DVD Review: Invitation (2003)

Upon first glance, Invitation seems like it will end up being another poorly made B movie. Yes, Invitation is a movie made on an extremely low budget and has some obvious surface flaws, but in the end, it plays out like a decent “How To” guide for amateur film making.

Invitation is an independent horror film about a group of friends who bullied the local horizontally challenged kid as young children. Of course said horizontally challenged kid dies in a horrific freak accident due to bullying and the group of friends grow up to be guilt-ridden adults.

15 years after the accident, the members of the group each receive a mysterious invitation to meet up in a secluded cabin under the pretense that a member of the group has some sort of “big announcement”. However, the fun is quickly cut short when the group discovers that the cabin is really a revenge lodge for the spirits of children who died wrongful deaths. One by one the members of the group learn the error of their ways by experiencing gruesome death at the hands of the boy they once teased and the other ghostly beings in the house.

This movie, though it started out slow and the quality had me groaning, actually ended up being a fun view once all indie film imperfections were put aside.  The actors in the movie all did believable jobs playing their roles and only faded into the realm of forced acting a few times. The gore, though not gratuitous like most movies of the genre, was very simple and to the point. However, the manners in which the victims were killed were quite inventive. One victim was disposed of quite nicely by means of a very large snow blower.

The best thing that Invitation had going for it was something that could not be seen directly on the surface: passion. After watching the behind the scenes featurette on the disc, I was able to see just how hard director Jeff Burton and crew worked to make Invitation come alive on the screen. Watching the featurette prompted me to give the movie itself a second viewing, and it was then that I saw the several camera experimentations and very well-done DIY makeup and effects take their intended form.  The dedication and passion put into the making of Invitation really needs to be considered in order for the movie to be thoroughly enjoyed. Plus, young independent filmmakers can also take notes on how to make a fairly marketable movie on a very low budget.

Invitation is currently being sold as a part of the Ghastly Grabs collection series. Online the series runs for about $20 to $40 and contains three feature films in each collection. While in the end I enjoyed Invitation, I’m not quite sure if I would pack it into a $40 box set to sell to the public. In fact, this movie alone has me questioning the quality of the Ghastly Grabs series. Though the collection may seem like a rip off, the creators of Invitation are not to be blamed for poor marketing on the distributor’s behalf.  I think that Invitation is definitely a film that has the potential to be great in the eye of the indie aficionado. Just don’t expect the next Eli Roth or Rob Zombie movie in this slowly paced chiller.