Pruitt: Forgiveness doesn’t have to wait. I’m free to forgive myself and so are you. It’s a beautiful thing. It really is.
A descent into madness.
THE INVITATION starts off-well with an inquisitively chary scene, and from there on is a slow-burn, but it’s so well paid off in its vigorous final 15 minutes, after being feverishly built-up with tension over its first hour and 25 minutes.
The performances are all unusually peculiar, yet grounded and dubious, matching the tone of the film, as well as adding to the film’s acutely uncomforting atmosphere.
Logan Marshall-Green and Michiel Huisman are potently exceptional. They electrify the scenes they’re in, and especially the scenes between them, adding a dismay and distrust to their dynamic between their characters, Will and David.
Karyn Kusama’s grim and eerie direction is also a major standout contributing to the film’s unsettling atmosphere.
The film easily makes its audience feel uneasy and skeptical about the film’s forefront, much like the characters in the film do about the dinner invitation they’ve received.
Whilst it does not singularly stand out, Theodore Shapiro’s fretful score does help the film feel overwrought. At times it helps in making the film seem narrower and seemingly inescapable, personally placing us in the shoes of the film’s main characters, in feeling dismayed.
THE INVITATION is an unnerving and jaundiced film, masked in clouds of apprehension and trepidation, sugar coated by an admirable array of edgy performances, and topped by Karyn Kusama’s consummately harrowing direction.
It is an ideally anguishing example for modern horror thrillers.
Score: ★★★★
