Aspiring L.A. hipster Adam (Ryan Hansen) and his more relatable wife Margo (Melissa Tang) are hosting a celebratory housewarming party having just moved up into The Hills, and as far as Adam is concerned, moved up in the social sense too. Gate-crashing the judgemental, gossiping guestlist made up of the couple’s non-friends are Tom (Timothy Granaderos) and Sasha (Perry Mattfield), Adam and Margo’s new ‘neighbours’.
Who Invited Them? is a wickedly dark character piece that, albeit rather superficially, examines themes relating to marital pressures and compromise, toxic ambition and childhood trauma. Superficially, because it’s not really about any of those things. This is a home invasion story, and a rather civilised one at that.
While writer and director Duncan Birmingham presents his cast of unpleasant L.A. residents as wholly and objectively disagreeable, he invites you to like the charismatic Tom and Sasha, despite what you suspect about them. The interactions they share are exquisite, subtly overfriendly and quietly sinister, as you sense something inappropriate but can’t quite put your finger on it. There is something enjoyably unsettling about the pair and although you know where the familiar plot is going the journey is voyeuristically engaging. Conversations about sexual fantasy and the macabre history of Adam and Margo’s new home add layers of intrigue to this conventional story, and despite the slow start Birmingham’s film evolves as the story develops, growing increasingly compelling.
There is the occasional jarring tonal shift, and perhaps Who Invited Them? would have benefitted from a little more breathing room than its 80-minute runtime allows, but this is an accomplished film with entertaining, if predictable plot twists.
Who Invited Them? is heading to Shudder soon.
