“The Invitation (2022)” Movie: A Thrilling Tale of Suspense and Intrigue

 The Invitation (Movie)

Introduction of The Invitation:

 “The Invitation” is a 2022-set American horror thriller that was written by Blair Butler and directed by Jessica M. Thompson. Both Thomas Doherty and Nathalie Emmanuel are featured in The Invitation. The story of The Invitation, which was inspired by Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, centres on a young woman who, when her mother dies, reunites for the first time with long-lost relatives only to discover the evil secrets they are keeping.

 Butler created the script, and The Invitation’s initial title was The Bride. Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert’s Ghost House Pictures produced it. However, Raimi and Tapert quit due to scheduling conflicts. By 2020, the movie’s new title, producer, and director would all be known. Budapest served as the starting point for filming in September 2021, with casting occurring from May to October of that same year.

 The Invitation was released in theatres on August 26, 2022, in the US thanks to Sony Pictures Releasing. It received largely negative reviews from critics who praised Emmanuel’s acting but faulted the story, screenplay, and scary elements. Its IMDb rating is 5.3/10.

Cast:

  Thomas Doherty

   Walter De Villi

 

  Hugh Skinner

  Oliver

    Nathalie Emmanuel

    Evie

   Stephanie Corneliussen

   Viktoria

    Alana Boden

    Lucy Westenra

  Sean Pertwee

  Renfield

  Virag Barany

  Emmaline

  Panka Muranyi

  Maid#4

  

  Lili Walters

  Imogen

 

  Kata Sarbo

  Manicurist

Storyline of The Invitation:

 Evelyn “Evie” Jackson, a failed artist in New York City, works as a freelance caterer with her closest friend Grace. When Evie gets a DNA test, she learns Oliver Alexander is a distant relative who lives in England. Oliver, whom she encounters, informs her about the scandal surrounding her great-grandmother Emmaline’s secret child with a black footman. She receives an invitation to a forthcoming English wedding from him. Evie checks into the New Carfax Abbey in Whitby, where she is greeted by Mrs. Swift, the estate’s longstanding maid, and Walter De Ville, the lord of the manor. Along with the maids of honour, affable Lucy, and condescending Viktoria, she also gets to know the rest of the Alexander family.

 Evie gradually starts to discover unpleasant happenings when she is there. Emmaline, who was seen in a flashback, appears to her and hangs herself from the stairway. As a mysterious figure attacks the maids, they start to vanish. De Ville begins to romance Evie before she realizes he was looking into her before she ever arrived. She confronts him and makes threats to leave, but they make up and engage in sexual activity.

 At the rehearsal dinner, which the family hosts, Evie anticipates meeting the bride and groom for the first time. De Ville instead declares that he and Evie will get married. A maid’s throat is cut by the butler Renfield, who then pours her blood into a basin. It is later discovered that De Ville, Lucy, and Viktoria are all vampires who ingest the maid’s blood. The Alexanders, one of the three families that have for ages each offered one of their ladies to become De Ville’s wife in exchange for safety and prosperity, are the forebears of Evie.

  The initial plan was for Emmaline to be De Ville’s third wife, but she terminated her life because of her guilt over killing people, as well as the deaths of her lover, Evie’s great-grandfather, and her unborn baby. Up until they discovered Evie, the Alexander family had difficulty locating a female member. Evie is crazed and locked into a coffin by Viktoria, but Mrs. Swift, whom Renfield later kills, frees her. Evie arrives in town and approaches an elderly couple for assistance. When the couple reveals that they are Jonathan and Mina Harker, Evie is knocked unconscious because they work for De Ville.

 When Evie awakens, she is with De Ville, Imogen, and one of the maids. When De Ville recalls that he was formerly known as the “Son of the Dragon,” he confesses that he is indeed Dracula. De Ville then bites Imogen’s leg before losing consciousness as Evie watches. Evie wakes up in a wedding gown and is about to walk down the aisle to wed De Ville. She bites De Ville’s arm after they say their vows, ingesting his blood, and promptly changes into a vampire.

 She ignites the wedding chapel, stabs De Ville in the heart, which causes him to age quickly, and then departs with another maid, Diya. Viktoria ambushes Evie as she is being helped by Diya. Viktoria strikes Evie once more after Diya leaves before Lucy steps in to stop her. Before Lucy uses a spear to impale both Viktoria and herself, reducing them both into ashes, the two vampires engage in combat. 

 Soon after, Renfield attacks Evie with a spear and says he wishes he had slain her great-grandfather and grandfather before she stabs him in the chest and breaks off the spearhead to kill him. A wall-crawling De Ville then pursues her and snatches her by the throat. He gets kicked into the flames as she escapes by severing his wrist with a cutting wire. She loses her abilities as he burns to death and transforms back into a human as a result. As the manor is consumed by fire, Evie flees.

 In London two weeks later, Evie and Grace have located Oliver, who is getting ready to leave after bribing the police. Because he deceived Evie and participated in the vampires’ crimes, the two ladies want to kill him.

Filming:

 Blair Butler, who was also tasked with writing the screenplay of The Invitation, sent Screen Gems an unnamed pitch in April 2019. Though they later left the project, Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert were on board to produce the movie for their production business Ghost House Pictures. The Bride would be the movie’s official title, and Jessica M. Thompson would be directing it.

 Emile Gladstone would produce, replacing Raimi and Tapert, it was reported in June 2020. Butler wrote the initial script, with changes made by Thompson, and took inspiration from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. The Invitation was revealed as the new title of the movie in June 2022. In May 2021, lead parts were assigned to Nathalie Emmanuel and Garrett Hedlund.

 Stephanie Corneliussen and Alana Boden joined the main cast that August. Hugh Skinner, Courtney Taylor, Sean Pertwee, and Thomas Doherty (who replaced Hedlund) joined the ensemble in October. Budapest, Hungary hosted the main photography session in September 2021.

You can also read:

• Top 5 Horror Movies of all time

Box Office:

 The Invitation made $38 million globally against a budget of $10 million, after earning $25.1 million in the US and Canada and $12.9 million in other countries.

 The Invitation and Three Thousand Years of Longing and Breaking were both released in the US and Canada. The Invitation opened with $2.6 million (including $775,000 from Thursday night previews) and earned $6.8 million from 3,114 theatres throughout its first weekend. Since Spiral ($4.5 million) in May 2021, it was the lowest-grossing movie to debut at number one. The movie dropped 30.7% and placed fifth in its second weekend with a total of $4.7 million (and $5.7 million during the four-day Labor Day frame). Deadline Hollywood reported in the future that the studio made money on the movie.

Release Date of The Invitation:

 Sony Pictures Releasing presented The Invitation in theaters on August 26, 2022, in the United States. On September 16, 2022, The Invitation was released digitally; on October 25, 2022, it was published on Blu-ray and DVD. The movie was made available in the US on December 24, 2022, as part of Netflix’s first window agreement with Sony. With 12.2 million hours watched on the service, the movie peaked at number five on the global Netflix viewing chart for the week ending January 1, 2023.

Trailer: