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THE INVITATION

by Lucy Foley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 2, 2016

Obsession, obsession everywhere, and a flute of spumante to drink. As in a movie from this period, melodrama and clichés are...

A tragedy-laced romance set among the glitterati on the Italian Riviera in the 1950s.

Hal Jacobs is an English journalist who has been scraping by in Rome after a soul-killing war experience and a broken engagement back home. A friend passes along his personal invitation to attend a fancy soiree given by a contessa looking to raise money for a film. When security at the party busts Hal’s cover, the hostess herself steps in. “Someone once told me,” she says, “that a party is only an event if there is at least one interesting gatecrasher in attendance.” Hal winds up having a rejuvenating one-night stand with a mystery woman named Stella, but she slips away without telling him her last name. Two years later, the contessa digs him up from obscurity; she offers him a princely sum to cover the premiere of The Sea Captain for a major Italian magazine. He will need to accompany the cast and other key players on a publicity cruise down the Ligurian coast to the opening at Cannes. On the yacht, he will at last find his Stella—now on the arm of her nasty American husband, the film’s major backer. Foley ( The Book of Lost and Found , 2015) layers the ensuing drama with Stella’s tragic back story as well as the narrative on which the film is based, a tale found in the 16th-century journal of one of the contessa’s ancestors. He rescued a beautiful, mysterious, and badly bruised woman from the sea only to become obsessed with her. All this, plus a changing point of view, makes for a choppy ride.

Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-316-27347-3

Page Count: 432

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016

HISTORICAL FICTION

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by Lucy Foley

by Roy Jacobsen ; translated by Don Bartlett & Don Shaw ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2020

A deeply satisfying novel, both sensuously vivid and remarkably poignant.

Norwegian novelist Jacobsen folds a quietly powerful coming-of-age story into a rendition of daily life on one of Norway’s rural islands a hundred years ago in a novel that was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize.

Ingrid Barrøy, her father, Hans, mother, Maria, grandfather Martin, and slightly addled aunt Barbro are the owners and sole inhabitants of Barrøy Island, one of numerous small family-owned islands in an area of Norway barely touched by the outside world. The novel follows Ingrid from age 3 through a carefree early childhood of endless small chores, simple pleasures, and unquestioned familial love into her more ambivalent adolescence attending school off the island and becoming aware of the outside world, then finally into young womanhood when she must make difficult choices. Readers will share Ingrid’s adoration of her father, whose sense of responsibility conflicts with his romantic nature. He adores Maria, despite what he calls her “la-di-da” ways, and is devoted to Ingrid. Twice he finds work on the mainland for his sister, Barbro, but, afraid she’ll be unhappy, he brings her home both times. Rooted to the land where he farms and tied to the sea where he fishes, Hans struggles to maintain his family’s hardscrabble existence on an island where every repair is a struggle against the elements. But his efforts are Sisyphean. Life as a Barrøy on Barrøy remains precarious. Changes do occur in men’s and women’s roles, reflected in part by who gets a literal chair to sit on at meals, while world crises—a war, Sweden’s financial troubles—have unexpected impact. Yet the drama here occurs in small increments, season by season, following nature’s rhythm through deaths and births, moments of joy and deep sorrow. The translator’s decision to use roughly translated phrases in conversation—i.e., “Tha’s goen’ nohvar” for "You’re going nowhere")—slows the reading down at first but ends up drawing readers more deeply into the world of Barrøy and its prickly, intensely alive inhabitants.

Pub Date: April 7, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-77196-319-0

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Biblioasis

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020

LITERARY FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP

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by Roy Jacobsen ; translated by Don Bartlett & Don Shaw

by Roy Jacobsen translated by Don Bartlett & Don Shaw

by Roy Jacobsen & translated by Don Bartlett & Don Shaw

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New York Times Bestseller

IndieBound Bestseller

THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ

by Heather Morris ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018

The writing is merely serviceable, and one can’t help but wish the author had found a way to present her material as...

An unlikely love story set amid the horrors of a Nazi death camp.

Based on real people and events, this debut novel follows Lale Sokolov, a young Slovakian Jew sent to Auschwitz in 1942. There, he assumes the heinous task of tattooing incoming Jewish prisoners with the dehumanizing numbers their SS captors use to identify them. When the Tätowierer, as he is called, meets fellow prisoner Gita Furman, 17, he is immediately smitten. Eventually, the attraction becomes mutual. Lale proves himself an operator, at once cagey and courageous: As the Tätowi erer, he is granted special privileges and manages to smuggle food to starving prisoners. Through female prisoners who catalog the belongings confiscated from fellow inmates, Lale gains access to jewels, which he trades to a pair of local villagers for chocolate, medicine, and other items. Meanwhile, despite overwhelming odds, Lale and Gita are able to meet privately from time to time and become lovers. In 1944, just ahead of the arrival of Russian troops, Lale and Gita separately leave the concentration camp and experience harrowingly close calls. Suffice it to say they both survive. To her credit, the author doesn’t flinch from describing the depravity of the SS in Auschwitz and the unimaginable suffering of their victims—no gauzy evasions here, as in Boy in the Striped Pajamas . She also manages to raise, if not really explore, some trickier issues—the guilt of those Jews, like the tattooist, who survived by doing the Nazis’ bidding, in a sense betraying their fellow Jews; and the complicity of those non-Jews, like the Slovaks in Lale’s hometown, who failed to come to the aid of their beleaguered countrymen.

Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-06-279715-5

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: July 16, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018

RELIGIOUS FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

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by Heather Morris

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The Invitation by Lucy Foley

103 Good Housekeeping readers read and reviewed The Invitation by Lucy Foley

80% were satisfied with the ending.

78% of readers rated it overall as very good/excellent.

80% would read books by the same author again and 76% would recommend this book to a friend.

ROME, 1950S. ONE FATEFUL NIGHT, HAL JACOBS MEETS STELLA...

...a beautiful society darling from New York. To Hal, flailing in the post-war darkness, she’s a point of light. They’re from different worlds, but both trying and failing to carve out a new life.

Stella vanishes all too quickly, until a curious invitation from an Italian Contessa reels her back into Hal’s world. They join the Contessa’s collection of luminaries on a yacht headed for Cannes film festival.

The scene on board is a fiction - scars from the war can be hidden yet not healed. Everyone is hiding a dark history, but Stella’s secrets run the deepest. Compelled by her fragile beauty, Hal is determined to bring back the girl she once was, the girl who’s been confined to history.

The Invitation is an epic love story that will transport you from the glamour of the Italian Riviera, to the darkness of war-torn Spain, and to a golden - if rather haunted - time. Perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Victoria Hislop.

Here's what our readers had to say about The Invitation

‘I stepped into the story straight away - I was right there with the beautifully described characters and exquisitely drawn locations. This tale had great back- stories and twists of fate - -I was sorry to reach the last page! What a great read!’

‘This novel is just waiting to be made into a film. It’s easy to ready style belies an intriguing and fascinating plot that is both believable and inspiring.’

‘I was gripped from the beginning- a book which held my attention as a result of good characterisation, intense plot, superb style and wonderful sense of place. I have not read anything by this author before but will do again.’

‘Well written with empathetic characters. This is the second book I have read by this author and I have really enjoyed them both.’

‘An unashamedly romantic novel that swept me away to a glamorous period and luxurious locations. Lucy Foley shows a sharp eye for detailed and well-researched description...Thank you for sending it to me.’

If you see a book with a Good Housekeeping Reader Recommended Books logo, you can feel confident that it has been read and loved by readers just like you.

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The Invitation by Lucy Foley

Introduction

An evocative love story set along the Italian Riviera about a group of charismatic stars who all have secrets and pasts they try desperately--and dangerously--to hide. Rome, 1953: Hal, an itinerant journalist flailing in the post-war darkness, has come to the Eternal City to lose himself and to seek absolution for the thing that haunts him. One evening he finds himself on the steps of a palazzo, walking into a world of privilege and light. Here, on a rooftop above the city, he meets the mysterious Stella. Hal and Stella are from different worlds, but their connection is magnetic. Together, they escape the crowded party and imagine a different life, even if it's just for a night. Yet Stella vanishes all too quickly, and Hal is certain their paths won't cross again. But a year later they are unexpectedly thrown together, after Hal receives an invitation he cannot resist. An Italian Contessa asks him to assist on a trip of a lifetime--acting as a reporter on a tremendous yacht, skimming its way along the Italian coast toward Cannes film festival, the most famous artists and movie stars of the day gathered to promote a new film. Of all the luminaries aboard--an Italian ingenue, an American star, a reclusive director--only one holds Hal in thrall: Stella. And while each has a past that belies the gilded surface, Stella has the most to hide. As Hal's obsession with Stella grows, he becomes determined to bring back the girl she once was, the girl who's been confined to history. An irresistibly entertaining and atmospheric novel set in some of the world's most glamorous locales, THE INVITATION is a sultry love story about the ways in which the secrets of the past stay with us--no matter how much we try to escape them.

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Recommended to book clubs by 1 of 1 members.

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This book divided our group with some really enjoying it and others not so much! However all were agreed that it makes a good “summer read” and should be enjoyed as that. Those who d ... (read more)

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The Invitation

Contributors

By Lucy Foley

Formats and Prices

• Audiobook Download (Unabridged)
• Trade Paperback $18.99
• ebook $9.99

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around August 1, 2017. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

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Description

• "Can I find words eloquent enough to describe this novel? Lucy Foley's THE INVITATION is so exquisite in its writing that it may take a place among the classics -- but it was the combination of the glittering, glamorous setting and the magnetic characters that mesmerized me. This book is luminous.--Elin Hilderbrand, bestselling author of Here's To Us "Pop this tale of love, secrets and obsession right into your beach bag." --People "Certain that they'll never meet again, journalist Hal and socialite Stella indulge in an illicit rendezvous. But when they're reunited on a yacht in Cannes a year later, temptation is everywhere." --Cosmopolitan "Lucy Foley crafts a subtle, dramatic story of guilt, desire and long-held secrets.... Lushly described settings and Foley's keen but compassionate eye for her characters combines to make The Invitation a beautiful, bittersweet journey of loss and redemption."-- Shelf Awareness
• "THE INVITATION is a riveting, dazzling romance, set in the most beautiful places on earth. I wanted to go wherever Lucy Foley took me." Anton DiSclafani, New York Times bestselling author of The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls and The After Party
• "Richly atmospheric and emotionally resonant, The Invitation is a compelling love story that takes us far beyond the alluring Italian coast and the film festival at Cannes to a darker place, where the wounds of war are still fresh, and secrets hide just below the water's surface. Lucy Foley's lavish depictions both immerse and transport, inviting us to cruise along with this glamorous and enigmatic cast of unforgettable characters. A great read." Brunonia Barry, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader
• "I loved THE INVITATION. Foley has such a visceral writing style, and her rich descriptions made me feel as if I could dive into this book and be amongst the glittering characters in the Italian sun. A beautifully complex and vivid story, full of repressed longing and secrets. An absolutely enchanting tale." Lucinda Riley, New York Times bestselling author of The Orchid House
• "Glamorous and romantic and bittersweet all at once, this is a fabulous story with such wonderful, intelligent prose." Beatriz Williams, New York Times bestselling author of A Hundred Summers
• "I love The Invitation . The setting is so powerfully evoked that I found myself browsing holidays on the Italian Riviera for days. But while it definitely ticks all the boxes for those after a glamorous, mid-century romance, it's actually much more than that, with dark, sensuous undercurrents that lingered on in my mind, long after I'd reluctantly left Stella and Hal behind." Kate Riordan, author of The Shadow Hour
• "A seductive love tale set on the Italian Riviera in the 1950s" Sunday Times Style (UK)
• "The perfect summer read... Gorgeously compelling" Good Housekeeping (UK)
• "Oozes glamour... Lush, romantic and cleverly crafted - a brainy beach read to relish" Sunday Mirror (UK)
• "In her second novel, Foley weaves a very satisfying love story, and readers will be especially taken by the luxurious Mediterranean setting." Publishers Weekly

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SANDRA DANBY'S BOOK REVIEWS

Sharing thoughts on the books i read, new authors, favourite authors, classics re-visisted.

#BookReview ‘The Invitation’ by Lucy Foley @lucyfoleytweets #romance #historical

Read my reviews of these other Lucy Foley novels:- THE GUEST LIST THE PARIS APARTMENT

If you like this, try:- ‘The Believers’ by Zoe Heller ‘The Tea Planter’s Wife’ by Dinah Jeffries ‘A Mother’s Secret’ by Renita d’Silva

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet: THE INVITATION by @ lucyfoleytweets #bookreview https://wp.me/p5gEM4-3hU via @SandraDanby

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The Invitation

Lucy foley. little, brown, $26 (432p) isbn 978-0-316-27347-3.

Reviewed on: 06/20/2016

Genre: Fiction

Open Ebook - 336 pages - 978-0-316-27292-6

Other - 432 pages - 978-1-4434-5105-5

Paperback - 432 pages - 978-0-316-27290-2

Paperback - 320 pages - 978-1-4434-5104-8

Pre-Recorded Audio Player - 978-1-4789-1644-4

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‘The Invitation’ Review: Bringing Down the Haunted House

Nathalie Emmanuel stars as the unwitting belle of an English manor in this middling gothic horror movie that leaves her blind to the blood-red flags waving at every turn.

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By Natalia Winkelman

“The Invitation,” a brittle, droning excursion into gothic horror, primarily takes place at a manor in the English countryside. The setting is admissible, if unimaginative: the exterior of the estate appears constructed of Playmobil; coated in cobwebs, its dingy indoors most closely resemble a dungeon.

Outside of the cinema, an invitation to such an abode would ring a cacophony of alarm bells and leave a guest clambering for the door. Not so for Evie (Nathalie Emmanuel), a jaded ceramist in New York who unwittingly becomes the belle of the dwelling after a long-lost cousin, Oliver (Hugh Skinner), invites her to a wedding on its grounds. An only child who recently lost her mother, Evie is tickled by the prospect of extended family, even if the stuffy brood are uniformly white and ominously keen for her company.

But soon, Oliver and his vast array of blond brothers and uncles hardly figure into the equation. Once Evie arrives on the property, she takes a shine to the lord of the residence, Walter (Thomas Doherty), a smirking bachelor dripping in wealth and vampiric good looks.

What follows is an escalating sequence of creaky-freaky jump scares interspersed with beats from a budding romance between Walter and Evie. Dressed to the nines, the pair drink champagne and smooch under a flurry of fireworks. At the same time, the estate’s maids are sucked into a menacing string of set pieces that invariably end in shrieks over a black screen.

The juxtaposition of these events might be exciting — or even mischievously funny — if each scene wasn’t so tedious. For a fright-fest as broad as this one, there’s an awful lot of banal dialogue, and the scare patterns are repetitive enough that even the easiest startlers (I count myself among them) grow immune early on.

Directed by Jessica M. Thompson, “The Invitation” makes feeble gestures at issues of class and race, but its efforts are as diffuse as the whooshing specters haunting Walter’s estate. Emmanuel, for her part, admirably endeavors to imbue Evie with smarts and sass, but confined within a story that leaves her blind to the blood-red flags waving at every turn, her scrappy heroine is hard to cheer on. Had the movie emerged as a friskier game of eat the rich, it might have had a fighting chance of survival. Instead, it’s middling, morbid pap.

The Invitation Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes. In theaters.

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The Invitation is a waste of perfectly good evil vampires

It’s a boring riff on Ready or Not meets Get Out, with none of the fun of either

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Vampires are cinema’s most malleable monsters . They can sparkle , skateboard , yell “bat” , or do gymnastics , all while fulfilling their bloodsucking duties. In the horror movie The Invitation , vampires take on their more familiar role as society’s rich and powerful, as an unlucky human guest joins them for the weekend. The Invitation comes from director Jessica M. Thompson ( The Light of the Moon ), and while it pulls inspiration from several recent and successful out-of-place houseguest horror movies like Get Out and Ready or Not , The Invitation never manages to be scary, and it hides its vampires behind a lifeless love story.

The Invitation follows Evie (Nathalie Emmanuel), an unhappy and over-it gig-caterer in New York who’s fed up with her dead-end job, desperate to follow her passion for ceramics, and still reeling from her mother’s recent death. One day, Evie snags a gift bag from a swanky event she’s catering and tries out the included DNA testing kit. The test connects her to a previously unknown branch of her family that lives among the upper crust of English society. Before Evie knows it, she’s been invited to a mysterious wedding at an English estate, where she meets and quickly falls for the enigmatic Walter (Thomas Doherty), the lord of the manor.

This series of events takes almost all of the movie’s 105-minute run time to play out. That may surprise viewers who’ve seen any of the promotional material for this movie, which is far more focused on the story’s vampiric presence. The bait-and-switch of subbing a dubious romance in for vampire violence wouldn’t be much of a problem if the movie were willing to invest in the Gothic style and foreboding atmosphere that helps make vampire love stories timelessly creepy. Instead, Thompson is content with awkward flirting that’s shot as blandly as a one-season-only Netflix teen series.

Even though the story rests almost solely on viewers believing Walter is subtly seducing the worldly and cautious Evie, Emmanuel and Doherty never muster much chemistry beyond both being attractive people. The stiff, exposition-heavy dialogue never manages to make either character interesting, and it barely leaves room for the actors to add any spark or genuine emotion to the confounding romance.

Even stranger, the movie’s script, from Hell Fest co-writer Blair Butler, goes to great lengths to convince viewers that Evie is too smart to fall prey to the lures of old money. As a Black woman who has lived her whole life in the United States and knows what it’s like to be the disrespected server at a rich person’s party (even though she has a killer New York City apartment), Evie constantly sympathizes with the wedding’s ill-fated servants, and swears to her best friend that she’d never fall prey to the trappings of wealth and the luxuries colonialism paid for. Then she does. Right away. With no convincing, and no charm from Walter whatsoever. While her sudden susceptibility might suggest something supernatural is at play — something that might have helped sell the romance, and given her a meaningful internal struggle — The Invitation never makes any hints that that’s the case.

In fact, Evie’s only reason for thinking Walter is anything other than a rich playboy with a big house is that he apologizes to her for his butler being rude. (Yes, it’s the help’s fault when something goes wrong for Evie. No, the filmmakers do not acknowledge the irony.) The Invitation is desperate to try to replicate the awkward fish-out-of-water terror of Jordan Peele’s Get Out , without realizing that part of what made that movie so eerie is the implication of a loving, meaningful relationship between the protagonist and one of the villains, which started well before the movie begins.

The tedious flirtation in The Invitation is occasionally punctuated by scenes that bring the movie a little closer to the horror and moodiness that its vampiric premise promises. There are a few scenes of mysterious creatures lurking in shadows, or locked rooms that guard unseemly creatures of the night. These brief horror scenes are shot in an overly dark manner, with tacky blue lighting that obscures almost all of the action. But they at least manage tension for a few seconds at a time, and they provide a bit of the foreboding atmosphere that the rest of the movie is sorely lacking.

Finally, in its last 25 minutes, The Invitation turns into the vampire-slaying action movie Sony wanted audiences to believe it is for the whole run time. During a suitably creepy dinner — the movie’s most effective scene, thanks to the dozen or so masked vampire cultists — Walter finally explains his full vampiric machinations to Evie. The movie seems intent on revealing this information as a twist, but considering it not only makes up most of the trailer but is also hinted at in the movie’s prologue, Evie’s shock at the reveal ends up feeling like the most surprising part of the scene, especially given the broad hints at something weird and nefarious happening.

Once the cat’s out of the bag, The Invitation finally transforms into its best self, a vaguely angry movie about a woman who’s fed up with all these vampires and would very much like to kill them. The action itself is mostly lackluster and bloodless, and it never reaches the giddy violence or entertaining heights of Ready or Not , the movie The Invitation feels most indebted to. At least it’s more exciting than Evie and Walter’s baffling courtship.

One part Get Out , one part Ready or Not , and too few parts Dracula , The Invitation is a pastiche of infinitely better horror stories that it never measures up to. You can make vampires do almost anything in movies, but The Invitation commits the one unforgivable sin: making vampires boring.

The Invitation opens in theaters on Aug. 26.

No show is having more fun than Chucky

The walking dead is building to something — but it’s not clear what, sydney sweeney only does projects that scare her.

The Invitation

$ 26.00

Come drift away on to an exotic locale, mingling with the rich and famous, discovering half-truths and beguiling secrets meant to never be released. The Invitation by Lucy Foley is a world unlike any other. The characters all have depth and double meanings, and there is so much more than what meets the eye in this tale. Breathtaking locations and an even more passionate story entangled within the main plot all help the reader to escape into this world. I felt as if time stopped, and the only thing that existed was the world within these pages. It was romantic and depressing, vile and gorgeous; it was a giant ball of contradictions and paradoxes. Yet, like many of the characters, I was both repulsed and drawn in by the siren call of this story. It’s definitely something I would read again and was not fully what I expected when I began reading. The Invitation is many things but boring would not be one of them. I enjoyed this book very much and would love for others to experience the beauty and the pain that is Lucy Foley’s work.

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The Invitation Review

Wedded bliss turns into bloodsucker mundanity in this the brides of dracula reinterpretation..

The Invitation is now in theaters.

Despite the message Sony's imaginary marketing campaign for Jessica M. Thompson's The Invitation sends, it's not dead-on-arrival. While identifiably inferior to the films it's easily compared alongside, The Invitation is creepier, lustier, and more hauntingly atmospheric than trailers detail. Shades of Radio Silence's shotgun wedding in 2019's masterful Ready or Not and countless sweltry erotic vampire tragedies ring truest, albeit in inspiration, never recreation. The Invitation suffers from split personalities as vampire elements disappear for the film's more young adult midsection, long enough where there's never a harmonious fusion of horniness and hangry neck biters. It's no Bram Stoker's Dracula, yet few are — The Invitation lands squarely in the almost-forgotten-to-okay vampire cinema ranks.

Game of Thrones actress Nathalie Emmanuel stars as Evie, a parentless New York City caterer with a ceramics passion who uses an at-home DNA test to locate and connect with her English second cousin, relator Oliver Alexander (Hugh Skinner). He insists they meet while he's visiting New York for work, then demands she accompany him back to their homeland for an elaborate countryside wedding as a chance to meet her unspoken-of relatives. Evie agrees, jets first-class to a mansion overseen by lord Walter (Thomas Doherty), and is pampered by her Alexander clan. Although, there are rules like forbidden quarters and no wandering outside bedrooms after dark — red flags to any horror fan.

Ambitions for Thompson's The Invitation — no connection to Karyn Kusama's murderous dinner party movie of the same name — are like throwing darts at a PG-13 horror mood board. Anonymity hides monstrous vampire figures who feed upon sacrificial wait staffers behind midnight-black shadows, never to reveal nastier creature designs. Evie's attraction to ripped-and-regal Walter is meant to excuse perilous advancement in Blair Butler's screenplay. The Invitation bounces between basement feeding sessions steeped in James Wan-esque shadowplay and romantic chivalry as Walter lays on billionaire hunkiness thicker than bisque — never achieving ultimate balance like, say, how The Boy Next Door packages erotic thrills. At PG-13, there's only so much of each Thompson can execute anyway.

Luckily, the performers all seem to understand their assignments, from Sean Pertwee as grumpy butler Mr. Fields to Stephanie Corneliussen as Evie's immediate socialite rival, Viktoria. Emmanuel and Thomas Doherty are steamy, swoony, and so, so hot in a very teenager’s Dracula fanfiction way that works, with a special callout to Doherty feelin' himself as the eye-candy heartthrob. The Invitation isn't rewriting vampire fantasies or indulgent explorations of eternal damnation, yet the actors frequently chew the hell out of stock "Spooky Manor" scenery. Hugh Skinner as the disturbingly generous “nice guy,” Alana Boden as Evie's lone female companion with a curious fixation – they're all embellishing the obvious enough to elevate where possible.

What's your favorite vampire movie?

When The Invitation struggles, it's swinging and missing without much strategy. An inefficient finale blazes through Evie's vampiric gauntlet despite more robust buildup material that coaxes sultry patriarchal warfare from outsider paranoias proven accurate. Visual effects as fire spreads throughout the elaborate and priceless estate are wonky at best, astoundingly unpolished at worst. These excessive moments sell camp as evil vampires suck from victims' legs, licking their blood-drenched skin with this almost orgasmic pleasure on their face, but there are also countless misses that forget about pacing or overall horror experiences. Undead bridal catfights, boogeyman bedroom frights, and champagne toasts over slit throats all sound deliciously obscene — but Thompson is missing that extra salacious gear found by Neil Jordan ( Interview With the Vampire ) or Tony Scott (The Hunger).

The Invitation is an unspectacularly average vampire tale that nibbles on the neck of excitement without taking any substantial bite. Jessica M. Thompson nails Gothic broodiness and cult-like sophistication as vampirism becomes another metaphor for servitude, gender divides, and predatory oppression. What's lost is control over more tween romance elements that wedge between predictable horror interludes that base themselves on sound design jump scares — terror seems backburnered and horrendously commonplace. It’s almost a self-hating Dracula movie, the way its connections and reveals are brushed under rugs? The Invitation is frustratingly middle of the road but not a total loss, which is the most glowing sendoff I can award this okay vacation from Hell that ain't all that hellacious.

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'The Invitation' Review: A Gothic for the Modern Age — With Bite

'The Invitation' will be released in theaters nationwide on August 26.

It may be difficult to name a work of horror fiction that has so undeniably sunk its teeth into centuries of pop culture than Bram Stoker 's Dracula . The epistolary novel first published in 1897 was initially regarded as a Gothic work, but laid the foundation for many a vampire tale that would follow thereafter. If the titular Transylvanian count had never been created, it's difficult to say whether these fanged creatures of the night would have been as popular as they are today — but the world of Dracula is one that, all these years later, continues to be ripe for drawing stories from. Most adaptations or reimaginings tend to focus on the vampire himself, but more and more are beginning to veer away from that focus in favor of prioritizing other characters at their center. In the conceit of the original novel, Dracula's mysterious and seductive vampire brides only appear briefly, but their impact has continued to live on.

This year's The Invitation , directed by Jessica M. Thompson and written by Blair Butler , draws inspiration from that element of the classic story in following an unsuspecting American woman named Evie ( Nathalie Emmanuel ) who travels to the English countryside after receiving an invite to a wedding from an extended family she's only just discovered she has. Over the course of her stay in the impressive mansion, Evie finds herself trapped between the promise of romance and horror, wrestling over whether to give into the possibility of a relationship with the manor's handsome lord Walter ( Thomas Doherty ) as barely-glimpsed threats lurk around her room each night.

The Invitation roots itself in embracing many of the best and most timeless Gothic tropes — with a modern flair, of course, but bringing a story like this to the present day wouldn't be nearly as successful if it wasn't for the actress grounding the supernatural in more realism. Emmanuel, who fans may already be familiar with for her roles in Game of Thrones and several Fast & Furious movies, plays an endearing heroine in Evie, a part-time caterer and struggling artist still grieving the loss of her mother, which leads her to search for any hint of remaining family she might be able to discover courtesy of a mail-in DNA test. The surprising results, in turn, put her in touch with a long-lost cousin, Oliver ( Hugh Skinner ), who endearingly fumbles his way through inviting her to an upcoming wedding across the pond — and once she accepts, Evie finds herself in a realm she's completely unprepared to navigate.

RELATED: ‘The Invitation’ Trailer Shows Not All Family Can Be Trusted

Emmanuel's character is our entry point into the story, but also the fresh-eyed perspective that comes to the manor house with a clear preference of prioritizing sincerity over propriety. From being too helpful with the maids to insisting on cleaning up after herself, Evie's rejection of the way things are simply just done immediately puts her at odds with the butler, Mr. Fields (a scene-gnawing Sean Pertwee of Gotham fame), and their clashing continues even into the film's most climactic moments. Contrast to that tension, however, is the reassuring presence of Mrs. Swift ( Carol Ann Crawford ), the head housekeeper, whose complicated emotions about the manor's newest guest don't prevent her from becoming a valued ally to Evie when she needs it the most.

While the staff is significantly more conflicted about Evie's presence, there is one person who openly welcomes her with charm practically oozing out of his pores — Walter. With his piercing blue eyes and a jaw well-defined enough to possibly cut through glass itself, Doherty has been perfectly cast as the English gentleman more than capable of wooing Evie from top to bottom, and his chemistry with Emmanuel immediately sells the belief that these characters would develop a connection in the midst of whatever horrors the manor house is hiding. Later on, he proves just as compelling a presence on-screen when the Alexander family's intentions for their newly-discovered relative are ultimately revealed — and in the most horrifying fashion possible. Doherty feels equally at home playing either the romantic lead or the manipulator driven by his own secret motives, and as the latter gradually and unnervingly emerges, it's heartbreaking enough to throw all of Walter's previous actions into question but equally thrilling to get to watch Doherty embrace all the darkest edges of the character's potential.

Rounding out the cast are the so-called maids of honor, the women who have been tapped to serve the unseen bride at her impending nuptials and couldn't be more different from one another in presence but offer Evie a myriad of personalities to bounce off of. The tall, intimidating Viktoria (played by Mr. Robot 's Stephanie Corneliussen ) is at odds with her from the start, pairing thinly-veiled insults with equally disconcerting microaggressions against Evie's background, but by contrast, Lucy ( Uncharted 's Alana Boden ) is a kind, welcoming presence, making consistent attempts to rope Evie in on fun pre-wedding activities. Granted, even something as innocent as a spa day adopts a particularly ominous tone; one of the most tension-filled scenes in the entire movie happens over the course of the three getting manicures in a room deep within the manor, one that comes closest to resembling a tomb in and of itself. The film's primary location, Nádasdy Castle in Budapest, only contributes to the overall sense of history and legacy; none of the movie's scenes would be nearly as effective without the bones of such a place serving as their backdrop.

It's also in this environment where the horror truly begins — slow and foreboding rather than too reliant on jumpscares, offering a creeping sense that something isn't quite right each time the sun sets and everyone has turned in for the night — and while Evie is tormented in her own room, terrified by specters that only disappear once she turns on the light, even darker threats persist elsewhere, with unsuspecting staff finding themselves the victims of a dark and looming figure that pulls them into the shadows and cuts off their resulting screams. Thompson and director of photography Autumn Eakin prove themselves an expert pair when it comes to ratcheting up the suspense, with clever cuts and lighting that do more to make the monsters frightening sight unseen in a majority of the film; even when the reveal happens, the camerawork that results contributes to that sickening feeling of realization, as artifice is stripped away and the real purpose of the wedding is laid bare. The third act, however, is where The Invitation notably struggles, as if attempting to plant itself squarely in the divide between suspense and action movie when it really thrived most as the former. When the film leans into its indisputable strengths, the result is bitingly good horror; any attempts to swerve outside that vein result in a more toothless execution. Ultimately, though, The Invitation offers an inventive reimagining of a literary classic while asserting itself as a fun addition to the modern Gothic canon.

The Invitation will premiere exclusively in theaters nationwide on August 26.

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During these last, lazy days of summer, there isn’t a whole lot to do. Still, you’re probably going to want to RSVP “no” to “The Invitation.”

It had such potential, too. Director Jessica M. Thompson establishes an unsettling mood that suggests we’re about to enter a dark and twisted world. But then eventually, her film is just dark—as in, it’s hard to see what’s happening, with herky-jerky visual effects that are especially off-putting. And when the twist comes as to what’s actually going on, it’s like: Really? That’s it? The trailer pretty much gives it away (as most trailers do), but we’re all about having the best possible moviegoing experience around here—even if it is a mediocre movie—so we’ll do our best to avoid spoilers.

Nathalie Emmanuel has an appealing presence, though, as Evelyn—or Evie, as she prefers to be called. The “Game of Thrones” actress is a stunner, of course, but there’s also a no-nonsense naturalism to her delivery that makes her feel accessible. So when things go sideways on her too-good-to-be-true getaway to the English countryside, we remain on her side throughout.

Evie is a struggling New York artist who works as a catering waitress to pay the bills. At an event for a new DNA testing company, she snags a swag bag and takes the test inside; after the recent death of her mother, she feels alone and adrift and seeks a sense of identity. Turns out, she’s got a bunch of cousins, and they’re all British, and very white. But the script from Thompson and Blair Butler merely skims the surface of exploring the racial implications of this connection. When an overly enthusiastic second cousin ( Hugh Skinner ) invites Evie to join him for a posh family wedding at a decadent English estate—and she arrives and realizes uneasily she’s the only person of color besides the maids—there’s hope that “The Invitation” might have something more relevant and substantial on its mind along the lines of Jordan Peele ’s “ Get Out .” No such luck.

Her best friend back home, Grace (an amusing Courtney Taylor ), is appropriately skeptical, but Evie gets swept up in the sense of belonging. Sure, the maids are all wearing uniforms with numbers on them. That’s a little weird. And the butler ( Sean Pertwee ) is a condescending prig. And there’s a hidden key that unlocks the library that’s off-limits. But still! The young lord of the manor, Walter (a seductive Thomas Doherty ), is super hunky with his piercing blue eyes and his square jaw and his shirt unbuttoned one button too many. And he isn’t one of Evie’s relatives, which is always a plus.

As the three-day festivities unfurl, Thompson relies way too heavily on cheap jump scares to put us on edge, which is a shame, because there’s enough atmosphere within the film’s initial mystery. A spa day for Evie and the imposingly glamorous maids of honor ( Stephanie Corneliussen and Alana Boden ) is staged and paced particularly well. And she could have taken more time in building suspense to the big reveal, which occurs at an ominous, masked dinner party that’s like something out of “ Eyes Wide Shut .”

But then everything changes really suddenly, really quickly, and “The Invitation” becomes a different movie—a sillier one. The shift into campier territory is jarring and even a little disappointing. It felt like Thompson was onto something here. Instead, she revisits some extremely familiar material in uninspired fashion.

The costume design is fabulous, though—the work of Danielle Knox . So even when Emmanuel is forced to do a tough juggling act between horror and comedy, at least she looks great in the process.

Now playing in theaters. 

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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The Invitation (2022)

Rated PG-13 for terror, violent content, some strong language, sexual content and partial nudity.

105 minutes

Nathalie Emmanuel as Evie

Thomas Doherty as Walter

Stephanie Corneliussen as Viktoria

Alana Boden as Lucy

Hugh Skinner as Oliver

Kata Sarbó as Manicurist

Scott Alexander Young as Uncle Julius

Virág Bárány as Emmaline

• Jessica M. Thompson
• Blair Butler

Cinematographer

• Autumn Eakin
• Dara Taylor

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