Film: The Invitation (English)
Cast: Nathalie Emmanuel, Thomas Doherty, Stephanie Corneliussen, Alana Boden, Hugh Skinner, Kata Sarbo, Scott Alexander Young, Virag Barany
Director: Jessica M. Thompson
Rating: 2/5
Runtime: 105 mins

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!