Writer/ Director: Duncan Birmingham
Cast: Perry Mattfeld, Timothy Granaderos, Ryan Hansen, Melissa Tang, Matthew Kimbrough
Year: 2022
Min: 81
Adam (Ryan Hansen) and his wife Margo (Melissa Tang) are having a house warming for their fancy new home. After everyone else leaves one couple consisting of Tom (Timothy Granaderos) and Sasha (Perry Mattfeld), which no one invited or bought with them, stick around. They say that they are their wealthy neighbors and admit to crashing the party. The two couple have drinks, do coke, and basically have a fun, wild night. But, it's a long night, and as the proceedings escalate, things begin to get worse and worse.
Who Invited Them is a horror/ thriller that looks to try something new with the home invasion trope. And, while the way the couple do the home invading is a slight bit different than the usual offerings, the end result isn't all it's cracked up to be. It certainly starts off feeling like it'll be a fun movie. And, while it is a slow burn it doesn't feel boring, at first. But, note I said, at first, as the movie drags its ass to get where we know it was going from the get go. There is a moment where it feels like it is getting intense, and then it slows down again.
There is also a pointless subplot where a friend couple of Adam and Margo are babysitting their little son. Said kid is suffering from nightmares, and he doesn't have his plushie. The wife of this couple spends her time driving around looking for our protagonists' house. She's lost and can't find it. Any and every time it cuts back to this, it made me feel irritated. As it quite frankly doesn't add tension or suspense, it's simply fucking annoying.
The twist/ revelation about the party crashers, which we all fucking know what it'll be, takes forever to happen. And, needless to say, it isn't shocking or intense or memorable. As a matter of fact, once it comes; it all but kills this flick. For fuck's sake, it's in the title and the goddamn trailer! Although, then the climax happens, and it looks like everything is coming alive and getting exciting. Only to get get one final nail in its coffin, as we end on an open ending. This finale isn't creepy, disturbing, deep, or thought provoking. It is simply frustrating.
To the flick's advantage, it is well acted. But, the two male leads, played by Ryan Hansen and Timothy Granaderos, come off as douchebags, and note one of these, Hansen, is the supposed good guy. This would be OK, if Melissa Tang's character of Margo was likable, but she comes off as not particularly interesting. The absolutely gorgeous Perry (In the Dark) Mattfeld is great as Sasha, though. She comes off as sexy, seductive, dangerous, and interesting, and is the best thing about this movie. But, that's not enough to save it. Still, the four leads do have good chemistry together, but if you don't like anyone why would you care about what happens?
Who Invited Them has some great acting and a fairly interesting setup. Unfortunately it takes too long for the secret or twist or whatever you want to call it to reveal itself. Even though we all fucking know what it is from the very beginning. The characters aren't particularly likeable, this is especially true of both males who are total douchebags. Mattfeld is great and easily the best thing in the movie, but she's definitely not enough to save it. The open ending kills whatever little hope the climax had given me. This film is a total missed opportunity as it could have been at least good fun and an intense horror/ thriller. But, in all honesty it ends up being tiresome and infuriating, making you feel like you wasted your time watching it. That all being said you can check it out for yourself when it starts streaming on Shudder on September 1, 2022.
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