The Guest is a film brought to you by Adem Wingard and Simon Barrett, the director and writer of You're Next and some of the segments of the anthology series V/H/S. Because I haven't seen one of these movies i had no clue what to expect.
In this movie a "guest" shows up on the doorstep of a family who lost their son during a war. Because our guest fought with him on the battlefield he is invited to stay with the family for a while. And you might guess it, a lot of weird stuff starts to happen. It's a simple premise and one of my worst plot synopsis' i've written so far but i feel that it wouldn't be right to spoil too much of the story.
I can honestly say that The Guest was one of the biggest surprises of 2014. I saw this movie without even having a clue and it was widely entertaining for a bunch of reasons.
The aspect that differentiates The Guest from similar attempts is its soundtrack and how the filmmakers gave the soundtrack an importance equal to the main characters. It has that gritty 80s feel all over it that sets the tone for this movie from beginning to end.
Dan Stevens as "the guest" is fantastic and this role really shows off his range as an actor. He infiltrates this family in every single way and the filmmakers did a really good job of keeping tension and having you wonder for a long time who this guy really is. Much of this is thanks to the performance of Stevens. In a way he's a very likable lead, even when things start to get weird you keep rooting for him. He plays "the guest" with so much conviction it's hard to tell what is going on in his mind but one thing is certain, you don't want him in your house for too long.
In conclusion The Guest is a great action-horror hybrid from the 80s that's influenced by it in the best possible way. You can tell that these guys have respect for 80s action-horror but also know how to transcend it in to a good movie with a lot of style and tension build in to it.
In this movie a "guest" shows up on the doorstep of a family who lost their son during a war. Because our guest fought with him on the battlefield he is invited to stay with the family for a while. And you might guess it, a lot of weird stuff starts to happen. It's a simple premise and one of my worst plot synopsis' i've written so far but i feel that it wouldn't be right to spoil too much of the story.
I can honestly say that The Guest was one of the biggest surprises of 2014. I saw this movie without even having a clue and it was widely entertaining for a bunch of reasons.
The aspect that differentiates The Guest from similar attempts is its soundtrack and how the filmmakers gave the soundtrack an importance equal to the main characters. It has that gritty 80s feel all over it that sets the tone for this movie from beginning to end.
Dan Stevens as "the guest" is fantastic and this role really shows off his range as an actor. He infiltrates this family in every single way and the filmmakers did a really good job of keeping tension and having you wonder for a long time who this guy really is. Much of this is thanks to the performance of Stevens. In a way he's a very likable lead, even when things start to get weird you keep rooting for him. He plays "the guest" with so much conviction it's hard to tell what is going on in his mind but one thing is certain, you don't want him in your house for too long.
In conclusion The Guest is a great action-horror hybrid from the 80s that's influenced by it in the best possible way. You can tell that these guys have respect for 80s action-horror but also know how to transcend it in to a good movie with a lot of style and tension build in to it.