Invitation Only | |
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Directed by | Kevin Po |
Produced by | Michelle Yeh Maxx Tsai |
Written by | Sung In Carolyn Lin |
Starring | Bryant Chang Jerry Huang Julianne Chu Maria Ozawa |
Music by | Cody Westheimer |
Cinematography | James Yuan |
Editing by | Kevin Ko Henry Wei |
Distributed by | Three Dots Entertainment Warner Brothers |
Release date(s) | April 17, 2009 |
Running time | 95 minutes |
Country | Taiwan |
Language | Mandarin English |
Invitation Only (絕命派對 or Jue ming pai dui) is a Taiwanese horror film directed by Kevin Ko and released in April 2009. The film was billed as "Taiwan's First-Ever Slasher Horror".[1]
Contents |
Wade Chen, who works for a rich and powerful CEO, Mr. Yang, accidentally sees his boss having sex with supermodel Dana. His boss supposedly rewards him by sending him to an exclusive party on company money. Wade's evening at the party includes receiving a new car, dancing, gambling and sex with the boss' mistress Dana. However, leaving the party is a problem and the guests are systematically hunted down and slaughtered by a masked slasher.
Invitation Only marks the debut film for director Kevin Ko.[2] The Love HK Film article describes the production as a "low-budget affair; the film was shot on high-def and the art direction is only a step up from "converted warehouse"[1]
The film was released theatrically in Taiwan on April 17, 2009 and in Hong Kong on June 18, 2009. Invitation Only was also released on DVD with English subtitles in 2009.[3]
Invitation Only has been received relatively poorly. Love HK Film wrote that it is "another film following in the footsteps of the "torture porn" vogue" and that it is an "entertaining if unremarkable thriller".[1] China Post says it is for horror-fans only and that any "merit or message in “Invitation Only” is washed away in the crimson tide of bloodletting that it unleashes"[2] But Ho Yi at the Taipei Times is more positive, calling it a "90-minute ride of guilty thrills that combines graphic violence, repulsive torture and sexually suggestive imagery with bitter commentary on a wealth-obsessed society."[4]