Who Invited Them will be available exclusively on Shudder in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, September 1.
Synopsis
Adam and Margo’s (Hansen, Tang) housewarming party is a success. However, one mysterious couple (Granaderos, Mattfeld) linger long after all the other guests have left. The uninvited couple reveals themselves to be their wealthy neighbors, Tom and Sasha. But as a single nightcap leads to another, Adam and Margo start to suspect these new friends are actually duplicitous strangers.
Review
We’ve all been there. Throwing a party, someone brings a friend-of-a-friends and that person ends up the centre of attention. Or worse, they completely outstay the welcome which was never handed to them. In the case of Adam (Ryan Hansen) and Margo (Melissa Tang), that scenario leads to a nightmare situation which makes Game Night look like a walk in the park.
Duncan Birmingham’s feature directorial debut easily lands itself as one of the best Shudder original’s I’ve had the pleasure of watching. Through an excellent slow-burning story and charismatic casting, the film is a breezy 81 minutes that will leave you wondering what will happen next.
Adam and Margo recently moved to their dream home in the Hollywood Hills. Underneath the glossy exterior, the couple has their problems. Adam, desperate to make a good impression on his boss, wants to throw the perfect housewarming. Margo (and plenty of their friends) think the couple are reaching beyond their means. It leads to a party which is experience through gritted teeth. Adam’s ego stroking is compounded when his boss fails to show up to the party.
Birmingham’s screenplay perfectly lays out the rules of Who Invited Them. Adam spends the party out front, peacocking for his guests. Margo, meanwhile, hides in the kitchen, reluctant to join the already awkward party. Their behaviour is indicative of their personalities before things begin to unwind.
When their guests find all manner of excuses to leave the party, both Adam and Margo decide to capitalise on a night without their son in the house. But best laid plans are quickly upended when two uninvited guests, Tom (Timothy Granaderos) and Sasha (Perry Mattfeld) make themselves known. After some probing it seems the young couple are in fact the new next door neighbours so Adam, still keen to impress, convinces Margo to allow the couple of stay. Now the real fun begins.
The two couples continue drinking late in to the night. Tom and Sasha are the antithesis of Adam and Margo. They’re confident, outgoing and quite literally living life to the max, or so it seems. Both find themselves transfixed by their new friends carefree attitude to life, intoxicated by the allure their lifestyle appears to show off.
For Adam this means finally making a connection with someone he sees as successful. Granaderos brings some real charisma to rich businessman Tom. He’s everything Tom wants to be and Adam will do anything to impress. The material Birmingham gives both actors plays directly to their strengths. With Hansen best known as the comedy relief in Veronica Mars and Granaderos known for his dramatic performance in 13 Reasons Why.
The same can be said for both Melissa Tang and Perry Mattfeld. With Tang known for her comedy and Mattfeld for drama, the two pairings work perfectly together. For both of the female leads there’s a sense of synergy in their performances. Tang’s ability to laugh at herself allows Mattfeld to open up and allow some of that goofishness in to her own performance.
Who Invited Them brilliants strings out its great reveal. The pacing was so measured and controlled that I believed the joke might be that there was no reveal. For each potential moment when the shoe would drop Tom and Sasha would find some brilliant excuse to distract from the truth. But the truth is Who Invited Them does have an original twist hiding under its hood and its one which is entirely satisfying to the audience.
Birmingham’s story doesn’t call for jump scares or huge set pieces. Instead Who Invited Them hangs perfectly on the hook of sadistic character portrait. Confined within Adam and Margo’s house, the story is able to reach incredibly absurd levels without ever feeling desperate to hold our attention. That, if anything, is the mark of an incredible writer and even more incredible cast.
Verdict
Who Invited Them is one of the most original Shudder releases to-date. Genuinely funny and absurdly thrilling, all thanks to a great story and undeniably charismatic cast.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
