# Who Invited Them
*Who Invited Them* is a 2022 American horror-comedy film written and directed by Duncan Birmingham, in which a couple hosting a housewarming party in the [Hollywood Hills](https://www.edgepedia.org/hollywood-hills) is cornered after hours by a charming pair of strangers who claim to be their neighbors. It premiered at the 2022 Overlook Film Festival and was released as a Shudder original on September 1, 2022.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/who_invited_them) • [2](https://joshatthemovies.com/2022/09/07/interview-actors-timothy-granaderos-and-ryan-hansen/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Shudder original, streaming September 1, 2022; 81 minutes, unrated[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/who_invited_them) |
| Writer/director | Duncan Birmingham, his feature directorial debut; producer Mary Pat Bentel[3](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/who-invited-them/) |
| Cast | Ryan Hansen (Adam), Melissa Tang (Margo), Timothy Granaderos (Tom), Perry Mattfeld (Sasha)[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/who_invited_them) |
| Genre | Horror comedy, described by critics as a "polite" home invasion thriller[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/who_invited_them) • [4](https://fablehouse.tv/duncan-birmingham-interview-who-invited-them/) |
| Festival run | Premiered at the 2022 Overlook Film Festival; screened at FrightFest 2022[2](https://joshatthemovies.com/2022/09/07/interview-actors-timothy-granaderos-and-ryan-hansen/) • [5](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/who-invited-them-frightfest-2022/) |
| Reception | 81% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (21 reviews); 60% audience score[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/who_invited_them) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Adam ([Ryan Hansen](https://www.edgepedia.org/ryan-hansen)) and Margo (Melissa Tang) host a catered housewarming party in their new Hollywood Hills home, which Adam hopes will impress his colleagues and bosses. The house was bought well below market value because of a double homicide in which the previous owners were killed in front of their two children, who were never seen again; Adam has kept this history from Margo, and the couple's five-year-old son has had nightmares every night since they moved in.[6](https://www.ukfilmreview.co.uk/reviews/who-invited-them) • [7](https://www.limerickpost.ie/2022/09/15/film-column-who-invited-them/)
After the other guests leave, a well-dressed couple, Tom ([Timothy Granaderos](https://www.edgepedia.org/timothy-granaderos)) and Sasha ([Perry Mattfeld](https://www.edgepedia.org/perry-mattfeld)), linger and introduce themselves as the wealthy next-door neighbors. As one nightcap leads to another, their needling games, talk of sexual fantasy, and evasions make Adam and Margo suspect the pair are duplicitous strangers with a dark secret, and the evening eventually turns deadly.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/who_invited_them) • [5](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/who-invited-them-frightfest-2022/) • [8](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/who-invited-them-movie-review-2022) The film opens with a sequence following the couple's young son on a late-night search for his parents that turns into a nightmare, its most straightforwardly horror-styled passage.[9](https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/who-invited-them-review/)
## Production
Duncan Birmingham, a comedy writer who had worked on the IFC show *Maron*, made the film as his first feature, shooting in Burbank on essentially a single location over about two weeks.[2](https://joshatthemovies.com/2022/09/07/interview-actors-timothy-granaderos-and-ryan-hansen/) • [3](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/who-invited-them/) He has said he wanted to put a twist on the home invasion genre, a form he considers the scariest because it violates the home as a safe bubble, and that the premise of hosts not recognizing two of their own party guests came from a lifetime of attending Los Angeles parties.[4](https://fablehouse.tv/duncan-birmingham-interview-who-invited-them/)
His stated influences were *Funny Games*, *The Invitation*, and *Cheap Thrills*; he had not seen *The Strangers* until after writing the script. At the Overlook Film Festival a festivalgoer offered a comparison he wished he could put on the poster: in *The Strangers* the invaders never talk, while in this film they never shut up.[4](https://fablehouse.tv/duncan-birmingham-interview-who-invited-them/)
## Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 81% Tomatometer from 21 reviews, with the critics consensus calling it admittedly uneven but crediting Birmingham's playful approach to genre tropes; the audience Popcornmeter score is 60%.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/who_invited_them) Reviewers consistently identified the same strengths and weaknesses. The Starburst FrightFest review called it a wickedly dark character piece whose conversations about sexual fantasy and the house's macabre history add intrigue, while noting jarring tonal shifts and predictable twists within its roughly 80-minute runtime.[5](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/who-invited-them-frightfest-2022/) Hope Madden of UK Film Review praised Mattfeld and Granaderos as drolly perfect as home invaders masquerading as partygoers, but found a subplot about Margo's babysitting friends essentially pointless and the third act rushed.[6](https://www.ukfilmreview.co.uk/reviews/who-invited-them)
Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com was the most negative, rating it 1 of 4 stars and calling it a staid home invasion thriller about a timid couple bullied by two flirtatious strangers.[8](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/who-invited-them-movie-review-2022) Dennis Schwartz gave it a B, finding it incomplete but amusing and worth seeing.[3](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/who-invited-them/) Digital Trends judged it a minor but fun thriller that makes good use of its leads' desire for validation without leaving a lasting impression.[9](https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/who-invited-them-review/)
## Place in the home invasion genre
Critics placed the film in a lineage of dinner-party and after-party horror that includes [Michael Haneke](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-haneke)'s *Funny Games* (1997 and 2007), *The Invitation* (2015), and *[The Overnight](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-overnight)* (2015), in which the threat enters through hospitality rather than a broken window.[6](https://www.ukfilmreview.co.uk/reviews/who-invited-them) • [10](https://aiptcomics.com/2022/08/31/who-invited-them-shudder-home-invasion/) Its distinguishing device is talk: the invaders are fluent, flirtatious, and socially relentless, using politeness and the hosts' fear of seeming uncool as their weapon, a dynamic several reviewers linked to Hitchcock's principle of showing the audience the bomb under the table.[4](https://fablehouse.tv/duncan-birmingham-interview-who-invited-them/) • [1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/who_invited_them)
## References
1. [Who Invited Them, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/who_invited_them)
2. [Interview: Actors Timothy Granaderos and Ryan Hansen, Josh At The Movies](https://joshatthemovies.com/2022/09/07/interview-actors-timothy-granaderos-and-ryan-hansen/)
3. [WHO INVITED THEM, Dennis Schwartz Reviews](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/who-invited-them/)
4. [Writer and Director Duncan Birmingham talks about this sleek Shudder thriller, Fable House](https://fablehouse.tv/duncan-birmingham-interview-who-invited-them/)
5. [WHO INVITED THEM? [FrightFest 2022], STARBURST Magazine](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/who-invited-them-frightfest-2022/)
6. [Who Invited Them Review, UK Film Review (Hope Madden)](https://www.ukfilmreview.co.uk/reviews/who-invited-them)
7. [Film Column - Who Invited Them, Limerick Post](https://www.limerickpost.ie/2022/09/15/film-column-who-invited-them/)
8. [Who Invited Them movie review, RogerEbert.com (Simon Abrams)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/who-invited-them-movie-review-2022)
9. [Who Invited Them review: mind games, murder, and mayhem, Digital Trends](https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/who-invited-them-review/)
10. [Who Invited Them: Fun and creepy guests save mediocre plot, AIPT](https://aiptcomics.com/2022/08/31/who-invited-them-shudder-home-invasion/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Horror thriller films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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