The Invitation (2022)
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A struggling artist travels to England for a family wedding only to discover a dark, vampiric secret involving her ancestors.
The story
In present-day New York City, struggling artist Evelyn "Evie" Jackson discovers she has a distant cousin in England named Oliver Alexander. After her mother's death, she takes a DNA test and is invited by Oliver to an upcoming family wedding at the New Carfax Abbey in Whitby. Upon her arrival, Evie meets the lord of the manor, Walter De Ville, and his staff. While she develops a mutual attraction with Walter, she begins to notice mysterious occurrences throughout the house, including the disappearance of several housemaids under the stewardship of the estate's butler, Mr. Field.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Evie discovers that Walter is researching her and eventually they reconcile and have sex. At a rehearsal dinner, Walter announces he intends to marry Evie. It is revealed that Mr. Field is a vampire who serves blood to Walter, Lucy, and Viktoria. Walter explains that the Alexander family has been forced to offer women to him for centuries in exchange for wealth. Evie is imprisoned in a cellar and later freed by Mrs. Swift. She finds the bodies of the maids and Mrs. Swift in an ice house. She escapes to town and meets Jonathan and Mina Harker, who knock her unconscious. She wakes to find herself with De Ville, who reveals himself to be Dracula. Evie is forced to wed him as a sacrifice. During the ceremony, Evie bites De Ville's arm, transforms into a vampire, and sets the chapel on fire. She kills De Ville and flees with a maid named Dee. After a fight between the vampires, Lucy impales herself and Viktoria. Evie kills Mr. Field and eventually kills De Ville by kicking him into the flames, returning to human form. Two weeks later, Evie and her friend Grace track down Oliver in London to kill him for his role in the murders.
- Original title
- The Bride
- First release year
- 2022
- Runtime (minutes)
- 104
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Jessica M. Thompson
- Writers
- Blair Butler · writer
- Cast and characters
- Nathalie Emmanuel; Thomas Doherty; Stephanie Corneliussen; Alana Boden; Hugh Skinner; Sean Pertwee
- Genres
- horror; thriller
- Themes
- Family Secrets; Sacrifice; Vampirism
- Tone and mood
- Gothic; Suspenseful; Dark
- Setting
- Modern-day New York City and Whitby, England
- Premise and plot tags
- Wedding; Vampires; Family Mystery
- Source material / true-story basis
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- Reception
- The film received generally negative reviews from critics but was a box office success.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 45 · scale: 100 · review count: 14; CinemaScore · score: C · scale: A+ to F
- Production trivia
- The film was originally titled The Bride.; The producers Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert exited the project due to scheduling conflicts.; Filming took place in Budapest, Hungary.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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