Year of Release: 2022
Director: Jessica M. Thompson
Starring: Nathalie Emmanuel, Thomas Doherty, Sean Pertwee, Hugh Skinner, Carol Ann Crawford, Alana Boden, Stephanie Corneliussen, Courtney Taylor, Scott Alexander Young
Genre: Crime, Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 2
Watch it on Netflix
Synopsis and Review
After her feature directorial debut with "The Light of the Moon", director Jessica M. Thompson has had her sophomore directorial effort with "The Invitation", written by Blair Butler, which is largely inspired by Bram Stoker's "Dracula". The film follows the story of Evie, an artist making her living as cater waiter in New York. While seeking some information on her family background, she discovers part of her family has roots in England. She also manages to discover there's a distant cousin of hers by the name of Oliver Alexander who actually reaches out to her. They arrange for a coffee meet-up where he tells her some of the family history. She gets invited to a wedding, one that is part of this newfound family of hers. She travels to England, specifically Whitby, where she meets the rest of the Alexander family. She also meets the lord of the Manor where she's staying, the seductive Walter De Ville and also the maids of honor for that wedding, comprised of the friendly Lucy and icy Viktoria. During her stay she starts noticing strange occurrences, namely some maids who start disappearing, mixed with some vivid nightmares, though she also gets tangled in a seduction game with De Ville. As the date to the wedding approaches, and her relationship with De Ville gets more intimate, the family holds a rehearsal dinner, where Evie expects to meet the bride and groom. Much to her surprise and shock, De Ville announces he and her are to be wed. What comes next completely takes Evie by surprise, but she soon realizes she has to fight for her life as she has never had to before.
"The Invitation" is a film that tries its best to put a fresh and modern spin on Bram Stoker's masterpiece novel, "Dracula" (originally published in 1897). With over two hundred adaptations to the screen it is definitely a tall order to pursue, but though this film has modest ambitions, it fails to make itself memorable in any way. There are large incongruences in the narrative, which can be stomached, if indeed the characters had been fairly well characterized, but sadly even the focus of the narrative itself, Evie, seems to be a bit of a cypher. She makes her living as a cater-waiter, but is in reality a struggling artist (another repeated and tired cliché), her mother has died fairly recently and she's now all alone. That's pretty much all that is provided in terms of information regarding this character. Nothing much is volunteered in terms of her ambitions, her personality or social interactions (any additional detail that is provided comes in the shape of her close friend Grace and that's pretty much it). The supporting characters are even less defined and established than Evie's. De Ville, who for all intended purposes is a new version of Dracula, is a bloodless character, trying to be seductive, stoic and taciturn, but mostly comes across as a shallow dilettante. The main problem with the film ends up being this rather generic approach to the material, one that never truly embraces the tragic aspect of these main characters (De Ville's quest for the additional bride, the passing of time, Evie's fear of being alone, the discovery of an unknown family with a possible dark agenda), nor the parasitic and vilifying aspect of the characters who live in the shadow of this supernatural entity. The fantastic Sean Pertwee as always manages to bring his Renfield character to life, though the remainder of the cast is rather forgettable. It's ultimately a film that adds nothing to the Dracula cannon and it's simply not worth watching.
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