The One Where Your Cousin Really Hates You
Evelyn or Evie as she prefers to be called is a young, Black woman, who moonlights as a waitress to pay her bills and tries ceramics to beat insomnia. She is a struggling artist, who is trying her best to support herself after her mother passed away recently. Evie feels isolated after the death of both her parents and the New York dating scene is not working for her either. One night after waitressing for a company dealing with genetics, Evie's friend Grace gets her their merchandise bag. Along with tiny bottles of wine to keep her company, there is a DNA test in there too. The results of the test will not just inform you about your ancestors, it will also help you connect with any living relatives of yours. For a lonely soul lost in a big city, it sounds like heaven. And thus Evie sends in her tests and waits for the results. Lo! and Behold! She has a whole family living in London, and one of her cousins is actually in New York on a business trip! How the stars have aligned for our Evie. She goes to meet her over-enthusiastic cousin Hugh Alexander for dinner and learns all about her maternal ancestry. How her great, great-grandmother had an affair with a Black footman and had to sacrifice her love and son for society. And he invites her to the wedding of their cousin (whose name was only mentioned once and I have already forgotten). Against sensible warning from Grace, Evie packs her bags and off she goes to the English countryside to attend her cousin's wedding. Once there she encounters the snobbish Head Butler, has a tiff, but then swoops down the Lord of the manor, Walt, and promptly forgets the snob because honestly, Walt's jawline and deep blue eyes are pretty mesmerizing. There is hot, sexual tension brewing between the two, the Manor is becoming a conduit for some seriously disturbing visions for Evie, and BAM! the story changes. From kisses under the bright sky to dark shadows in the hallways of the Manor, Evie's English getaway turns into a blood-thirsty, secret-filled nightmare. Nathalie Emmanuel and Thomas Doherty star in this abysmal horror which tries to be Get Out but instead turns into a parody of horror flicks. An uninspiring, not-in-the-least bit funny parody. The Invitation may be the first horror flick of this year to stream on Netflix, but you can definitely RSVP No to this invite.
By SB
