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The Invitation | 2016 | NR | - 6.6.7

A man (Logan Marshall-Green) struggling with grief accepts an invitation to the home of his ex-wife and her new husband for a reunion. As the evening progresses, it becomes obvious to him that there is a sinister ulterior motive behind the invitation. Also with Emayatzy Corinealdi, Aiden Lovekamp, Michelle Krusiec, Mike Doyle, Jordi Vilasuso, Jay Larson, Marieh Delfino, Tammy Blanchard, Michiel Huisman, Lindsay Burdge and John Carroll Lynch. Directed by Karyn Kusama. [1:40]

SEX/NUDITY 6 - A husband and his wife lie in a tub together (we see his upper chest and one breast and nipple briefly) as their young son walks into the room, and then leaves (sex is implied).
 A woman stands in a doorway backlit and as a man stares at her it appears that she is nude from the waist down; as she turns sideways and into the light we see her pubic hair, bare buttock and abdomen from the side. A woman wears a tight-fitting, low-cut dress that reveals cleavage and the outline of her curves. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage.
 A woman tries to seduce a man, describes what she would do to him and tries to kiss him; he tells her to go back in the house. A gay couple hug and one caresses the other's knee. A woman kisses another woman on the mouth. A married woman kisses a married man passionately in front of other people (they are not married to each other). A husband and his wife kiss.
 A man tells a woman as they hug, "You look so hot. Would you bare a child for us?" A man says that he and his wife hate each other, and that the sex is so angry. A man says that he wants someone to perform oral sex on him (no one does). A man says, "I wanna hear who she did in college."

VIOLENCE/GORE 6 - A man shoots another man in the back (blood splatters on another woman) and he collapses on top of a woman he was trying to revive. A man shoots another man and as the victim crawls away, the man follows him and shoots him again (we do not see the result). A man stabs another man in the back and another man shoots the stabbed man.
 A woman with a knife slashes a man across the chest (we hear slash and see some blood). A man with a gun climbs stairs as another man attacks him and they fight on the floor; one holds the other around the throat and a woman hits him in the back of the head and across the face repeatedly (we see a large bloody gash on his face and he yells before falling still). A woman shoots a man (we see blood on his shoulder), then shoots herself in the abdomen (we see a lot of blood pour down the front of her dress). A man attacks another man on a flight of stairs and they wrestle; one stabs the other in the chest and he falls over and dies (we see blood on his chest).
 A man and a woman argue in a car and the driver slams on the brakes just as the car hits something in the road; we see a wounded coyote under the car with blood on its fur and on the road and we hear the animal whimpering; the man then strikes the animal twice with a tire iron to kill it and drags the body off the road (we hear a yelp and two thuds).
 A man yells and slaps the drink glasses out of several other people's hands shattering the glasses and a woman screams and attacks him; they struggle and he shoves her causing her to strike her head on sideboard (we see blood on her forehead. A woman slumps onto a table and we see her with foam in her mouth as other people try to revive her. A woman soaked with blood sits on a sofa and we hear her gurgling as a man takes a fireplace poker away from her.
 A man has a flashback to what appears to be a woman attempting suicide (we see her holding a knife and see blood implying that she slits her wrists). A woman lies in a bed and gasps as a man talks to her and people gather around her (she seems ill); she breathes deeply and then lies still (she dies). A man has a flashback to the day his son died and we understand that he was struck by a baseball bat.
 A man describes how his wife died and that he had been drinking before striking her as hard as he could; he says that she hit her head and was covered with blood, and then died.
 A woman tells a man, "Nobody cares what you think," and then slaps him hard across the face. A man confronts another man about his behavior at a party. A woman announces, "They are in a cult," and other people in the room are alarmed and question the people she is referring to. A woman says that she wants to leave a party and people argue trying to convince her to stay. A man talks about a home invasion. A man and a woman talk about a couple and that they met in a grief group. A man questions another man about locking the doors of a house and taking out the key; he asks, "What if there's a fire?" A woman sitting alone in a room is seen making faces, sticking out her tongue and screaming silently.

LANGUAGE 7 - About 20 F-words and its derivatives, 2 sexual references, 6 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, 3 mild obscenities, name-calling (butch, crazy, gross, snoopy, stupid, sexually awkward, weird), 16 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Jesus, God, Jesus Christ, For God's Sake, Amen Brother, My God, Oh God).

SUBSTANCE USE - A man finds prescription pills in a bedroom and discovers that they are barbiturates, a woman says that she wants cocaine and a man hands her some that she sprinkles on her hand (we do not see her snort it), and a man describes himself as having been "coked-up." People gathered at a dinner party drink many glasses of wine each and one man says that he is going to get a whiskey, and people raise their glasses to drink a toast.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Death of a child, marriage, divorce, grief, cults, mercy, trauma, fear of death, self-destructive behavior, negative emotions, control, self-help groups, forgiveness, attempted suicide.

MESSAGE - Everyone deals with grief differently. Cults are dangerous.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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