Sometimes, you watch a movie and think, “well, this isn’t good…but I can’t wait to see this filmmaker’s next movie.” This is absolutely the case with Robert Woods’ horror comedy of manners An Ideal Host, a film in which he directs, provides visual effects works, scores and shoots. Hailing from Australia, An Ideal Host combines multiple genres of both horror and comedy in intriguing ways. But the low budget and somewhat amateurish production work hamper it, unfortunately.

It begins with Liz (Nadia Collins) shouting, “Yes! Yes! Oh my god! Yes!!”, before being told by her almost-fiance Jackson (Evan Williams) that she’s over-acting. She needs to take it seriously. He’s on his knees in their new dining room and the two of them are practicing his proposal that’s scheduled to take place tonight when their out-of-town friends visit their new home. Like everything in Liz and Jackson’s life, it’s scheduled to the absolute second. Liz even has alarms set for the evening’s activities that will keep their day-long affair running on time. But with the looming party, Liz also seems slightly at odds with how her life is turning out.

After they’ve practiced the proposal, Jackson asks her if she’s ready to come to bed, but she has too much left to do. “Aww, you’re making me feel guilty!” he says, obviously waiting for her to laugh it off. Instead, they’re left staring at each other awkwardly until he says good night and leaves. Here Nadia Collins’ presents such a pained and disappointed character in Liz; one who might not be ready to tie the knot, but feels pressured to do so. It’s also in this opening scene that Robert Woods delights with his staging, particularly in the morning sequence where Liz gets up and begins planning out the perfect dinner party.

First, she creates a festive, Spring-forward look, with colorful balloons and bright, vibrant Easter Egg colors as the title An Ideal Host flashes on the screen in appropriately Spring-like fashion. Then, Liz thinks better of it and redecorates with a fine dining, low-key and high fashion set placement (and accompanying fancy dress) and the title comes back in stark, fancy lettering. It’s a cheeky wink and nod to Liz and a reminder to not take anything seriously. Soon, though, the guests start arriving from out of town and the local area. Kyle (Daniel Buckle)’s bringing his plus one Jon (Tristan McInnes) for their first date. Mara (Mary Soudi) comes from the local area and instantly begins flirting with local boy Brett (St John Cowcher).

But there’s an interloper amongst the group and I’m not talking about Daisy (Naomi Brockwell), the friends’ uninvited lush and cranky know-it-all who crashes the party. An insidious force has secretly infiltrated the friend group and has its sights set on full assimilation. So what begins as an awkward dinner party soon devolves into violence in potentially apocalyptic ways.

Screenwriter Tyler Jacob Jones brings a subtle sense of humor to An Ideal Host in charming ways, allowing the character dynamics to shine before introducing any horror elements. The first act, in particular, pulls from mumblecore’s tendency to focus on naturalistic acting and dialogue and mixes it, in appropriately awkward ways, with the comedy of manners subgenre. Liz desperately wants the dinner party to go off without a hitch, even though she doesn’t completely feel confident in her relationship with Jackson. The two of them put on airs of the confident couple and think they have their friends’ respect and admiration. But as dinner starts to progress, long-time rivalries and old feuds bubble to the surface.

At one point in the dinner, the group begins joking about how Daisy once dated Kyle, who the rest of the group knew was gay before he came out. And what starts out as gentle teasing begins to unravel as Daisy throws back that she only dated Kyle so that Jackson’s friends wouldn’t bash him. This type of uncomfortable dichotomy of surface level humor mixed with deep-seated anger creates some incredible moments of awkward humor. But it’s also in the staging that holds An Ideal Host back, as the entire scene feels amateurishly lighted and too bright. It lacks some of the ambiance and character of independent films we’ve come to see, as everything is lit the same way and feels almost theatrical.

Because it’s so strikingly lit like a theatre stage, when the visual effects are implemented, they don’t look convincing when they’re in the same scene as the people. Moments like this and the unfortunate use of CGI blood spurts break the illusion the film desperately wants to create. Meanwhile, the performances are also all-over-the place in terms of quality. A few feel at home with the slightly campy, gonzo feel of the script while others seem bewildered at the type of film they’re acting in. Nadia Collins’ somehow holds the film together, grounding it in a performance that straddles the line between camp and naturalistic. She is a joy to watch and goes a long way to make the early segments watchable. It takes a long time to insert the more overtly horrific aspects, but she keeps the film interesting.

As the narrative races to the third act, the structure changes and becomes the sort of gonzo splatterfest that I’ve associated with Australian horror comedies (Two Heads Creek comes to mind). Unlike that film, though, the two parts feel slightly at odds with each other…but it worked in spite of itself.

That said, while Robert Woods’ ambition obviously overshot the budget and means available, he still directs and shoots with a keen eye. The standout scene involves a singular long take of people entering and exiting frame in Liz’s dining room, as the truth of their dire situation begins to dawn on them. It’s a fantastic shot that is let down only by the lighting, somewhat hit-or-miss acting and budgetary constraints. So we’re left with a solid idea that doesn’t really work but also has me incredibly excited to see what Woods will do next. He’s a director to watch.