Very disappointing...

Let's be realistic.

i must have seen a different film!!

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Six friends (and a dog) each harboring a deep dark secret (minus the dog, of course) are invited to an old friend, Roland's (Lance Henriksen), secluded island retreat. Where they are promptly poisoned via wine at dinner. Seems Roland had experienced a near-death life-changing experience when he unknowingly drank poison while traveling abroad, and he wishes to share this 'gift' with the others in order to free them of their inner demons. But as one by one they start dropping dead, is his reasoning truly sound? Henrikson is a magnificent actor who has been in some dreadful films (Pumpkinhead 3, the Mangler, etcetera) but with even a mediocre script, he can and does take the ball and run with it. Here he pulls off a pretty good performance, sadly however the rest of the cast can't hope to excel and pale in comparison. The movie itself is good enough until it devolves before your eyes into something akin to a Made-For-Lifetime TV movie. (you'll understand after watching it) But it still kept my interest for the most part, thanks in no small part to Lance.My Grade: C-

When i saw this film on the video store shelf, i thought "hey, another cool horror movie with Lance Henriksen", but what i got was much more meaningful. What starts out as a mystery dinner where several guests are invented to their friend's remote mansion, turns into a psycho/dinner party. Henriksen poisons all his guests to make them all experience the enlightenment he experienced in South America. The guests start dropping like flies because they won't follow his directions, and by the end, only one guest seems to be left alive. this character we find out is Henriksen's son and as he takes him out into the early morning sunlight he tells him there really was no poison and that it was just to make then appreciate how special life really is. if you view this as a Taoist or a Buddist would, you will find yourself looking at the next dawn the same way. enjoy

If you've followed Lance Henriksen's up-and-down screen and TV career and mostly enjoy his acting, you may like this movie. That's because Lance's performance is about the only reason to see this B-movie in search of a reason to be. The set-up here is a familiar one: just think "And Then There Were None" (1945) or "Ten Little Indians" (1966) or, most recently almost good "Identity" starring John Cusack (2003). The twist here is that instead of the victims being killed off one by one by an unidentified member of the group or staff, the killer identifies himself early on and in godlike fashion, reveals the well-intentioned motivation for the coming mass murder. This seeming horror movie without a plot is actually just an excuse for the screenwriter, the director and cast to spend half the movie in self-indulgent psycho-babble and feel-good-through-confession antics that you see on a typical Jerry Springer show. The acting is flat and the ending is telegraphed to those viewers who make it past the film's 1st 60 minutes

Do not be fooled by the poster and cover art or by the trailer for this film, it is not a horror film. It is a morality play, and a pretty intriguing one at that.The basic plotline: Roland (Henriksen) invites his six best friends to his island estate for a getaway. He tricks them into taking a poison and tells them that the only way he will give them the antidote is if they tell their greatest secrets, if they atone for their sins.This film is actually quite well done, with the characters each struggling with their own demons, wondering whether their secrets are worth dying for. Henriksen is excellent as always, and relative unknowns Christopher Shyer (Joel) and David Livingstone (John) stand out from the rest of the cast by giving fantastic performances.The Invitation is not a horror film by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a very intriguing morality play with solid acting from an ensemble cast of anonymous unknowns, with the exception of Henriksen. Well worth a watch. 7/10.