“The party was just to die for!” It’s an old cliche, particularly amongst all the upper crust socialite crowd, but Nick Collier (Rick Otto) is taking it literally. Nick is an ace student in Professor Hal Evans’ (Glenn Quinn) criminology class; a young man who’s seemingly fascinated by all things related to serial killers. He’s the host of this lethal “Real World”-like get together for his buddy Jimmy Franklin (Lucas Babin). Funny, then, that the parade of Perfect 10 party guests don’t seem more concerned than they are when the guest of honor fails to show up.
It’s only after Callie (Majandra Delfino) unexpectedly crashes the party that things begin to go bad for Nick. Even then, it isn’t until Terry (Jason Mewes, reprising his one-note shtick from pick any Kevin Smith) falls ill and dies that the surviving guests, including Professor Hal, realize that there aren’t as many partygoers left standing at Nick’s party as there should be.
“R.S.V.P.” could have been a very sexy, stylish thriller. It could have been, but it’s not. Oh, sure, it’s sexy and stylish all right, what with its young cast of politically correct, racially mixed hunks and hotties, but there’s very little about director Mark Anthony Galluzzo’s film that’s thrilling. Instead, what could have been a really creepy psychological thriller is a stunted, underdeveloped battle of wits between Nick and Hal. This cartoonish collection of disposable deaths fails to register any emotional connection with the viewer at all. Its bonk-on-the-head homages to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rope” aside, “R.S.V.P.” is little more than a cheesy serial killer flick for the MTV/”Survivor” set. It’s certainly nothing to die for.
