“The Invitation” and Indie Horror

Sixteen years ago, director Karyn Kusama made a huge splash at the Sundance Film Festival with her first movie, “Girlfight”, which starred then-unknown Michelle Rodriguez as an aspiring fighter. The film remains the only ever to win both the festival’s Grand Jury Prize and the Directing Award; but after that first flurry of attention, Kusama found Hollywood wasn’t as welcoming as it seemed. Now, more than a decade later, she’s returned to her roots with her new film, “The Invitation,” a small, independent thriller set at a dinner party in the Hollywood Hills.