This is another small budget, intense, slow-burn thriller in the vein of The Gift, but with a totally different plot. Will and Kira are a couple who are invited for a reunion party in the Hollywood Hills, a suburb of Los Angeles. The party is hosted by Will’s ex Eden and David, her new husband. It is revealed that Eva met David at a support group in Mexico. It is also revealed that Eve and Will divorced soon after the death of their young son, in a tragic accident.
Besides Will and Kira, the other guests are Ben, Claire, Gina,Tommy and Miguel, who are old friends of Will and Eve. Tommy and Miguel are a couple. There is also Gina. Gina informs the rest that her boyfriend Choi will join the party later. Sadie, a friend of Eve and David, a girl they met at Mexico is another guest at the party,
The reunion seems to begin normally, except that Will feels uneasy. partly because the house brings back memories of his son, and partly because his instincts are telling him that something is not right even though Eve and David seem to be hospitable hosts.
With Eve’s and David’s permission, Will explores the house, room by room. Another guest, Pruitt, a friend of David and Eve joins the party. Things get strange at this time. David locks the front door, claiming that there have been break-ins in the neighborhood. David, Eve, Claire and Pruitt reveal that they have found peace through a support group, called ‘the Invitation’.
They insist that this is not a cult and David plays what seems to be a promotional video for the support group. The video shows the leader of the group, a Dr. Joseph comfort a woman who dies moments later. Most of the guests feel uneasy.
Next Eva and David propose that they all play a game called ‘I Want’ , which causes more uneasiness in the group. Claire now wants to leave immediately but David is adamant that she stays. At this point, Will stands up for Claire and assertively tells David to let her go. David relents and has Pruitt escorts Claire to her car,
The guests are also disturbed by the fact that there is no cell phone signal from the house. Suddenly, there is a short period when David’s phone picks up a signal, and with it, a message from Choi, that he was at the doorstep of the house.
Will, now beyond himself, lashes out at Eve and David, only to embarrass himself, as Choi arrives moments later. Apologizing to the couple for his paranoia, Will tries to calm himself down, and continues to wander around the house. It is then that his fears are validated and that he realizes that a major calamity hangs over himself, Kira and some of the guests at the party.
Can David save all those he cares about? Things soon turn to mayhem and the laid back reunion party becomes a battleground for survival. Part of the theme of this film is that grief and loneliness can make someone vulnerable to the most irrational of ideas. To say more is to reveal the plot.
The film slowly picks up the pace at the end, leading to an explosive finale. The director, the camerawork and the realistic acting from the whole cast makes this a riveting thriller, which is definitely worth the ride.
One thought that occured to me, months after this review is the aspect of modernism added to this movie. In its own way, the movie celebrates diversity with a heterogeneous mix of people all getting together to celebrate their friendship. In the mix are the gay couple, the multiracial couple and so on, just join together in a celebration. It is also a warning that many of us, seemingly normal people are prone to taking to dangerous ways because of the growing angst in society that modernism brings. In our quest to find solutions, many of us are often led to make terrible choices, sometimes for the best of intentions, like trying to find peace.
Cast: Logan Marshall-Green, Tammy Blanchard, Michiel Huisman, Emayatzy Corinealdi
Director: Karyn Kusama
Bay Area Bloke 