NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

EyeAskance Wonky little British trinket wherein a girl is lured to a farmhouse in the pastoral outlands to become an unwitting participant in a Satanic ritual. There are several people staying in the house, and a few end up dying gory deaths or becoming possessed by a demon. The film is badly shot, and the sound quality is occasionally muffled, but this has a surreal edge to it that got to me a bit(and put forward some moments of pretty strong gore). Also strange is the film's subtle gay-rotic undercurrent(one lengthy scene of two guys wrestling almost looks as though it might segue into a man-on-man porn scene).I would hastily recommend this one to people who enjoy quirky, low-budget horror obscurities. 5/10

Matthew Michael This odd short tells the story of a young virgin who is invited to spend time with her friends at a remote farmhouse in the English countryside. It soon becomes clear that someone - or something! - has demonic plans for her. Add into the mix a desperate race against time before a dark force is resurrected, a possessed handyman, and a heavy homoerotic subtext, and you have a very weird movie indeed. Thanks to the miniscule (and very obviously amateur) cast, and lingering shots of the countryside, the film possesses an eerie, empty quality that is reminiscent of such 70's British classics as The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue, Vampyres and Frightmare. However, there's also a dose of giallo-type gore, and a bizarre ending that could belong in an Argento movie. Invitation to Hell is an obscure film that was released in the early 80's on video. It's long-since been deleted (I picked up my second- or third-hand copy from eBay), but if you're an afficionado of British horror, or in search of something a bit different, this is worth seeking out.

horrorbargainbin Maybe I'm just mad I spent five dollars on this instead of one dollar, but this film really displeased me. It's semi-known for it's gore and perhaps 'banned' status. I could not make out many of the details because the tape quality (Videoline Productions) was extremely poor, but the gore I saw was not exceptional. There were lots of guests over when I was watching this video and I was kind of embarrassed to be caught viewing some of the film's more boring moments. When there is no action on screen, the combination of bad acting, bad dialogue, and an uncompelling story make this movie a waste of time.

gavcrimson SPOILERS INCLUDED Invitation to Hell is a true mystery production- only three quarters of an hour long it seems to have been planned as a support featurette to a major release film, a brief niche in the dying days of both double features and the British film industry. It was never to be shown that way though and debuted on tape via a fly by night distributor around 1982- double billed with The Last Night, another short from the Michael J Murphy stable- bringing it to feature length. The Last Night depicts a shoddy bunch of amateur dramatic actors being terrorised by two escaped lunatics and is unique for being shot entirely in somnambulist slow motion - unsurprisingly when Invitation was reissued (in censored form) this support was not included. Invitation to Hell is Mr Murphy's minimalist gung-ho farmyard horror film- Maurice (Colin Efford) is a mute bodybuilder who exercises in front of porno pictures- Maurice works on Manor Farm where a bunch of students have unleashed 'the eternal lustings of the evil being'. Jackie (Becky Simpson) is tricked into staying at the farm's cottage where a Hallowe'en party quickly generates into a sinister black mass. Jackie wakes up the next morning with claw marks on her navel, to be told by her friends that they've accidently unleashed the spirit of the evil being who now lurks on the farm and since Jackie is a virgin the evil being wants to mate with her 'tomorrow night is the night of the spring equinox he will come to you to propagate his kind in flesh and blood- his offspring will be the most powerful thing on Earth'. Although any girl's reaction would be 'have arse will travel' (as Pat Astley would say) no one can leave the farm and occasionally the evil one possesses Maurice, encouraging him to butcher his friends when they step out of line. He impales one of the girls on a pitchfork and when a 'slut' farmgirl comes onto him, telling him she's leaving 'before I get done in' Maurice crushes her head like a raw egg. Although its a humourless film Invitation to Hell becomes irresistibly amusing due to how apathetic the inhabitants appear over the Satanic forces they are under siege from - murder and carnage it seems takes second place to arguments over who should take the HP sauce downstairs at night 'bring me back a brandy old chap'. Everyone seems aware of Maurice's 'problem' but don't really seem bothered, only Alan (Steven Longhurst) acknowledges his murder sprees and all he does is berat him with the severity you would a child who hasn't put away all his toys 'you know what he made you do before, and take your boots off before you go to bed'. Occasionally Alan is possessed by the evil being too- making silly faces and dispensing advice to Maurice 'have you killed Laura (changes to 'evil being' voice) YOU'VE DONE WELL I AM PLEASED'. Murphy also gives the film an off the wall sexual edge too as Jackie, none too pleased in the knowledge she's going to be worked over by some randy fiend tries to get one of the satanists into bed- Maurice however saves the day sticking a knife through the stuffy stud's neck- a terminal case of coitus interruptus indeed. Far more unusual in the horror film pantheon is the hint of a sexual relationship between Alan and Maurice. Drunkenly bursting in on Maurice flexing his muscles over girlie pictures, a catty Alan fires darts into the model's breasts (this imagery was later cut from the film) and remarks 'you ought to come down the pub with me, I know you ain't gonna talk but you'll be something to look at'. Eventually Maurice fights a demonically possessed Alan, who ends up wrapped in a carpet and thrown onto a bonfire. In the remarkable last reel Alan however returns as a burnt skeleton in a sack to crucify a topless Maurice to his wall of dirty pictures. 'You cannot kill me, I am Death' the monster tells Maurice as he pulls his heart out, splashing blood over Maurice's beloved bust models. While bloody death is the spectacle, bad acting is the real star of Invitation to Hell. With his thick Cornish accent, raspy 'evil being' voice and attempts to act drunk, any scene with Longhurst in is wickedly funny. Also look out for a soon to be murdered girl's strange ode to 'safe old Putney' as well as the pompous actor who delivers the aforementioned 'Spring Equinox' speech with stunning disinterest. Next to nothing is known about these people or their 'creation' although the crummy world of amateur dramatics depicted in The Last Night and stock company of actors that appear in both shorts gives the impression that Invitation to Hell was thrown together by a frustrated acting troupe trying to crawl up the lower end of the showbiz ladder. No further features by Michael J Murphy exist, nor have his actors appeared in anything else. Invitation too has very much disappeared from sight and is known to the few, yet Murphy's brief contribution to the seedy side of british cinema with its bad dream like illogicality, potmarked by goofy Herschell Gordon Lewis violence and a strong sexual undercurrent is in its own way quite likable and if nothing else a curio number. Maybe one day every british cottage will have a trashy horror movie like this made in it.