_The Invitation_ started off so well, but eventually morphed into a generic film that I could have predicted from a mile away. The set up to the movie was decent, but the second act was when I really thought this movie nailed it. I really enjoyed the somewhat sadistic back and forth between the two leads. On one hand, you see a woman ready to give herself over to the thought of love for the first time. While on the other hand, the audience knows this chance at love is built on a lie. Despite this fact, I found the chemistry incredibly strong between the two leads. I was smiling as their love story progressed, even though I knew it was not going to end well. Nathalie Emmanuel and Thomas Doherty do such an excellent job in this film. I loved their chemistry and Dohery does such a great Jekyll and Hyde with the unearthly vampire masked by the charismatic lord. Super entertaining watching them do great work here.

The creepy disturbing nature of the trailers was not overly present here, almost all of the unsettling imagery was used for the trailers and leaves the rest of the movie feeling pretty generic. This is even more evident when the movie turns into a vampire action flick reminiscent of the Twilight movies. At this moment, I was completely ripped out of the movie and was ready for it to end. This drastic change in tone really did not fit well here for me. Even though the last quarter was a disappointment, there is still good elements to the movie that is worth watching for those that were initially interested.

**Score:** _55%_ |
**Verdict:** _Average_