Mar 27 2009
Another country, another slasher. This one’s by Invitation Only
If Taiwanese cinema is known at all in the United States, it’s generally amongst the arthouse aficionados who groove to the deliberately-paced, slice-of-life-fueled dramas from New Taiwan Cinema alumni like Cannes-favorites Hou Hsiao-hsien and the late, great Edward Yang.
Taiwan’s film industry has never been as prolific or as profitable as that of, say, Hong Kong, but you have to give its local talent credit for overcoming financial and technological difficulties and continuing to make world-class efforts that keep them on the international scene. In addition, once in a blue moon, some daring soul actually tries his hand at making a genre pic: a shoot-’em-up, for example, or a thriller. And now, the country’s produced a film that’s going to let it join an ever-growing club: the Trans-Continental Slasher Society. Yup, even Taiwan couldn’t resist the temptation of making a maniacal-killer-on-the-rampage movie, and why not? They’re cheap and audiences tend to eat them up (not to mention slasher pics traverse linguistic boundaries very, very easily).
Invitation Only seems to toe the line of every horror trope — masked baddie, nubile victims, etc. — but who knows, it could still be fun. Check out the trailer that’s embedded on the film’s official website, if you dare to learn more.
