The Invitation (2015). Just wasn't it.

For a chill, casual Saturday family movie night, The invitation (Dir. Karyn Kusama) surely wasn’t the best choice. In the mood for a psychological thriller similar to Gone Girl, we wanted something easy to digest while taking us to the brink of our seats. The invitation was quite the opposite.

The story revolves around a friend reunion at Will’s (Logan Marshall-Green) ex wife’s villa after the death of their son. Following the typical horror set up of 1) an isolated home in the mountains, and 2) strange behaviours by the hosts, we follow the journey of the main protagonist descent into insanity … or the discovery of the truth.

Maybe it was the wrong mood for such a movie: it was dialogue-heavy, conversation-driven. I mean, sure, the friends haven’t seen each other in a long time so there’s catching up to do. The tone is serious as a call for the audience to focus. The scoring is excellent for building suspense. I’m made to take notice of the atmosphere: how the characters interact, what are they implying about their past, what does it say about them and their relationship. It’s asking me to fish for information.

As I really tune in, none really tell us any more of each character’s uniqueness. Through all the snippets, it was a repetition for their excuse of their lack of support or persuading Will to “stay present” in this long-awaited reunion. I felt my concentration was used for nothing.

Arguably, the friends were used as props to build evidence of an already-existing isolation, developing credibility in their resistance and disbelief when Will expresses his doubts. The covert character backgrounds contrasted with the overt details of each cult member’s past and accentuates the dangers felt by Will.

But it was interesting in what the audience can take notice regarding the friends. The Asian girl, Gina (Michelle Krusiac), is dating the Asian guy, Choi (Karl Yune). There is also an interracial couple and a gay couple. Without information of their past, how they met, you feel no connection to these characters. They’re interchangeable. And when you’re unable to distinguish them beyond their labels, it begins to feel like a ploy to “increase diversity in Film”.

This feeling is reinforced when other information derived doesn’t act to develop these characters. In one scene, the friends and cult members play a game where they say ‘the truth’. It’s made known Gina does coke and the information lend itself to creating David’s (Michiel Huisman) past and why he sought retribution. Whether it was necessary for it to be Gina's character to give this information is another story.

In any story, each character has attributes which lend itself to justify their decisions. Supposedly, when characters are developed, additional information would tap into the already existing idea and align. Audience would feel comfortable. The plot makes sense.

I.E. Gina's character is shown to be into partying/ is a social butterfly -> she does coke -> the audience recognizes the justification

However, when the audience feel no differences between, and information given can come from anyone, sudden information becomes jarring and characters feel disposable. You then question ‘was it really necessary to give this line to that character?”.

Gina's character has no particular traits -> there is no justification for the action within this character

In this instance, when we received no prior information of ie. whether Gina is a hippie, is experimental, is daring, and ultimately what her character is, to hint at her coke past feels like a cheap move to “improve Hollywood” – an attempt to divert away from stereotypical Asian character of a smart, goodie-two shoes. It's bizarre considering the audience witnesses many interactions yet derive so little information. It seems try to break conventions, but it’s not done elegantly that it really benefits. Instead, comes off as a strategy to be politically correct.

Whether that be true or not, it’s nonetheless a portrayal of the lack of care towards developing the ‘friends’ characters which led to no emotional investment from the viewers – I’m pretty sure no one cared when Gina died.

In a movie which relied on building suspense through different interactions, while not building emotional connections for these characters in these interactions, it becomes a pretty boring movie to watch. Especially when the build-up lasts for 75% of the film. Sure, the soundtrack carried the team, my heart beat and I was nervous, but it just wasn’t enough to get me to look past a group of mundane, sub-par characters.