Adonis Complex

The new horror thriller "A Perfect Host" reveals a couple things.

One, that many of us still remain unfailingly polite even when faced with ABSOLUTE jerkdom.

And, two, there actually ARE even worse MLM rackets than Amway out there.

And if this flick is any indication, it's enough to raise the dead.

Thank you to Tricoast Entertainment and Uncork'd Entertainment for reaching out to me on this review. I have had many pleasant experiences with Airbnb. On paper, the idea of paying someone to stay in a home or apartment (with a potential social circle of roommates) sounds great, but it can also go very wrong. Chad Werner's A Perfect Host (also known as Adonis Complex) is one such example of the latter, offering a creepy, mostly believable horror movie with an 80'sesque synthesizer score and characters who act realistically rather than the morons who normally populate these things. Longtime friends Sam (Jeff McQuitty) and Avery (Koko Marshall) have booked a lakeside Airbnb for the weekend and are looking forward to a good time with friends despite some messy personal history. All seems well until they meet their host Tad (Brady Burleson Johnson), a fitness fanatic who proceeds to interrupt their weekend at every turn. Tad's increasingly boundary-pushing behavior leads Sam and Avery to realize their perfect host may be anything but. I've always enjoyed films about sinister people psychologically messing with others, and A Perfect Host fits that bill. Writer-director Chad Werner gets believable performances from his cast and slowly creeps up the tension via the natural sounds of the area as well as a synthesized score. Some of the camera choices are a tad confusing (Occasionally the camera will focus on seemingly random objects), but it is overall well-shot and builds to a solid finale. The jump scares are slightly overused but always effective, and the film has occasional humor to offset the tension. Overall, A Perfect Host is a solid horror movie with believable characters and a creepy vibe. Book A Perfect Host. Likely would be rated PG-13 for Some Violence and Brief Strong Language A Perfect Host will be available on DVD and VOD February 4th, 2020.

The lead antagonist is not the only one suffering from delusions in this film. Adonis, like its Imperfect Host, has a little bit of an identity crisis. The film is unsure if it is a black comedy, a thriller, or a slasher. It never fully commits itself to any of these genres, and instead chooses to slowly oscillate between these three centres of gravity, managing an uneasy orbit through this trinary system of pathos and despair.

Somehow, this works. The acting is lumpy, and the pacing is a little deranged, yet it is watchable from start to finish. There are attempts at obfuscation, of layered narrative and meanings within meanings; all of this is fairly trite, but not so malodorous that I was compelled to rage-quit the movie.

There is little originality in this film, but that really isn't what this melange of genres is about. It does manage to engender feelings of unease and tension, and this is what counts. Watchable, if you have the time to give to an imperfect, but adequate, low-budget attempt.

It had a 5.7 IMDb review so I gave it a try. DON'T MAKE MY MISTAKE !Terrible movie. 0/10 !

All this talk about the ratings people give... Admittedly, giving this film a 10 is quite far-fetched. And checking out the profiles of those who do, you will most likely find their account was created recently and this is the only film they have reviewed.

Could be, could be. After all, we all started at some point and maybe this is a gem that got people off their sofa and onto IMDB.

And then there are those that purposefully rate it a 1, "to counter the ridiculous 10 ratings", which basically is doing just the same thing, but in the opposite direction. Funny.

Anyway, I expected nothing, but this movie is really not that bad. The storyline, the acting, soundtrack and the pace all felt right to me. Loved the little twists too. Also, keeping it brief at 1 hour and 13 minutes. Which I respect.

I never read reviews or watch trailers before I watch a movie. Because I want to go in "blind". And this one pretty much did well for me. Minimalistic and low budget yes, but well staged. Not a flick that I would wildly recommend to friends, but not something I would advise against either.

Tastes and preferences differ, and as always that is a good and perfectly natural thing.