The Guest

The only thing surprising in The Guest is just how straight forward it is in its simple plotting. Everything unfolds in predictable fashion, but this B material is a fantastic showcase of wicked humor and misanthropic violence. Dan Stevens is in excellent form here, as a mysterious soldier who shows up unannounced at a family's home of a fallen soldier he served with. He's all smiles and very polite, but people with a usually negative connection with this family start meeting grisly ends. Like in his previous film You're Next, Adam Wingard approaches plotting you've seen a million times and wittily turns it on its ear without ever being too self aware. It's a shame Picturehouse who acquired the US rights dumped the film in a handful of theaters without trying to capitalize on the strong reviews and never bothered to expand it theatrically. The Guest is a quick fun time that knows exactly what it is and delivers without overstaying its welcome.

A young soldier called Dave turns up at the home of the Peterson family whose son has recently been killed in action overseas . Happy to see their late son's friend they invite Dave to stay longer and Dave quickly ingratiates himself in to the family's affection . But is Dave who he says he is and if not what is his agenda ?

!!!! SUGGESTIVE SPOILERS !!!!!

A familiar story , so much so that before seeing it I had it instantly nailed as a rip off from an episode of Brian Clemens THRILLER from the mid 1970s which had the exact same premise . Premise isn't the same as plot however and despite hitting the occasional plot turn with its bedfellows THE GUEST does have an idiosyncratic feel of its own

It's something of a film of two halves . The first half sets up Dave to both the Peterson family and the audience and right away Dave comes across a very likable guy especially when he sorts out some school bullies on behalf of young Luke and much of his likability is down to the way he's played by Dan Stevens and it wasn't until after seeing the film I found out that Stevens is a Brit .Keep an eye on the name Dan Stevens because you might just be hearing a lot more from him in the future . In fact Dave is so likable I did find myself in agreement with Luke that it doesn't really matter who Dave is or what he's done in the past because anyone who can maim a few school bullies can't be all bad

But THE GUEST has to follow a formula which means Dave has to be a bad man and a bad man is indeed what he is so when Anna Peterson contacts the military and Lance Reddick informs every spook in a fifty mile radius to shoot Dave on sight this gives a clue as to how bad he might be . Actually at this point the film might just be making a detour in to the science fiction genre but to be fair it's not as jarring or as leftfield as it could have been .From the outset Dave surprises people around him . He can run from the bus station to the Peterson house surprising Mrs Peterson , he can consume massive amounts of alcohol without getting drunk etc etc which suggests superhuman abilities along with the suggestion he's not human at all which means despite all the familiarity of the story and its flaws ( The ending is a bit over the top ) THE GUEST is a more intriguing film than you might have expected it to be

The acting is great, the soundtrack fantastic and the atmosphere the movie creates sucks you in from the very beginning. The movie keeps you guessing throughout at least for the first hour or so. You KNOW something is off but you have no idea what exactly. When I watched it my theory of what was going on changed every 10 minutes :D As the last reviewer stated the first hour is definitely the best part. Unfortunately towards the end the writers kind of dropped the ball. The ending is somewhat unsatisfactorily predictable and the story can only go the way it goes because of absolutely ridiculous mistakes made by some of the characters. I don't know why most movies foam in the endings but I guess in this case it is something that I'm very willing to endure for the fun I had during the first 2/3 of the film.

The acting is awesome for the most part. Dan Stevens does a great job keeping you on the edge the whole time which is utterly entertaining. The writing and dialogue are great except as mentioned above for the somewhat disappointing ending. But all in all this movie stuck with me and though it has been a couple of days since I watched it I still "feel" the atmosphere it created (to a great extend due to its unconventional soundtrack, which I eventually bought although it is generally not my kind of music at all). This is a very good movie and I am a little surprised that I basically had to stumble over it by accident and it hasn't gotten more publicity. If the ending had been a little different it could have been fantastic, none the less this way it is still great.

THE GUEST is a fun, if derivative, little movie from Adam Wingard, the guy who also brought us the familiar-yet-entertaining YOU'RE NEXT. It's a belated addition to that whole psycho-thriller sub-genre of the 1990s in which ordinary families were menaced by mysterious forces, and it achieves plenty on what is clearly a tight budget.

There are shades of THE TERMINATOR and the BOURNE trilogy here and it has to be said that the story is simplistic and straightforward. The denouement will surprise nobody, for example. However, like DRIVE before it, THE GUEST is all about the execution. It looks cool, it looks stylish, and it sounds cool too thanks to that thumping soundtrack. Dan Stevens is excellent as the suave and sophisticated guy who turns up to make a few waves, and Maika Monroe shows some of the promise that she displayed in IT FOLLOWS. Plus we get Lance Reddick, being exceptionally good again after his turn in JOHN WICK.

In fact, THE GUEST has quite a lot in common with IT FOLLOWS, especially the horror-style unfolding of the plot. These films share likable young cast members and a fresh feel despite the familiarities of the situations in which the characters find themselves. Certainly nothing about THE GUEST is original, yet it's thoroughly entertaining at the same time. And that's all I need from a movie.

Fun to watch - Dan Stevens is awesome - he played the part perfectly. Great movie if you're not too concerned about taking it too seriously.