Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 2022


The Invitation (2022 film)

Buy The Invitation (2022 film) now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




{{Infobox film

| image = The Invitation (2022 film) poster.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Jessica M. Thompson

| writer = Blair Butler

| producer = Emile Gladstone

| starring =

| narrator =

| cinematography = Autumn Eakin

| editing = Tom Elkins

| music = Dara Taylor

| studio =

| distributor = Sony Pictures Releasing

| released =

| runtime = 104 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $10 million

| gross = $30.1 million

}}

'The Invitation' is a 2022 American thriller film directed by Jessica M. Thompson, written by Blair Butler, and produced by Emile Gladstone. The film stars Nathalie Emmanuel and Thomas Doherty. Inspired by the novel 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker, the film follows a young woman who, after her mother's death, meets long lost-family members for the first time, only to discover the dark secrets they carry with them.

Originally titled 'The Bride', the project was under production of Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert's Ghost House Pictures, with Butler writing the script. However, Raimi and Tapert exited due to scheduling conflicts. By 2020, the film's director, producer and new title were announced. Casting occurred from May to October 2021, with filming beginning that September in Budapest.

'The Invitation' was theatrically released in the United States on August 26, 2022, by Sony Pictures Releasing. It received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed over $30 million worldwide.

Plot



In New York City, struggling artist Evelyn "Evie" Jackson supports herself by waitressing for a catering company. After getting a DNA kit at an event she worked at, Evie, an orphan whose mother recently died, sends the kit in. She soon receives the results confirming that she has extended family in England and is messaged by her cousin, Oliver Alexander, who suggests that they meet. Evie is quickly charmed by the harmlessly eager Oliver, who tells Evie about the scandal of her great-grandmother, Emmaline Alexander, who, while engaged to be married, had an affair with a black footman and had a secret child. Oliver invites Evie to an upcoming family wedding in England so she can meet everyone, and Evie agrees after he sends her a first-class ticket.

Evie arrives at the gorgeous Carfax estate in the English countryside and is charmed by the handsome lord of the manor, Walter DeVille. Evie is welcomed by her new family with eagerly open arms and made a guest of honor. She is accosted by Mr. Fields, the head butler at the Carfax Estate, when she tries to help two maids who dropped glasses due to her bumping into them. She is also welcomed by Mrs. Swift, a long-time maid to the estate. During the night, new maids that Mr. Fields assigns to clean different parts of the house go missing as they are attacked by a shadowy figure throughout the house, and Evie has nightmares about Emmaline killing herself. Evie is invited to take part in pre-wedding activities with the two maids of honor: the condescending and sarcastic Viktoria, and the bubbly, puppyish Lucy who becomes fond of Evie. Viktoria upsets Evie and plants doubts in her mind about Walter, leading Evie to discover that Walter had a background check run on Evie before her arrival. Evie confronts Walter about it and threatens to leave, but the two reconcile over the misunderstanding and have sex.

Evie comes downstairs later for a masquerade dinner, expecting to finally meet the bride and groom. Walter stands and announces that he and Evie will be wed, and Mr. Fields slits a maid's throat, pouring her blood into a punch bowl, horrifying Evie. It is revealed that Walter is a vampire, and the three families made a covenant to provide him with three wives, one from each family, in exchange for prosperity, protection, and power. The Alexander family had produced only boys since the birth of Emmaline and were thrilled that the discovery of Evie meant that they could once again fulfill their contract to provide Walter with a bride of their line. Viktoria and Lucy reveal themselves to be Walter's existing vampire brides, Viktoria being his bride for the last 500 years and Lucy his bride for the last 100 years, and the pair take Evie down into a cellar to prepare her for upcoming nuptials. They even try to comfort her as they too resisted when they were turned into vampires centuries ago. Despite Evie's pleas, Viktoria locks her into a coffin and leaves her there for the night.

Evie is freed in the morning by her ladys maid, Mrs. Swift. Evie escapes and finds refuge while Mrs. Swift is killed for allowing Evie to escape. Unbeknownst to Evie, the elderly couple quickly dial the phone, informing the Estate that they have Evie as they are former servants still loyal to the Alexanders. Evie is knocked out unconscious and brought back to the mansion. The dazed and confused Evie awakes to Walter vaguely describing his past when he was once human, and mentions he was referred to as "The Son of The Dragon" alluding that he is actually Dracula. Walter then feeds on a maid in front of Evie, causing her to fall unconscious.

Once she awakes, she exchanges marriage vows with Walter and bites his arm, consuming his blood and transforming into a half-vampire with fangs and pointed fingernails just like Viktoria and Lucy. Instead of completing the blood exchange, Evie sets the wedding chapel on fire, stabs Walter, and runs off to the foyer with a maid she was supposed to feed upon. An enraged Viktoria chases after Evie, but the younger Lucy stops Viktoria from killing Evie by attacking her. The two brides fight each other before Lucy impales both Viktoria and herself on a spear, killing them both and turning them to dust.

Evie is attacked by Mr. Fields, who reveals himself to be a bigot who never wanted Evie to be inducted as a bride due to her mixed heritage, and that he killed Evie's black great-grandfather. It is also revealed that Evie's great-grandmother Emmaline had married Walter and was turned into a vampire too, but she killed herself because she refused to feed on any more humans. Evie then stabs Mr. Fields in the throat with the spear he had used to attack her and kills him. Evie is chased by Walter, who tries to choke her. However, Evie breaks free from his hold and kicks him into the growing fire, killing him and avenging her great-grandparents. As he finally dies, she reverts back to human form and flees the burning manor.

Two weeks later, Evie arrives in London where she and her friend Grace see Oliver entering Alexander Realty. They proceed to follow him with the intention of getting revenge.

Cast



* Nathalie Emmanuel as Evelyn "Evie" Jackson / Evelyn "Evie" Alexander

* Thomas Doherty as Walter De Ville

* Stephanie Corneliussen as Viktoria

* Alana Boden as Lucy

* Courtney Taylor as Grace

* Hugh Skinner as Oliver Alexander

* Sean Pertwee as Mr. Field

* Carol Ann Crawford as Mrs. Swift

* Virg Brny as Emmaline

Production



Plans for the film, then titled 'The Bride' and described as "the story of a young woman who attends a lavish destination wedding, unaware of the horrors that await," were announced in 2020. The film's script was written by Blair Butler, who drew inspiration from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel 'Dracula'. Director Jessica M. Thompson made revisions to the script. Nathalie Emmanuel was set as the film's star and Emile Gladstone was named as 'The Bride's producer. Garrett Hedlund was initially brought on to portray Walter but withdrew from filming, and was replaced by Thomas Doherty. Other actors confirmed as performing in the movie were Alana Boden and Hugh Skinner.

Filming was slated to take place in Budapest, Hungary during September 2021.

Release



The film was theatrically released in the United States on August 26, 2022.

Box office

, 'The Invitation' has grossed $21.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $8.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $30.1 million.

In the United States and Canada, 'The Invitation' was released alongside 'Three Thousand Years of Longing' and 'Breaking'. The film made $2.6 million on its first day (including $775,000 from Thursday night previews) and grossed $6.8 million from 3,114 theaters during its opening weekend. It was the lowest-grossing film to top the box office since 'Spiral' ($4.5 million) in May 2021. In its sophomore weekend the film made $4.7 million (and a total of $5.7 million over the four-day Labor Day frame), dropping 30.7% and finishing fifth.

Critical response

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.

References




Buy The Invitation (2022 film) now from Amazon

<-- Return to movies from 2022



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1111012900.