Cults of Horror: The Death Cult in The Invitation (2015)
A monthly column dedicated to investigating the practices, beliefs, and connections to cults portrayed in our favourite horror movies.
Content warning: death, suicide, murder, cults.
Karen Kusama’s (Jennifer’s Body, 2009) psychological horror, The Invitation (2015) follows Will (Logan Marshall-Green) and his partner Kira (Emayatzy Corinealdi) as they attend an invitation only dinner at the home of Will’s ex-wife, Eden (Tammy Blanchard) and her husband David (Michiel Huisman). The lavish party hosted at Will’s former Hollywood Hill home; the home himself and Eden lived in with their son, who had tragically passed away. As the evening progresses, suspicion falls on the couple, who have an ulterior motive for inviting their friends to their night of rekindling friendships.
Halfway through the evening, David retrieves his laptop and plays a video featuring Dr. Joseph (Toby Huss) who introduces the circle of friends to his ideology and new-age group founded on healing and transformation. The group is bound together through their traumas and healing; finding others who have been through similar experiences. The group’s wellness retreat and network is the reason that Eden and David met in the first place. David tells his recruits that he is an expert in the field and has spent decades studying trauma and how deeply connected the psychological and physiological elements of trauma are interconnected.
Later in the evening, Will found a laptop in the study that had once been his son’s bedroom. On the laptop is a video from Dr Joseph discussing the ‘new truth’ and reveals the plans that the cult has for that evening; mass suicide. Dr Joseph goes on to describe how death is the only logical way to release people from the physical manifestation of pain is no longer bound to their physical existence. The taking of one’s life as a protest against the pain that the followers experience and disconnecting their lies to the physical plane wherein, Jim Jones recruiting followers to take their own lives in protest against the lies of capitalism and the exploitation of the individual by corporations. The sermons delivered discussed fascism, racism, inclusion, and the benefits of living free of capitalist America.
The cult that is depicted throughout The Invitation parallels elements of the group founded in 1954 by Reverend Jim Jones, The People’s Temple. The Indianapolis based group’s belief system were rooted in Christianity and Communism; Jones practicing rituals such as healing services that were part of the manipulation and brainwashing practices of the cult. In The Invitation, David communicates their fundamental beliefs of individual healing; he believes that he knows the truth of how to relieve themselves of the pain of loss and grief. Members such as Pruitt acts as a confirmation missionary who provides Eden and David with the support they need to “convert” those at the party.
In an interview with Vox director Karyn Kusama stated that The Invitation explores the intensity of “religious fervour” that individuals experience with faith. While the film doesn’t explicitly communicate the beliefs that lay foundation to The Invitation, it does plant seeds about religion, society, and how we sometimes lean on organised communities to help cope with trauma or loss. The organised society of The People’s Temple offered the structure that vulnerable people needed in their lives; Jim Jones preached of providing his followers with the resources that they needed; eventually leading to their planned deaths.
Jim Jones would record sermons on cassette tape for his members, similar to how Dr. Joseph provides his followers with video recordings for them to play to potential new recruits. This element mirrors real life cult practices, as The People’s Temple is only one of a handful that have enacted similar delivery techniques (Fundamental Latter Day Saints is another example). David proudly shares a sermon-like video with the small group of friends, delivering his beliefs and influences through the medium—communicating it beyond their “retreat” in Sanoma, Mexico. There is an interesting parallel to The People’s Temple as Jim Jones had built a commune for his followers and only those INVITED were welcome to move to Guyana—his communist paradise.
“Take our life from us. We laid it down. We got tired. We didn’t commit suicide. We committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world.” Last words on “Death Tape” FBI No. Q042 (18 November 1978)
Dr Joseph uses brainwashing techniques to manipulate his followers into murdering their family and friends, while also taking their own lives, all in the name of healing and transcendence. Jim Jones influenced a mass suicide that took place on November 18, 1978, in Guyana, when 909 people died in a mass suicide by drinking Flavor Aid laced with cyanide. Jones stating that their suicide is a ‘revolutionary suicide’ in protest against the inhumanity of capitalism—a physical and physiological manifestation of being bound to the world. While this mass suicide was on a much larger scale, the red wine scene in the third act of The Invitation appears to be inspired by this historical and atrocious event. Eden gives the group a toast about their friendship and their lives. Will is clearly suspicious; however, Gina takes a sip, collapses, and dies in front of the group. They all refuse to drink the wine, as they had not signed up to be killed that evening.
“I am different. I’m free. All that useless pain, it’s gone. It’s something anyone can have, Will, and I want you to have it too.” [Eden]
On November 18, 1978, those who refused to drink the concoction of cyanide were injected with doses of the poison—some injected in the back as they ran away from their captors. During the dinner scene in The Invitation, we witness a very similar act of violence where Eden chases Will, wielding a knife with the intention of stabbing him for refusing to take part in their suicide ritual. The violence that reverberates to this day following the aftermath of the mass suicide in Guyana is felt in the final scenes of The Invitation. Will stepped out into the backyard of his former home to witness a sea of red lanterns spread across the hills of Los Angeles, an ominous glow taking over the blackness of night; their dinner party wasn’t the only group invited to release themselves from physical manifestations of pain.
The death/mass suicide cult in The Invitation depict the violent and manipulative nature of cults in reality. Destructive cults have the capacity to weave their way into vulnerable victims’ lives, whilst hiding their true intentions until the moment that they have a hold of the believers’ minds. The Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones were manipulated and brainwashed into taking their own lives for his cause, one that he had simply created and wielded as a weapon to control the lives of his followers. The Invitation is covert in its portrayal of cults as the focus of the film is coping with unpreventable and unprecedented grief and loss. However, you can’t ignore the parity that the film presents in comparison to The People’s Temple, a horrifying display of human trust being stolen and broken.
