Invitation to Hell

A man (Robert Urich) get a promotion and moves his family to an isolated community. Here there are a different way of doing things, and a local country club dominates the lives of the citizens... with more going on than meets the eye.

Although this film is entertaining to a point, its made-for-TV origins limit the fun Craven could have had with sex and blood... this film is quite tame, and completely bizarre. Don't ask too many questions about how the plot works, or you'll go crazy.

Mike Mayo nails it on the head when he says, "A capable cast can't compete with goofy plot revelations", and laments that the film "lacks the subversive excesses of his early films". It's true. Maybe this is a swipe at exclusive clubs or yuppies, but it's just toothless. And the biggest plot revelation is revealed in the first minute of the film...

Michael Berryman has a small cameo, and Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster) has some memorable lines and moments, including one with a bunny. If you're waiting for a creepy scene, the closest you come is during a sleepover. And Susan Lucci? The DVD box calls her a "sexy director"... I guess "sexy" meant something else in 1984.

This film could be ranked as Wes Craven's oddest film, and makes a good drinking picture for you and some friends. I suspect most people have never heard of it, and I doubt that Craven really tries to get people to notice.

Invitation to Hell (1984)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A scientist (Robert Urich) moves his wife (Joanna Cassidy) and their two children to a new town where he's going to create a new high-tech spacesuit. Right from the start he realizes that the entire town is expected to be like one another and this includes joining a health club ran by Jessica Jones (Susan Lucci). Soon the scientist begins to realize that something is off and it might all lead back to the club.

INVITATION FROM HELL is a pretty boring, bland and predictable made-for-TV movie that even director Wes Craven seems bored by. I say this because there's very little energy or style in his director and it really does seem as if he's stuck in the TV limitations and can never overcome them. It certainly doesn't help that the screenplay is basically a predictable re-working of THE STEPFORD WIVES and in the end there's really very little entertainment to be found.

One of the biggest problems is that it's very easy to figure out what's going on yet the lead character just keeps walking around like an idiot and never being able to figure it out. While the viewer waits for him to figure things out, you grow more and more tired with everything you're watching. There are a few twists thrown in but they're all rather predictable. Another thing that doesn't help is the fact that the lead character is just a bore as are the supporting ones. If you don't care for a family then you're really not going to care if they live or die. There's no one to really root for or against in the picture.

Urich is a fine actor but he's just too bland here to draw any attention to the character. Cassidy is good in her supporting part and I also thought Lucci was good in her role. Kevin McCarthy also shows up in a brief bit and it was nice seeing him. INVITATION TO HELL really has very little going for it. Craven certainly doesn't bring any energy to the material and seems to have been a project done more money more than love.

Ignore negative comments on this film: from the very start when an unsuspecting motorist runs over Lucci and she nukes him, you know who the bad guys are! An interesting investigation of the evil that lurks amid materialist splendor: don't you WANT the biggest, best, most expensive of everything??? You can HAVE it...for a price!! (Note:SCI-FI special-effects highlight the ending...)

Better than the typical made-for-TV movie, INVITATION TO HELL is blessed with excellent casting (Urich, Lucci, Cassidy, McCarthy, pre-Murphy Brown Joe Regalbuto, Soleil Moon-Frye) and a high concept update to the familiar Faustian plot. Urich is likable as always and Lucci is particularly fetching and devilishly over the top in the mother of all femme fatale roles. Definitely a product of the 80s from Lucci's occasionally too big hair to the synth-heavy soundtrack to the pre-internet boxy computers. Kind of a hybrid version of STEPFORD WIVES and THEY LIVE, the movie commits early to its apocalyptic Miltonesque vision and horror fans will likely not have many complaints until the soppy, maudlin denouement. 7/10

Everything is idyllic in Suburbia when the little family moves in, as the father have got a new job in a computer company there. But no paradise would be complete without its snake. Strange things happens as the family joins the local country club without the husband, as it certainly holds secrets. The father is not a joiner, but pressure is on him to join, as everyone who is anything in the neighborhood and at work are members. Robert Urich's good guy part is a bit tepid, but Joanna Cassidy as good natured housewife turning nasty sizzles. Suspenseful and well-made chiller with a bitchy Susan Lucci as club chairperson. Look out for cult favorite Michael Berryman in a bit part as a valet. The movie captures the sense of paranoia and the special effects final is worth waiting for. I have seen this movie quite a few times.