The Invitation

Will and Kira drive to the Hollywood Hills home of his ex-wife Eden for a dinner party with their circle of friends. The gathering is framed by their shared grief over the death of Will and Eden's young son Ty, coloring every conversation. Old tensions between Will and Eden simmer beneath the surface as the evening begins.

The guests—Tommy, Miguel, Ben, Claire, Gina, and Sadie staying with them—arrive and mingle under an atmosphere heavy with memory. The sense of community is fragile, built on shared sorrow rather than easy camaraderie. The house itself feels charged, as if Ty's absence still presses on every room.

In the kitchen, Eden lashes out at Ben after a joke about managing pain, revealing a volatile underside to the otherwise polished evening. The moment unsettles the guests and hints at deeper struggles behind Eden's composed façade. The tension lingers, unsettling the room's dynamic.

David locks the front door, citing a recent home invasion, heightening the sense of danger. Will steps outside for firewood and, through Eden's bedroom window, sees Eden stashing a bottle that he later learns contains phenobarbital. This glimpse deepens Will's suspicions that something dangerous is hidden in the house.

David and Eden recount their connection to The Invitation, presenting it as a ritualized path to release grief. They screen a video featuring Dr. Joseph, whose comforting rhetoric accompanies a dying woman in her final moments. The scene casts the group’s practices as something almost ceremonial and foreboding.

The guests partake in a game called 'I Want,' which dips into intimate and disturbing territory. Sadie kisses Gina, Eden kisses Ben, and Pruitt speaks of killing his wife and serving time in prison. The playful setup exposes underlying aggression and a chilling willingness to blur boundaries.

Will questions the group's philosophy, sensing a dangerous dogma behind their rituals. Claire becomes visibly unsettled and considers leaving, but David urges her to stay, insisting that belonging can bring healing. The scene deepens Will's isolation within the party.

Will discovers a voicemail from Choi indicating he was at Eden and David's doorstep, a clue that gnaws at his paranoia. Choi's later arrival looms as a reminder that there are more hidden players in this night. Pruitt's private pull of Claire aside adds to the sense that someone is orchestrating behind the scenes.

Sadie makes odd faces into a mirror and lingers near Will, creating a disturbing tension. She then follows him outside, a moment that unsettles both him and the others. Will warns Tommy, who tries to normalize the situation, but the air remains thick with unease.

David lights a red lantern in the garden, deepening the ritualistic atmosphere. Will finds a laptop with a foreboding message from Dr. Joseph, confirming the group's ominous gravity. The party's toast is interrupted as Will smashes the glasses, fearing they might be poisoned.

Sadie launches an assault on Will, who counters and knocks her unconscious. Gina collapses and dies after a prior drink, plunging the party into chaos. David, Pruitt, and a recovering Sadie then assault the guests, killing Miguel, Choi, and Ben in rapid succession.

Will, Kira, and Tommy flee and hide as Will overhears David explaining that they have been chosen and that finishing what they started is the only way to be free of their pain. Will seizes a fireplace poker from a dying Sadie to defend himself, while Pruitt presses the attack on Will and Kira, who fight back in a desperate struggle.

Eden shoots Will, then turns the gun on herself in a display of remorse. Tommy disarms and fatally stabs David, ending the presumed leadership of the ritual. Eden, wounded, asks Will to help her outside as the trio carries her into the garden, while sirens and helicopters rise in the distance.

More than a dozen nearby homes glow with red lanterns, signaling that others have begun similar acts. The neighborhood erupts in screams and helicopters as the grief-driven ritual reshapes the community in a single, terrifying night. The film closes on a chorus of chaos, underscoring that the pain they sought to escape has escaped them all.