Starring Game of Thrones alum Nathalie Emmanuel and Gossip Girl star Thomas Doherty, The Invitation is a seductive thriller that has a little bit of everything. A stunning gothic setting is the perfect place for the ill-fated romantic storyline, as this alluring romance gives way to sheer horror. In fact, the film does a great job of balancing the fantastical nature of its supernatural elements with serious horror sequences to ensure that it does not feel satirical or like a parody of vampire fiction. Nathalie Emmanuel breathes life into the film with its cast of stuffy and polite characters, providing a modern heroine that doesn’t feel like an overdone pander to younger audiences. For these and many more reasons, Netflix subscribers have propelled the film to popularity on the streaming platform — with the film peaking at number three in Netflix’s top-ten films among subscribers in the United States for the week of December 26, 2022, through January 1, 2023. The film furthermore enjoyed two weeks among the top ten.

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Despite the success the film has seen on Netflix, The Invitation was anything but a box office success. Grossing only $33.7 million worldwide, the film was furthermore lambasted by critics as a predictable and unoriginal film. On Rotten Tomatoes, The Invitation received an average rating of 4.7/10. How did a film that performed so poorly in its theatrical run manage to find success later on through its Netflix release?

Film Synopsis

     Sony Pictures Releasing

Nathalie Emmanuel stars as Evie Jackson Alexander, an MBA student in New York City who has lost both of her beloved parents. Burdened by the loneliness of no longer having a nuclear family of her own, Evie gives in to the temptation of partaking in a DNA-based ancestry service in order to find unknown relatives. She discovers a cousin named Oliver, who promptly and enthusiastically asks to meet her. He invites her into the family with open arms, inviting her to join the family in England for a wedding. Despite her best friend’s suspicions, Evie tags along in the hopes of finding familial connection. The entire Alexander family is eager to welcome her into the fold, noting that they finally have a female Alexander among the brood of men and boys.

As she adjusts to the foreign world of British aristocracy, she is increasingly drawn to the Lord of New Carfax Abbey, Walter De Ville. He is a devastatingly handsome and mysterious young man, whose charms quickly disarm the unsuspecting Evie.

As the upcoming nuptials approach, it becomes increasingly odd to Evie that she has yet to meet the bride and groom. She furthermore discovers that Walter De Ville had researched her extensively before her arrival, her concerns with which were assuaged by his explanation and a steamy encounter. Shortly thereafter, Evie is blindsided by the announcement that she, in fact, is the bride-to-be, with Walter as her groom. Lucy and Viktoria, the bridesmaids, turn out to be two of Walter’s wives, with the threesome revealed to be vampires that feed on the house staff. The Alexanders are one of three families that have made a deal with Walter De Ville, who implies he is Dracula himself, to provide brides for him in exchange for wealth and protection. The brides become vampires like him after completing the marriage ritual, with Evie’s great-grandmother Emmaline having been the most recent Alexander bride. Their need to provide a new bride upon Emmaline’s suicide turns out to be the duplicitous motivation behind the Alexander family’s acceptance of Evie, the granddaughter of Emmaline’s secret lovechild.

In order to escape, Evie goes through with the wedding ceremony in order to absorb Walter’s vampiric powers, after which she kills her captor and husband. The film wraps up with a scene of Evie and her best friend stalking Oliver, planning to exact revenge on her treacherous cousin.

Casting and Analysis

     Sony Pictures

Nathalie Emmanuel shines as the film’s beating heart, with the likability of her character keeping the audience engaged with her story. She does not succumb to the damsel in distress tropes that films often force upon the human love interest of a vampire; nor does it overcorrect by making her a one-dimensional anomaly. Emmanuel’s Evie feels like a real person. Perhaps more could be said of the chemistry between Emmanuel and Doherty as Evie and Walter; there isn’t a lack of chemistry, but it lacks the sort of palpable tension that can set a film apart.

The film boasts strong cinematography, good casting, and a lovely set design. The biggest drawback of the movie may just be the dialogue, which fails to capture the mood and essence of the film. It feels just a bit too casual, preventing the viewer from fully suspending their disbelief in a story of ancient vampires and occult family traditions. Had the script better suited the visuals and capabilities of such a strong cast, The Invitation could have stood alongside Ready or Not as a gripping and well-balanced thriller with both wit and poise.

Regardless, the at-home audience does not seem to care too much about what could have been. Peaking as the third most watched film on American Netflix, The Invitation would seem to have successfully given viewers 104 minutes of enjoyable escapism.

In a market where films are increasingly released directly to streaming platforms as opposed to enjoying traditional theatrical releases, perhaps the biggest mistake made with The Invitation was to release it in theaters at all. Netflix has proven time and again that its viewers are very much interested in simple and easily digestible romantic dramas and comedies, as proven by the success of titles such as Emily in Paris and To All the Boys I Loved Before. Perhaps if The Invitation had foregone a theatrical release in favor of a Netflix premiere, the project could have avoided the blemish of an underwhelming box office opening. Like other films of its class on the streaming platform, it could have become a trendy fan favorite and maybe even produced sequels.

Current trends show that viewers want a strong motivation to pay money to see a movie in theaters. When people are already paying for multiple monthly streaming service subscriptions, most of which offer a month of unlimited content for the same price as one movie ticket, these audiences need an experience they cannot get at home in order to visit the theater. This may come in the form of unparalleled surround sound and a massive screen with which to enjoy an epic sci-fi or fantasy film, or being a part of a shared experience in pop culture history when a highly anticipated title is released. As Hollywood navigates this changing landscape, films such as The Invitation will continue to be learning curves for modern filmmaking.