There are no scenes, characters, or bits of dialogue that don’t belong. The tension builds and builds until we’re left with a masterful final shot that’s so subtle, but the implication is chilling.

| Jan 18, 2025

The Invitation is a tense and uncomfortable film, but being grounded in our main character’s perspective gives us a stake in each awkward event that unfolds. It is a vivid exploration of grief with a conclusion satisfying enough to justify the discomfort.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 27, 2024

The Invitation wants the viewer to question the concept of appropriateness, which is why it set at a dinner party in an affluent home in a beautiful location. Dinner parties do not display normal human interactions but superimpose roles on ordinary people

| Jun 12, 2024

Kusama crafts a slow-burn chiller for the ages that also serves as a meditation on the various ways people try to come to live with grief.

| Feb 13, 2024

Thanks to the skilled hand of director Kusama, The Invitation is a deeply uncomfortable but also eerily funny skewering of the hostility that can lurk under the veil of hospitality.

| Nov 15, 2023

Kusama showcases expert craftsmanship over the material, keeping audiences on edge all the way up through its eerie payoff.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 20, 2023

Just when you think you have a pulse, see a seam, or think you have a lead, “The Invitation” folds in one more emotion, revelation, or development. The effect is remarkably alluring.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 4, 2023

One of the must see thrillers that will have your jaw drop

| Aug 7, 2023

The Invitation has one of the best final shots of a movie in recent memory. It is painfully simple, but the implications are grand. It is also an ending that would have packed a larger punch had the runtime been shorter.

| Jul 25, 2023

The Invitation is best when it turns the cranks on an already uncomfortable social reunion, but the film doesn't shirk on the horrifying payoff either.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 18, 2022

The film is an enthralling low-budget horror-thriller that packs a very powerful punch.

| Oct 19, 2021

Karyn Kusama's paranoid thriller is guaranteed to keep you guessing right to the very end.

| Jun 10, 2021

Although this is a very easy movie to watch and an easy movie to follow I did totally get sucked into the tension.

| Original Score: 8/10 | May 7, 2021

The Invitation is a haunting slow burn with subtle performances and an intangible feeling of something askew that leaves this ominous feeling of something sinister constantly bubbling just below the surface.

| Apr 15, 2021

Another eerie, cloistered affair that might be a warning to those expanding their trusted bubbles by gathering in homes during these uncertain times...

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 11, 2020

The Invitation is a slow burn suspense/thriller that takes its time building its characters and their relationships until the perfect time to rattle everything and create a satisfying result to all the building up.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Apr 19, 2020

Old wounds, new wounds, paranoia and terror are all split open and laid bare, making The Invitation a feat in filmmaking.

| Feb 6, 2020

The Invitation is a delightfully demented thriller that plays on the awkward social dynamics of dinner parties.

| Original Score: 4.2/5 | Jan 8, 2020

An enjoyable exercise of tension that only fails because it is too evident in its proposal and also falls into some tricky plot decisions. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Aug 28, 2019

An intense psychological thriller of terror, creating a so great atmosphere of tension that the spectator will remain - with pleasure - seated, from the beginning of the film to the end. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Aug 27, 2019