Review: 'The Invitation' is a horror thriller with some clever twists, as Nathalie Emmanuel shows she's not just a 'final girl.'

A haunted house horror-thriller takes an odd turn or two in “The Invitation,” a movie that’s often clever but sometimes too clever for its own good.

The main figure here is Evie Jackson, a New York-based ceramic artist who makes ends meet by working as a cater waiter. She’s played by the talented and insanely beautiful Nathalie Emmanuel, known for playing the translator Missandei on “Game of Thrones” and the ace computer hacker in the “Fast & Furious” series.

After working one corporate event for a genealogy company, Evie gets one of their DNA testing kits and takes it. When the results come back, Evie — who is a single child whose parents are dead — learns that she has a distant cousin in the U.K., Oliver Alexander (Hugh Skinner). Oliver is thrilled to find a new relative, and offers to pay to bring Evie to England for a family wedding, so she can meet the rest of the family. Impulsively, and because there’s no movie if she doesn’t, Evie agrees.

Evie enjoyed the taste of the super-rich life at the Yorkshire mansion where the wedding is to take place, and she’s intrigued when the two maids of honor — Victoria (Stephanie Corneliussen) and Lucy (Alana Boden) — befriend her. But she’s really taken by the lord of the manor, Walter DeVille (Thomas Doherty), who’s dreamy and charming.

Still, there’s something off about the place. It could be the arrogance of the manor’s butler, Mr. Fields (Sean Pertwee). Or it’s the line of newly hired maids wearing numbers on their aprons and collars. Or it’s the fact that she’s there for a couple days and doesn’t know who’s getting married at this family wedding.

If Evie had read a certain work of 19th century literature, she would have taken a hint from the name of Walter’s estate — and understood exactly what kind of horror movie she was in.

Director Jessica M. Thompson (whose debut “The Light of the Moon” won at SXSW) and screenwriter Blair Butler (whose first movie, “Polaroid,” got buried by the Harvey Weinstein scandal) create some strong atmospherics in the creepy old castle. They also play some intriguing games with the uneven gender dynamics — for most of the film, the only women present are Evie, her new friends Victoria and Lucy, her stern maid Mrs. Swift (Carol Ann Crawford) and a rapidly depleted line of short-term maids.

What makes “The Invitation” watchable is Emmanuel, in what’s essentially her first leading role in a movie. Emmanuel shows charm and romance-movie chops in the early scenes with Doherty, and gets righteously nasty when she learns what’s really going on with this wedding. If there is a sequel to “The Invitation,” and an epilogue scene sets up that possibility, let Emmanuel have anything she wants to make it.

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‘The Invitation’

★★★

Opens Friday, August 26, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG-13 for terror, violent content, some strong language, sexual content and partial nudity. Running time: 104 minutes.