‘The Invitation’ Film Review: Nathalie Emmanuel Can’t Save Cliched Take on Socially Conscious Horror

Paul Merson has insisted that Manchester United attacker Marcus Rashford should start for England in the opening match of their World Cup campaign, but claimed that defender Luke Shaw 'shouldn't go' to the tournament.

A teenage boy accused of murder said he 'swung' a knife after becoming 'terrified' when he saw his friend had a blade, a trial has heard. Boy A, who can't be named for legal reasons, is accused of murdering 17-year-old college student Alan Szelugowski in Clowes Park, Salford.

A town came to a halt to salute a local hero. Swinton was filled with mourners wishing to pay their respects to a man who served his country and his community.

Derry Girls! Featuring Nicola Coughlan, of Bridgerton fame, the heartfelt and deviously funny series about young girls coming of age during Ireland's rocky 1990s is back after a long hiatus, pandemic be darned. And while we're so sad to see these beloved characters go, we can't wait to spend October seeing what they get up to next.

El Gordo y La Flaca.Every afternoon by the time I got home from grade school, my mother and grandmother would have it playing in the background while cooking for the day. It's akin to Live with Kelly and Ryan, although more pointed in delivery. Nestled between discourse about politics and world affairs, questions like "Are they really dating?" and “Did you see how her panza looked in that dress?” were treated with as much journalistic rigor as anything else on air.

lengthy email a few years back, but the actress has finally addressed the “racist” incident with him publicly.McGee, 53, joined “Boy Meets World” alums Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong and Friedle in an episode of their “Pod Meets World” podcast where the cast further discussed the remark.The actress, who played Angela Moore, quickly confronted Friedle, 46, about the comment when it happened — a move the actor helped him understand the implications of racial stereotypes.“In my head, I attached no cultural significance to that whatsoever,” Friedle recalled during the Sept. 12 episode of the podcast.

picking up their kids from school.Prinsloo, 34, is currently pregnant with their third child — who Levine, 43, allegedly wanted to name after Instagram model Sumner Stroh, according to claims made by the 23-year-old. In a TikTok now viewed over 21 million times, Stroh claimed that she and Levine supposedly had a nearly year-long affair. She told Page Six that it took allegedly place when she “graduated college in 2021.”In a follow-up video, Stroh alleged that Levine told her his marriage was purportedly on the rocks.

Leftfield have shared a high-octane new single, ‘Accumulator’, and announced a run of “intimate” UK tour dates ahead of their new album ‘This Is What We Do’ in December.A press release describes ‘Accumulator’ as “a combination of skin and circuits, old and new,” as well as “an instinctive nod towards classic rave sounds”.It was also the first track written for the album, and was tested early on by Neil Barnes – who has led the project since the band’s initial split in 2002, when he and band member Paul Daley decided to pursue separate projects – during his DJ sets.Listen to ‘Accumulator’ below.Back in July, the band shared details of their forthcoming album ‘This Is What We Do’, as well as the record’s first single, ‘Pulse’.The announcement marked the first new music from the London electronic outfit since 2015’s ‘Alternative Light Source’. Recorded with long-time studio and mix engineer Adam Wren, the new album will feature guest contributions from Fontaines D.C. frontman Grian Chatten, author and poet Lemn Sissay, and more.According to a press release, the album will explore “themes around love, acceptance, diversity and healing,” particularly in the wake of both the coronavirus pandemic and Barnes addressing his “own drive to heal childhood trauma as a backdrop.”‘This Is What We Do’ is set to be released via Virgin Records on December 2.

It was another solid week in the Great British Bake Off tent for Lanarkshire music teacher Kevin Flynn.

Two Irvine dancers have been handpicked to compete for Team Scotland in next year's International Cheerleading Championships in Florida.

EXCLUSIVE: Bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz’s YA fantasy novel The Rings & The Crown is getting a series adaptation for Disney+ from 20th Television, The Gotham Group and 3 Arts Entertainment, along with Disney Branded Television.

HBO Documentary Films is in production on a follow-up episode to the critically acclaimed, four-part docuseries The Case Against Adnan Syed. Directed by Amy Berg, the episode will feature exclusive access to Syed leading up to and following his release from prison earlier this week, after 23 years behind bars. The new episode will debut in 2023.

Adam Levine vows never to cross the line again amid accusations he was unfaithful to his wife and the mother of his children, Behati Prinsloo.A source tells ET that, like most couples, Levine and Prinsloo have had their ups and downs and that while the singer admits he crossed the line, he insists that a physical relationship never happened.«Adam loves to get attention from women and crossed a boundary,» the source adds, «but he's telling Behati it will never happen again.» Earlier this week, Instagram model Sumner Stroh came forward with allegations that she had an affair with the Maroon 5 frontman "for about a year." Levine and Prinsloo, who is currently pregnant with their third child, tied the knot in July 2014.Stroh took to TikTok and claimed that a friend of hers tried to sell screenshots of her correspondence with Levine to a tabloid, so she decided to come forward with the story herself. Stroh said she was «young and naive» when she had the alleged affair with Levine and claims she feels «exploited.» Shortly after, Levine addressed the allegations head-on and denied a physical relationship with Stroh.«A lot is being said about me right now and I want to clear the air,» Levine's statement began.

Flowing creativity. Brad Pitt handles his relationships through art. The Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood star unveiled a new art exhibit with Australian musician Nick Cave and artist Thomas Houseago in Finland and talked about how his failed relationships influenced his art.

Adam Levine has the whole world talking — including Hollywood’s finest!

, because one of this month's most talked-about films is finally here. Following a tumultuous world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 5, makes its theatrical debut on Friday, September 23. Olivia Wilde's sophomore feature directorial has been largely overshadowed in recent weeks by off-screen allegations and rumors, but the behind-the-scenes drama has only made the film that much more intriguing. The IMAX fan experience at 100 locations on Monday sold out within 24 hours after going on sale.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Sara Ramirez teased fans of the hit HBO Max reboot,, on Wednesday, posting photos from the first table read for season 2. SJP, who plays everyone's favorite fashionista sex columnist, Carrie Bradshaw, posted a photo of the first episode's script, crossing out the title, and captioning the pic, "@justlikethatmax Just this much. For now.

Still reeling. Behati Prinsloo’s response to Adam Levine cheating rumors shows that she’s “committed” to their family but hasn’t forgiven him just yet.

Jennifer Lopez is back in her bridal elegance, this time for a movie role! The 53-year-old newlywed actress is looking a bit less put together than she did for either of her weddings to Ben Affleck in the new promotional images for her upcoming film, . In the movie, Lopez plays Darcy, a bride whose wedding to her fiancé, Tom (Josh Duhamel), gets hijacked by criminals.In one chaotic shot, we see Lopez in a beautiful bridal gown featuring lots of tulle, gripping onto her groom's hands as the train of the dress gets caught in the tire of a car. The couple looks the worse for wear as they attempt to free her. But things are all smiles in another still as Lopez is seen in Duhamel's arms wearing a crop top and shorts in an intimate embrace. There are also pics of co-stars Jennifer Coolidge, Lenny Kravitz, and D'Arcy Carden in character for the upcoming rom-com. «She is a force of nature, that girl,» Duhamel previously told ET of Lopez.

Shakira is finding light in her music amid her painful split from her ex Gerard Piqué, which she describes as «the darkest hour in my life.» The 45-year-old Columbian superstar is breaking her silence in her first interview since announcing her split in a joint statement with Piqué in June. The exes share sons Milan, 9, and Sasha, 7, and while they were never married, were together for 12 years. Calling the very public split «incredibly difficult,» Shakira opens up about navigating it all in her new cover story for magazine. «I’ve tried to conceal the situation in front of my kids.

RuPaul’s Drag Race brought drag into millions of homes, events like Miss’d America, which will hold its 31st pageant this weekend, put the spotlight on the drag community.Taking place in Atlantic City at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, the weekend will kick off at 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept 23, with drag bingo hosted by last year’s pageant winner, Amanda Pörq.Guests will have the chance to win cash and prizes and watch special performances by Sandy Beach, Morgan Wells, and Miss Elaine.On Saturday, eight contestants will take to the stage of Hard Rock’s Sound Waves Theater, starting at 7 p.m., for the chance to be crowned Miss’d America 2023.They’ll compete in the categories of swimsuit, talent, and evening gown, and will be interviewed by the judges.The evening promises to feature over-the-top productions, overseen by the pageant’s celebrity emcee Carson Kressley.Tickets for Miss’d America start at $25 and can be purchased online.VIP tickets are also available at $100 each, and include one complimentary drink and admission to an exclusive post-pageant meet and greet reception.

David Cronenberg returned in a big way this year with “Crimes Of The Future,” his first film since 2014’s “Map To The Stars.” And Cronenberg has more projects on the way. He shopped around “The Shrouds” and a television adaptation of his 2015 novel “Consumed” at the Cannes Film Festival before the world premiere of “Future.” “The Shrouds” comes first, and at the San Sebastian Film Festival, Cronenberg shed some light on the project.

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s delicious and devious “Do Revenge” takes place firmly in the larger-than-life high schools of movies, cleverly established here by its grossly-rich prep school and their uniforms of light pink, mint green, and purple. Every party scene is a shiny extravaganza with a dress code, looking more like junior “The Wolf of Wall Street” than what you probably experienced.

In 2015, pals Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, and Rhys Thomas got together with IFC to create “Documentary Now!,” a mockumentary TV series that spoofs celebrated docs through film history. The show was an immediate hit, and now it heads into its fourth season, ready to premiere on IFC/AMC+ next month.

After almost 30 years, Netflix is getting the “Beverly Hills Cop” gang back together for an all-new sequel. And Deadline reports that the original cast are all coming back to reprise the roles they had in the series’ first trilogy of films.

Like father, like son?  Brandon Cronenberg‘s work as a director already had a similar tone to his Dad, David Cronenberg. But now that he’s following in his father’s footsteps in another way: his upcoming film “Infinity Pool” has received an NC-17 rating, just like his father’s 1996 film “Crash.” READ MORE: ‘Infinity Pool’: Alexander Skarsgård & Director Brandon Cronenberg Team For NEON’s New Sci-Fi Thriller Bloody-Disgusting reports that the movie received an NC-17 rating from the MPA this week for “some graphic violence and sexual content,” but producer NEON intends to appeal to the C.A.R.A Appeals Board for a less extreme rating.

Former UCLA basketball player Jalen Hill tragically died at the age of 22.

EXCLUSIVE: The Fast & Furious franchise and The Invitation actress has signed with APA.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter If three new movies debut in theaters, but nobody goes to see them… That is how Sony’s creepy thriller “The Invitation” managed to top box office charts with a paltry $7 million. Its win comes with some pretty weak bragging rights; it’s the lowest first-place finish since May 2021, when COVID was keeping people at home. Now, it’s not the pandemic that’s preventing audiences from going to theaters, it’s the lack of appealing options. Overall, the domestic box office generated just $54 million over the weekend, the worst collective result in months. And the bad times are expected to continue until at least late September or early October, when “Don’t Worry Darling” (Sept. 23), “Halloween Ends” (Oct. 14) and the comic book adaptation “Black Adam” (Oct. 21) open in theaters. It’s a disappointing finale to an otherwise strong summer at the movies, which fielded plenty of box office hits including “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” “Thor: Love and Thunder” and “Elvis.”

“The Invitation” stars Nathalie Emmanuel and Thomas Doherty know how tough it can be to make a horror movie – the long nights, constant state of fear and, surprisingly, the pressure to deliver a spot-on American accent.Emmanuel stars in “The Invitation” as a young woman named Evie, who takes a trip to Europe and soon discovers that she is being wooed – not to be someone’s wife but to be one of the wives … of Dracula himself (Thomas Doherty). (Don’t you hate it when that happens?) What makes “The Invitation” so refreshing is that it reinvents Bram Stoker’s Dracula mythology through the lens of one of his wives, who are mostly seen (in other adaptations) as sexy femme fatales, usually occupying some musty pit in Dracula’s castle.TheWrap sat down with Emmanuel and Doherty to talk about the film, where they revealed their favorite Dracula adaptations (“Bram Stoker’s Dracula” from Francis Ford Coppola rightfully gets a hearty endorsement) and Emmanuel lets us in on how she crafted a flawless American accent.

J. Kim Murphy In a summer that’s often seen only one new wide release in a weekend, a whopping three new films hit theaters on Friday: Sony’s horror-thriller “The Invitation,” George Miller’s “Three Thousand Years of Longing” and bank heist movie “Breaking,” starring John Boyega. However, none of them seem to be making much of an impact, as the total box office projects a sum in the $50 million to $60 million range. That wouldn’t just be the worst weekend of the summer, but also the worst since February. “The Invitation” is tracking ahead of the other two, as it looks to claim the weekend’s top spot with a meagre $6 million to $7 million gross from 3,114 locations in its opening. Critics didn’t really care for the movie — it landed a 40% approval rating from review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes — and audiences were perhaps more unenthused. The film holds a “C” grade from research firm Cinema Score, indicating a rather snoozy reception from general consumers.

What would you do if you received a mysterious invitation from your so-called long-lost family for a highly-anticipated wedding? Attend without a question, of course!Nathalie Emmanuel stars as Evie in this contemporary horror film, which surprisingly proves that attending a strangers’ wedding might not be the worst thing that can happen when discovering new familial ties.Here’s how to watch “The Invitation” when it premieres nationwide Aug. 26.The horror film will hit theaters Friday, Aug.

“The Invitation,” a gothic horror film from Sony’s Screen Gems, made $775,000 at the box office in its Thursday night preview screenings from 2,739 locations and showings that started at 4 p.m. The film opens on more than 3,000 screens this weekend. “The Invitation” opens in a quiet week at the end of the summer and is projected for a $6 million-$7 million opening against a $10 million budget.

Joe Leydon Film Critic Despite some ambitious efforts by director Jessica M. Thompson and screenwriter Blair Butler to revitalize hoary horror movie tropes with allegorical commentary on race, class and male privilege, “The Invitation” is too wearyingly hackneyed for too much of its running time, and too often laugh-out-loud funny as its plot relies on the age-old convention of a smart yet naive heroine who makes one bad decision after another. It would not be at all surprising if, at some screenings, exasperated members of the audience shout rude things at the screen each time the endangered protagonist fails to act in her own self-interest. Evelyn (Nathalie Emmanuel of “Game of Thrones”) is a free-spirited twentysomething New Yorker who insists that everyone, even total strangers, call her Evie — and she insists quite frequently, just so we don’t miss the fact that she is indeed a free spirit — and scrapes by as wait staff at catered affairs while trying to fulfill her artistic ambitions creating ceramics. When she helps herself to a swag bag at a swanky affair for Find Yourself (evidently an upscale version of Ancestry.com), she finds a DNA test among the goodies and opts to investigate her family tree. This, of course, is the first of many mistakes.

This movie was obviously a development for a long time, and it had different producers. What was your take on the material that finally got it into production?When it came to me, when Blair Butler’s first script came to me, I was immediately drawn in because I hadn’t seen a Brides of Dracula origin story. And set in a modern setting.

EXCLUSIVE: Following some of the best reviews of her career in Emily the Criminal, Aubrey Plaza has found that next big feature film. Sources say she is set to join the ensemble cast of Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project Megalopolis. The film already stars Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight and Laurence Fishburne.