Over the course of a dinner party in the Hollywood mansion that was once his, the haunted Will is gripped by mounting evidence that his ex and her new friends have a mysterious and terrifying agenda.
A teasingly effective thriller that builds a remarkable level of tension.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2015
The Invitation 2015
An invitation to a dinner party in a secluded designer mansion is the entree to one of the most nail-biting thrillers around – and Karyn Kusuma’s best film since Girlfight. The unease is already evident as Will and Kira wind their car through the Hollywood Hills, looking for their destination. Their hosts, David and Eden, introduce them to everyone present, and we begin to piece together past relationships and potential conflicts. The salient issue is that Eden was once Will’s lover. The remarkable house was formerly theirs and being back there is spooking him. Clues about their split are gradually disclosed. As the wine flows, the questions begin to mount in Will’s mind as to just what this dinner party is really about. Why does the host keep locking the front door? Why is the cell phone reception so terrible? What the hell were Eden and David thinking when they invited a pair of strangers they met on holiday in Mexico to this supposedly intimate reunion? With one of them played by a terrifyingly stone-faced John Carroll Lynch (Zodiac), you’ll be sweating too, long before you figure out if it’s the guest or the host who should be reaching for the carving knife.