Wes Craven's career sure blew hot and cold in the mid '80s: 1984 saw him bring us iconic box-office hit A Nightmare On Elm Street, but the same year he also gave us the lamentable sequel to The Hills Have Eyes, and this tepid made-for-TV chiller, which delivers cliché after cliché, borrowing heavily from films such as Invaders From Mars, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (the star of which, Kevin McCarthy, appears as Urich's boss) and The Stepford Wives (albeit with a Satanic twist).
Robert Urich stars as scientist Matt Winslow, who has moved with his family into a new home close to his new place of work, Micro-Digitech, where he is developing a spacesuit capable of withstanding great heat (no prizes for guessing that said suit will come into play in the finalé). Matt's close friend Tom Peterson (Joe Regalbuto) works for the same company and tells Matt that to get ahead in business, he and his family should become members of Steaming Springs Country Club, run by mysterious beauty Jessica Jones (Susan Lucci). Matt isn't convinced, but his wife Patricia (Joanna Cassidy) and kids Robbie (Barret Oliver) and Chrissie (Soleil Moon Frye) go ahead and join anyway, after which they seem to change personality. Fearing that something terrible has happened to them, Matt breaks into the club and, wearing his high-tech space clobber, enters a hellish world to try and rescue his loved ones from the grip of evil.
Incredibly dumb (the spacesuit comes equipped with a heads-up display that can identify non-humans and is armed with a handy laser/flamethrower), with uninspired direction from Craven, who seems to be going through the motions, Invitation To Hell is a far cry from Wes's best work. Actually, it's a far cry from his more mediocre work as well. The cheesy ending sees Matt's love for his family defeating evil, which I guess is no more corny than the 'If I don't fear you, you have no strength' plot device of the Elm Street series.
Robert Urich stars as scientist Matt Winslow, who has moved with his family into a new home close to his new place of work, Micro-Digitech, where he is developing a spacesuit capable of withstanding great heat (no prizes for guessing that said suit will come into play in the finalé). Matt's close friend Tom Peterson (Joe Regalbuto) works for the same company and tells Matt that to get ahead in business, he and his family should become members of Steaming Springs Country Club, run by mysterious beauty Jessica Jones (Susan Lucci). Matt isn't convinced, but his wife Patricia (Joanna Cassidy) and kids Robbie (Barret Oliver) and Chrissie (Soleil Moon Frye) go ahead and join anyway, after which they seem to change personality. Fearing that something terrible has happened to them, Matt breaks into the club and, wearing his high-tech space clobber, enters a hellish world to try and rescue his loved ones from the grip of evil.
Incredibly dumb (the spacesuit comes equipped with a heads-up display that can identify non-humans and is armed with a handy laser/flamethrower), with uninspired direction from Craven, who seems to be going through the motions, Invitation To Hell is a far cry from Wes's best work. Actually, it's a far cry from his more mediocre work as well. The cheesy ending sees Matt's love for his family defeating evil, which I guess is no more corny than the 'If I don't fear you, you have no strength' plot device of the Elm Street series.