, the twist came and just fcked everything up in the worst way.

Didn't suck and for a horror film it's a solid addition, but I agree, definitely not as good as people think it is around here.

But that's the nature of discussion boards. I know that I usually will only go to discuss a movie if I really liked it. If it was just "eh" or if I disliked it, I don't usually want to talk about it.

To me the movie is a solid 8 or 8.5/10.

I've definitely been thinking about it a lot since I watched it.

Sucked is taking it a bit far, I'd like to know more about these many more deserving horror movies because they seem to be thin on the ground recently, yeah this was a little predictable but was executed fairly well IMO

I completely agree. This movie was painful to watch. I admit I didn't read too much about it before watching, it was recommended by two horror fans I know.

I didn't time it, but having to wait so long for some kind of payoff, was pretty excruciating. The script was really uninspired and I'm not into watching people in their mid-30s act like they're in high school for over half the film.

I did think there were some nice touches with the filming, but it felt more like a distraction, trying to inject style and substance into a poorly planned story.

This movie, to me, was incredibly boring, very shallow, and literally a pain to watch. The only part I liked was the ending, because oh cool, it's happening everywhere. Creepy and then I could finally TURN IT OFF.

Same here. A friend who likes horror recommended this to me, and the set-up sounded appealing (I didn't know anything about it other than the description on IMDB & Netflix). But I found the dialogue and acting were horrendous. Either over-the-top or barely emotive. The whole dinner party seemed too contrived and weird. Also, I think I'm tired of the whole parents struggling over the loss of a child conceit as a force of tension in horror movies. I'm not saying it can't be done well, but it seems like a rather lazy and frequently used way of trying to invest a situation with emotional impact. Maybe "Antichrist" soured me to it.

I can appreciate the "slow burn" kind of psychological thriller/horror, but only if things are working well enough in the movie (acting, unfolding of the story, visuals, etc.) to have it be a tension-building experience rather than a twiddling my fingers waiting for the ending experience. (I'm thinking of classics like Carnival of Souls and Repulsion. Can't think of good recent examples. House of the Devil is one usually people use - didn't love that one, although I thought it did a better job of building tension than this film.) I didn't have anything against the ending. I thought it was an interesting twist but it was so abrupt it did not change the unpleasantness of the preceding 90+ minutes.

"every time godzilla loses to mothra I die a little bit more"Godzillaswrath

It was awful alright, but the last scene was the only one that made sense to me. I wondered if the director wasn't talking about national suicide. But if I have to ask, it's not very good.

the last scene made no sense at all. the whole cult was so focused on deep pain and trying to leave it behind and yet everyone in the neighborhood seemed to be going through something as heavy? no way.

I actually thought the ending saved it. The first 1hr was just to unbelievable. Most of the people would've left early because too much weird *beep* was going on.

High score? A 6.6? Not exactly awe-inspiring

I too was surprised and shocked by the score too. It deserves at least an 8.5

This was a brilliant movie that didn't rely on cheap scares like so many horror films do today. Not for everyone, but I can very happy this film has the following it does.

If one considers the psychological "fruition" of denied pain and the cult practice, it is quite an honest depiction of humanity. I didn't think this film was horrible. I thought it was pretty good. In one respect, it could be seen as a movie about crazy people who invite people over to kill them. But truly, it is about the literally lethal combination of delusion and the denial of pain. The very possibility that morality can be compromised if trauma is not dealt with head on.

So your that guy who starts a "this movie sucked" thread this time. How about telling us what would have made the movie better in your opinion?

one thing: instead of portraying the nutters as such obvious psychopaths and show us the pills and everything else, they should have left it ambiguous. damn, you gotta be in a coma not to know the outcome 20 minutes into the film.

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one thing: instead of portraying the nutters as such obvious psychopaths and show us the pills and everything else, they should have left it ambiguous. damn, you gotta be in a coma not to know the outcome 20 minutes into the film.

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I didn't think so. I was starting to question his sanity. It would have been a better movie if he had been the crazy one all along and ended up killing them all himself.

I liked the movie the way it was, it wasn't perfect but it was good. I liked the crazy cult stuff. Thats exactly how they are too. Look at Jim Jones or Heaven's Gate.

I've had people approach me under false pretenses and feed me a sales pitch too. Its crazy and awkward just like that.

"I didn't think so. I was starting to question his sanity."

i didn't.


"It would have been a better movie if he had been the crazy one all along and ended up killing them all himself. "

i don't think it would make a difference in regards to the quality of the film. either outcome would have been fine, if they had left it ambiguous until the actual end.

"I didn't think so. I was starting to question his sanity."
i didn't.


I'm willing to place money on the fact that you did, but when the outcome ended up being what you were expecting you just got angry that you were fooled, ever so briefly, by a movie you didn't want to like.




"Pull out.I can't get pregnant now your dad may be floating around looking for a body to reincarnate

What would have made the movie better? I'll give it my feeble shot.

What would have made the movie better, IMO, would have been to play against the grain. It's a classic lesson of both stage and screen directors that never goes out of style. Here's what I mean.

Reading this screenplay on the page, it would be painfully obvious from the very first page, and from every repetitive line of way-too-in relief agony dialogue after that, that this was a psychological horror/thriller/catastrophe movie. However, to make it really work, you just can't telegraph that from the very outset. You have to play against the grain, for at least the first half of the movie here I'd say. I can imagine any director worth her or his salt gathering the actors before principal photography started on the early scenes and admonishing, "Okay, you and I know where all this is heading, but the audience doesn't. So for the opening scenes, nothing is to be telegraphed. You're all just interested, even happy, to be invited to this party with old friends." How much more effective would the second half of this film (and screenplay) have been if the characters at the start were oblivious to the end, in other words relatively normal demeanor, some outgoing, some gregarious, some silly even, for the first half of the film, and then things start to creepily take a terrible UNEXPECTED turn round about mid-way through?

But no, here we get, from the first seconds of the film, every blessed actor playing their characters and speaking (or rather whispering) their lines like they know they're going to some doomsday seance from which there will be no escape. Lord, lord, no, no. You just can't start off playing the end from the opening seconds. And I don't mean to blame the actors alone; it's the director's choices here that are relentlessly the same "creepy thriller" choices from beginning to end. And the godawful music scoring just underlined the same "creepy thriller" aspect from the very first notes under the opening scenes and stayed exactly the same all throughout. Telegraphing, telegraphing, telegraphing. Even the lighting started out dark and "creep show" from the opening shot and never changed. Imagine how much more interesting it would have been if the beginning of the movie was actually lit and the actors actually spoke out loud and the director stayed out of the way and let it go like it was a cliche rom-com or something innocuous at least. In other words, a little misdirection.

Even during the playing of the cult video, I think completely different reactions (even speaking the same words!) from the actors would have kept the viewer completely oblivious as to where this was all heading. And then at about the midpoint of the film you slowly start to let the odd camera angles and whispered dialogue and looks of angst and consternation take over, and then the audience, who thought maybe they were just in for a night of confrontational but ultimately harmless drinking and party games a la Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? would start squirming in their seats realizing that's not where this movie is heading at all.

How much, much, much better that would have been, IMO, than telegraphing everything from the very beginning and thereby having the film and the characters all grow very irritating and very tiresome way before the end.

very well put.

Interestingly, DJWinston, I thought the movie DID exactly what you said it should've done. Not perfectly, but a pretty darn good job, just the same.

The only thing that, to me, seemed blatantly telegraphed, was the Pruitt character. As soon as John Carroll Lynch appeared, I knew he was going to be an enforcer type, a la David Koechner in Cheap Thrills. Heck, they both had the same bald head thing going, too. LOL

But beyond that, I thought it was pretty good in its characterizations.


Into every life a little coffee must spill.

For every decent movie in the world there are thousands of idiots ready to tell the world that it sucked. I'm sorry my not being a pretentious fu*Kt*&d irritates you.

It was good. I liked it. I liked the crazy cult stuff.

My criticism would be the opening scene. If you run over a smaller animal its not going to be stuck under your front tire. You're going to run over it and its going to be behind you.

I also thought it was a gratuitous jump scare.

I kind of liked what they were trying to do with foreshadowing and bringing up a mercy killing. It was just poorly executed.

If you hit a large animal like an adult deer, then sure its going to be in front of your car but that's a completely different collision and your car is not going to be driveable and you're probably going to need some medical attention.

I was a little disappointed as well. I'll say that it did have me doubting what was going to happen for quite a while, but when it did I was pretty bummed that it turned out to not actually be that original or surprising.

They did a good job some of the misdirection, and I'd say some of the acting was decent. Outside of that though, it was full of dumb people doing unrealistic things and it got a little grating sometimes.

Look up "Hyperbole"

That's your opinion, nothing more and according to critics, online reviews, etc, etc, . Don't quit your day job pal!!!!!

I found it boring til the last half hour, I wanted will and Pruitt to live

it's alright you're just retarded like one quarter of humanity

Hated it, from the stilted acting to the snail's pace (which was not a "slow burn" in my opinion as it has been described, just boring) to the laughably predictable ending. I fail to see any redeeming value in this film.

That's 2 hours of my life I totally wasted..movie was horrible!!!!

Awful movie, poorly lit, can't think of anything good about it.

Good point it was so dark at times I was like wtf is going on?

Christ I can't believe how eager some people are to love it.

Some are eager to love it precisely because of Christ and the self-loathing that comes with christian belief. How hard is it to normalise degeneracy among people who know no better? Film is political or it is nothing. Too much liberal box-ticking from Casting Directors and the discerning viewer - or 'evil bigot' according to taste - switches off.