Last year saw the incredibly delayed release of director and writer duo Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett’s awesome horror thriller You’re Next. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait two years for the release of their mysterious action thriller titled The Guest, another slickly made film chock full of bad-ass moments, suspense and uncertainty.
The Peterson family are going through some tough times, both emotionally and financially. Their son was recently killed in action, emotionally destroying the mother, Laura, and the father, Spencer, is struggling to make enough to really support his family. Their son, Luke, is a quiet but smart kid who gets picked on in school while the daughter, Anna (Maika Monroe) is a 20 year old waitress who’s secretly dating a guy her father hates. One day, out of nowhere, a man named David Collins (Dan Stevens) shows up on their doorstep after being discharged from the military. Claiming to be an old army buddy of their deceased son, the polite and respectful David is welcomed into their home for a few days so that he can get on his feet. After a few bursts of violence erupts in the town, Anna grows suspicious of David and begins to look into his past, opening a can of worms that leads everyone down a hyper-violent rabbit hole.
I’ll say it first to get it out of the way, The Guest is a fun film but it’s not as awesome as You’re Next was. They are very different types of films with violence and originality being the common threads. Unlike You’re Next, which kept you at the edge of your seat with gleeful and sadistic home invasion terror and fights, The Guest is much more mysterious with an air of coolness that really only takes shape once Anna begins to look into David’s background. That’s the main difference, one film is fun and exciting for the entire flick while the other holds that ground for about 50-60% of the time.
Now that that’s out of the way, this movie is all about the main character, the guest, if you will. If Jason Bourne had no feelings then he’d be David Collins, that’s the type of character he is. On the surface he comes off as this well-mannered, smart, polite and good looking guy who made a promise to help improve the Peterson family’s situation, and that’s what he does, unfortunately their happiness comes with an upsetting and potentially deadly price for others. SPOILER In fact, this movie has the potential to be a cool independent franchise because of how skilled, treacherous and wanted David is. He’s a deadly guy that is incredibly resourceful but has, depending on your perspective, a smart requirement to dispose of anyone that could potentially be a risk and reveal his identity. END SPOILER
While I enjoyed the film, I did find a lot of the non-action oriented dialogue and acting a bit campy. Dan Stevens was eerily great, but I thought the parents and Miaka were trying too hard. Maika’s performance in particular wasn’t very engaging for such an important role and every time she spoke she sort of pulled me out of the film, which always sucks.
Overall, The Guest is an enjoyable, slick thriller and another solid contribution to the world of thrilling cinema by Wingard and Barrett. It may not come close to the awesomeness of You’re Next but if you were a fan of that film and enjoy movies like The Bourne Identity then I’d certainly recommend giving The Guest a watch.
Rating: A cool thriller with punches of awesomeness and originality that elevates its quality to above-average (6.9/10)
As for the blu-ray itself, the film looks crisp and clean, I can’t complain about the quality. Since the film isn’t meant to be grungy like You’re Next, the polished look works to help emphasize David’s façade while in the Peterson home.
Special Features:
The Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD copy combo pack comes with a few special features:
Deleted scenes with optional commentary: There are seven deleted scenes in the film. I watched them all with the commentary turned on to see why certain things were cut. While listening to the commentary it completely made sense why each scene was either cut or tweaked. If Anna found David’s gun in his room, or if they showed Anna drive by David in the beginning, or if they didn’t cut some dialogue when he was introduced, it would have changed the story and made it a lot less tight than the final product. There was one deleted scene that was simply an on set prank that involved scaring Maika which was pretty funny.
Q&A with Dan Stevens
Feature Commentary with Director Adam Wingard and Writer Simon Barrett
Blu-ray rating: 5/10
The Guest hits Blu-ray and DVD on January 6th from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
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