‘Who Invited Them’ Brings the Home Invasion Thriller to a Housewarming Party
Adam and Margo just got a killer deal on a new house in an upscale neighborhood in writer/director Duncan Birmingham’s debut feature, Who Invited Them. When the couple hosts a housewarming party to show it off, everything seems to be going well until a pair of strangers are the last guests left and show no signs of leaving anytime soon. Strong chemistry and a wry sense of humor help Who Invited Them stand out in the crowded domestic thriller field, adding a unique wrinkle to the home invasion drama.
The discord in the house is immediately apparent to everyone, it seems, but Adam (Ryan Hansen). As he mingles with his guests and offers patronizing toasts, his friends seem to fall into two camps: They are either the upper-class neighbors and work associates he wants to ingratiate himself with or the middle-class friends he’s trying to outclass. Neither group seems to be buying into the party and as both circles find their way to an early exit, Margo (Melissa Tang) finds herself assuring her husband that the party was a huge success. As they wind down for the evening, the couple is startled by Tom (Timothy Granaderos) and Sasha (Perry Mattfeld), a pair of stragglers that, as it turns out, are unknown to either of the hosts.
Who Invited Them (2022)
Tom apologizes for their rudeness and reveals that they are the next door neighbors, who saw the party going on and thought they should introduce themselves, but hadn’t yet had the opportunity. To make up for it, the four agree to a nightcap, though Margo is more reluctant than Adam, who sees this as the perfect chance to move up the social ladder with the obviously wealthy neighbors.
At first, things appear to be going well. Tom and Sasha are eccentric, but also exciting and amiable, and they find that they have quite a bit in common with their new neighbors. Little by little, though, a wedge begins to form. Both Tom and Sasha have a knack for making innocuous comments that seed a rising frustration between Adam and Margo, and innocent as they seem, they also clearly get a great deal of enjoyment out of toying with them. As the night wears on, and their nightcap evolves into an afterparty, Adam and Margo are left feeling more like prisoners in their own home, helpless against their guests who expertly craft reason after reason to have just one more drink.
The film’s effectiveness lies primarily in the steadiness of its tension. There’s hardly an inciting moment where we can at once say, “enough is enough.” More than anything else, Adam and Margo are constrained by their own sense of decorum—of wanting to belong. Adam in particular wants nothing more than to end the night on good terms, leaving the manipulative neighbors in full control. This plays well into the minds of anyone who has had a guest outstay their welcome or feels any semblance of anxiety at coming off as standoffish in front of new potential friends. It’s a fresh approach to a story whose stakes feel much lower than one might expect from a film like this, but in the same breath, that much more relatable.
The film also manages to use its sparse cast to great advantage. Granaderos and Mattfeld especially have fantastic chemistry together, and while they are unquestionably the antagonists, the film is theirs. They never find themselves out of their element, playing off one another as they push and prod the homeowners toward their breaking point. And while there is somewhat of a twist, it is a relatively transparent one; but rather than sinking the film by failing to deliver on an unwritten promise to surprise viewers, it uses it to catapult the story to its fiery conclusion.
Who Invited Them is a unique entry into the thriller market. It’s a lot of fun and it’s clear the cast had a good time shooting it. At a brisk 81 minutes, it moves quickly, letting the tension build. There is one sticking point in a lingering question left unanswered as the credits begin to roll, but it’s hardly worth griping about, given everything that preceded it. While it’s not necessarily the typical fare I’d peg for the core of Shudder’s subscribers, it does seem to be part of a concerted effort to strengthen their curated thriller collection. So if you are less of a gorehound and favor creepy psychological thrillers, now might be a good time to give Shudder a chance.
Who Invited Them is available exclusively on Shudder.
Article written by Ande Thomas
Ande loves the intersection of sci-fi and horror, where our understanding of the natural world clashes with our fear of the new and unknown. He writes about monsters and foreign horror and can also be found over on Letterboxd.
