JP Nunez
If you saw The Black Phone this past weekend, you probably saw the trailer for The Invitation play before it. It was attached to that one movie for a few days, but now that the weekend is over, the trailer has been released online for the world to see. Here’s what the film is about:
After the death of her mother and having no other known relatives, Evie (Nathalie Emmanuel) takes a DNA test…and discovers a long-lost cousin she never knew she had. Invited by her newfound family to a lavish wedding in the English countryside, she’s at first seduced by the sexy aristocrat host but is soon thrust into a nightmare of survival as she uncovers twisted secrets in her family’s history and the unsettling intentions behind their sinful generosity.
That official plot synopsis doesn’t tell us much about what’s really going on here, but luckily for us, the trailer lets us in on a few of the movie’s secrets. Most obviously, this is a vampire movie, and it looks amazing. From about the one-minute mark on, the trailer is soaked in an atmosphere of dread that’s fueled by creepily mysterious characters and a gorgeous gothic setting, so not only does this film promise to tell an intriguing story, but it’s set to look good while doing it.
On top of all that, the trailer for The Invitation also hints at another card this film has up its sleeve, and it’s a big one. We’ve known for a little while that this movie was inspired by the Dracula mythos, and while the trailer never explicitly mentions the Transylvanian count, it harbors a couple of clues to the real identity of its central villain.
Most notably, the final few seconds mention a “Mr. Harker,” and that’s a dead giveaway. Jonathan Harker is one of the main characters in Bram Stoker’s original novel, and he’s a mainstay of the book’s cinematic adaptations as well, so make no mistake about it. This isn’t just a vampire movie. This is a Dracula movie, and as a huge fan of that classic character, I absolutely cannot wait to see this film.
And luckily, the wait is only going to be about two short months. The Invitation hits theaters on August 26, so we’ll be finding out pretty soon if it’s as good as the trailer suggests.
