The Invitation | 2022 | PG-13 | – 5.7.5

Why is “The Invitation” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “terror, violent content, some strong language, sexual content and partial nudity.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a sex scene with partial nudity, a kissing scene and flirting, non-sexual partial nudity, several jumps scenes with the implication of people being attacked and killed by something unseen, a throat being slit and blood collected for drinking by others, a woman being nailed into a coffin, a suicide, a few arguments, and at least 2 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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After the death of her mother a woman (Nathalie Emmanuel) feels that she’s alone in the world, until a DNA test delivers long-lost family members from Britain. Making the trip and being welcomed with open arms leads to some shocking revelations, which eventually turn bloody. Also with Thomas Doherty, Stephanie Corneliussen, Alana Boden, Sean Pertwee, Hugh Skinner, Virág Bárány and Courtney Taylor. Directed by Jessica M. Thompson. [Running Time: 1:44]

The Invitation SEX/NUDITY 5

 – A man and a woman argue, they kiss, he lifts her off the floor and she wraps her legs around his waist and removes her robe (we see her bare back) as the man lays her back on a bed and they continue to kiss (sex is implied); they are shown in bed later and we see his bare chest and abdomen and her bare back and hip.
► A man and a woman kiss as fireworks light the sky in the background. A man and a woman dance closely together at a party, he asks her if she would like to leave, and they walk together in the dark. A man asks a woman if he can stay with her until she falls asleep, they lie in bed fully clothed next to each other, and she wakes up alone. A man and a woman flirt in several scenes.
► A man asks a woman to marry him after they have had sex and she says, “You’re high on sex.” Two women talk about being touched by people they are waiting on at a gathering. A man tells a woman that she is part of a family scandal when her relative had an illicit affair with a footman. A woman tells another woman that she should have sex with a man and that, “It has been a minute since you had some.”
► A woman swims in a pool fully nude and we see her bare back, buttocks and legs as she enters the pool and her bare breasts and shoulders (distorted by the water) as she swims around. A woman wears deeply cut dresses and robes that reveal deep cleavage in several scenes. A woman wears a tank top in bed and her nipples are visible through the fabric. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage. A woman wears overalls that reveal cleavage and bare shoulders. A man wears his shirt open to reveal his partial bare chest in a few scenes. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals her bare back to the waist, cleavage and bare shoulders. A woman wears a gown that reveals her bare back.

The Invitation VIOLENCE/GORE 7

 – A woman enters a room and is leaned over a glass bowl before a man slashes her throat and the blood is collected in the bowl; the man spoons some blood into a goblet and hands it to a man who drinks it and other people around the table watch (we see some people’s fingers darkening and long claw like nails form, as well as sharp teeth in their mouths); one woman at the table cries and runs to the door, pounding and calling for help.
► A woman throws many candles off an altar and sets the room on fire causing people in the room to become alarmed and rush out, and she stabs a man in the chest with a spike from a candleholder and he falls back on the floor aging rapidly as two women grieve over him. A woman charges another woman and they fight with kicks and throws, and one stabs the other in the chest with her long nails (we see bloody holes in her chest). A woman attacks another woman and the second woman throws her to the floor, they struggle and are both impaled on a long spike (they turn into ash and blow away). A man stabs a woman in the shoulder with a spear and she pulls the spearhead off the handle, removes it from her shoulder, and then stabs the man in the chest (he falls dead with blood on the wound). A man grabs a woman and she wraps a cable around his wrist and cuts his hand off (we see blood as the hand is cut off); she then kicks him back into flames that engulf the building.
► A woman is led into a dark room to clean it and she is locked inside, she lights candles to be able to see, she hears sounds and the candles are blown out a couple of times, music blares from a gramophone, she sees something skittering on the ceiling and screams (the scene ends and we understand that the woman has been attacked). Two women are escorted to a dark and dusty wine cellar where they are frightened by noises and rats skittering on the floor; something touches one woman’s hair from the ceiling and she flinches, we see a large spider crawling on a shelf, one woman reaches into a deep shelf and is pulled by something inside, she screams and pulls away, something moves behind the other woman and she turns around to face it, we see her neck bend unnaturally as it cracks and the other woman screams (the scene ends and we understand that the women have been attacked). A woman stands in an empty room as a man at the door pleads with her to eat; she refuses, pushes past him, goes to a balcony where she wraps a cable around her neck and throws herself over the edge and we hear a thud (she has killed herself).
► A man cuts his wrist with a long sharp thumbnail and we see blood; a woman sucks blood from his wrist (we see blood on her chin) and the man appears to be weakened as we see blood pumping through the woman’s veins, and she grows sharp teeth and long nails. A man slams a woman against a door and tells other people to prepare her; we see her tied into a chair later and taken to a dark room where another woman is chained to a wall and the first woman is nailed into a coffin as she screams. A woman’s finger is cut while having a manicure, she flinches and we see the blood as another woman puts the bloody finger in her mouth; the injured woman becomes upset and leaves the room. A man with a large heavy bladed knife searches through a house for a woman (we see blood on the blade); she hides in an ice house, where she sees the bodies of other people with blue tinged skin and she lies on the floor where another body is placed above her and blood drips on her face before she runs out of the building and locks the man inside. A woman throws hot tea in a man’s face (we see him with burn marks later) and another woman hits her in the head with a pot, knocking her out. A man bites a woman on the ankle and sucks blood (we see blood on his mouth and the woman’s leg).
► A woman wakes up in a dark bedroom as the curtains flutter and she thinks she sees a form on the chair across the room; she lies back down and sees the canopy above her moving and then sees hands with long nails moving on it and hears voices murmuring as she panics and climbs under the bed breaking something as she goes; she hides under the bed, the bedclothes are lifted by something unseen and a man drags the woman out from under the bed by the feet as she screams. A woman goes into a dark room, knocks something off a desk when trying to turn on a light (it shatters), finds files with documents on the desk and becomes angry.
► A coffin is opened and a woman gets out and runs away hiding from people looking for her; the person that let her out says, “I’ll get what I deserve,” and we later see her dead with a bloody gash in her head. A bird slams into a window and we see blood left on the glass as the bird twitches and presumably dies.
► A woman jogs at night in the fog and she hears sounds of wildlife with birds screeching, and something snarling and thumping coming from what she was told is an icehouse. A woman walks through a dark house at night and sees several women lined up in front of a man and he tells them that they will wait there for their orders; something reaches toward the woman (we see what looks like a hand with long sharp nails) from behind her and she startles when a woman stands in front of her and tells her to go back to her room. During the opening sequence, thunder rumbles, lightning flashes and we hear what sounds like howling coming from inside a house as service bells ring frantically. A woman has a nightmare and she sees a woman standing in a window of a house and she hears a whispering voice. We see a statue of a large dragon pinning a person wearing armor on the ground in a few scenes.
► A woman describes carnivorous birds in the area and that they impale their prey’s heads on spiky thorns. A man is dismissive toward two women working as servants when they drop glasses on the ground, breaking them; another woman tells him that it was her fault and he is rude to her. A woman yells at a man and accuses him of stalking her (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details). A woman is rude to another woman a few times, telling her to be quiet. Two women talk about their employer and the people they are waiting on at a gathering; one says that a man “probably owns people.” A woman listens to a phone message from her mother (the mother has died). A woman talks to a friend over the phone about fearing that she will be found dead in a ditch. A woman tells a woman, “Don’t trust men with goatees.” A man chants a few times before someone is killed. A man complains about there being “So many boys,” in the family as he welcomes a woman at a party. A man says that he has “zero redeeming qualities.” A man tells a woman to “play nice.” A man talks about wanting to find someone that accepts him for who he is.

The Invitation LANGUAGE 5

 – About 2 F-words, 2 sexual references, 10 scatological terms, 5 anatomical terms, 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (creep, gross, obstinate, opportunist, broke [anatomical term deleted], rebel, pathetic, you’re nothing, monsters, fool, old-fashioned, posh, coy, façade, cliché, humdrum, tragic, snarky, klutz, insane, very white, whitest), exclamations (anyway, yap yap yap), 8 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus, oh God no, oh God, Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |

The Invitation SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman comments about wasting money on cocaine (referring to “blow”). A woman drinks wine from a small wine bottle, a woman drinks a glass of unidentified liquor, people at a party hold and drink from champagne glasses, and a woman asks another woman if she overdid it on the bubbly.

The Invitation DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Family, connections, death of a parent, scandal, adventures, old money, eternal life, mortality, feeling isolated, keeping up appearances, jealousy, vampires, ambition, ideas, concepts, suicide, virtue.

The Invitation MESSAGE

 – Be very careful what you wish for.