Prattusa
Rope (1948)
Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary film takes place entirely inside a penthouse apartment in Manhattan during a dinner party. In a bid to commit the 'perfect murder,' two young men strangle a former classmate, hide his body in a chest, and proceed to serve buffet food right on top of it to his family and friends. Filmed in what appears to be a single, unbroken take, the apartment layout becomes an engine of pure suspense.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Widely cited by Olivia Wilde as a major cinematic blueprint for The Invite, this classic features Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as a toxic married couple who invite a younger pair over for late-night drinks. What follows is a brutal, booze-fuelled night of psychological warfare.
Carnage (2011)
If the satirical, biting dialogue written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack for The Invite was your favorite part of the film, Roman Polanski's dark comedy is your perfect next stop. Centered on two sets of polite, bourgeois Brooklyn parents meeting to civilly resolve a playground fight between their sons, the discussion quickly deteriorates into tantrums, tears and flying insults within the confines of a living room.
Perfect Strangers (Perfetti sconosciuti) (2016)
This hit Italian comedy-drama is the ultimate modern dinner-party-gone-wrong film. It follows a group of seven close, long-time friends who gather for a dinner party. To prove they have nothing to hide, they agree to a game: they must place their mobile phones on the table, and read aloud every incoming text or put every call on speakerphone. Naturally, secrets, affairs and hidden betrayals quickly bubble to the surface, turning a friendly dinner into absolute social warfare.
Coherence (2013)
For a mind-bending twist on the single-room dynamic, James Ward Byrkit's indie masterpiece Coherence is a must-watch. The film begins with eight friends gathering for a dinner party on the night a mysterious comet passes overhead. When the power goes out, they notice a single house down the street still has lights on. As they investigate, they realise the comet has fractured reality, trapping them in a terrifying, multi-dimensional puzzle right inside their own neighborhood. It is a masterclass in low-budget, high-tension filmmaking.