Sunday 14 September 2014

The Guest - Review

Director: Adam Wingard Writer: Simon Barrett Studios: Picturehouse, HanWay Films, Snoot Entertainment Cast: Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Brendan Meyer, Lance Reddick Release Date (UK): 5 May, 2014 Certificate: 15 Runtime: 99 min

In “The Guest,” Dan Stevens is tasked with playing a mysterious stranger, a super-cool action hero, a charming gentleman, a psychopathic serial killer, a smoldering hunk, and a terrifying boogeyman. He absolutely nails all six, and plays them all with a smoothly charismatic southern twang and a twinkle in his eye (a twinkle that becomes increasingly menacing the more we get to know him). He plays David Collins, a recently discharged US soldier who one day rings the doorbell of the Peterson family. Claiming to be a good friend of the oldest son Caleb, who died on duty in Afghanistan, David becomes the Petersons’ welcome houseguest, sleeping in Caleb’s old bedroom, helping out around the house and fixing family problems. Most of the family fall head over heels for him, but eldest daughter Anna (Maika Monroe) begins to suspect that he’s not who he claims to be.

As David, Stevens boasts serious star quality and astonishing versatility: with a steely charisma, a sexy swagger and a creeping intensity, he’s in full command, and given how many clashing layers he has to play -- badass, friendly, funny, scary -- he manages to create a surprisingly coherent, and captivating, character. And just as Stevens’ performance is one of clashing layers, “The Guest” is a film of clashing styles. I can imagine many going into the film expecting a straight-forward action movie, based on the rather generic-looking trailers -- I know I did. But like their table-turning horror-comedy “You’re Next,” director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett’s film is full of juicy surprises. Part action movie, part psychological thriller, part black comedy and part horror movie, the film is a delightfully experimental genre mishmash, with Wingard and Barrett playing around with genre conventions along with audience expectations to thoroughly entertaining effect.

You can tell something odd’s going on right from the opening shot, a close-up of a spooky scarecrow with a pumpkin head and a witch's hat. This isn’t the opening shot of an action movie: this is straight out of a horror movie. Combine that with the alarmingly ominous title reveal as David jogs towards the Peterson home, and the film’s off to an unexpectedly chilling start. From there, the film becomes a darkly comic thriller (and a genuinely funny and thrilling one), as David begins solving all the family’s problems in his own special way, coincidentally -- or perhaps not so coincidentally -- while bodies start popping up all over the place. Then there’s the action scenes, most notably a bar fight between David and some school bullies, and a shootout at the Peterson house between David and some men who come looking for him. Both fun set-pieces with style and energy to spare. And then, in the final genre turn, the film goes all-out slasher horror, with a spookhouse finale where David basically becomes a sexy Michael Myers.

Speaking of which, all throughout the film there’s a seriously neat ‘70s/’80s vibe straight out of an old John Carpenter movie. It’s a vibe only enhanced by Steve Moore’s old-school synth score -- a catchy, pulsing joy -- and the raw suspense, the dark humour and the strong heroine in Monroe’s Anna. Not to mention the grinning jack-o’-lanterns scattered all over the place (in another nod to Carpenter, the setting is Halloween). But crucially, it has a firm understanding of genre, something Carpenter excelled at back in his heyday -- the film is four genres in one, and not only is each handled brilliantly, they’re also blended together almost seamlessly. And in Stevens’ David, the film has a fascinating anti-hero/villain. With Sharni Vinson’s badass Aussie heroine Erin in “You’re Next,” Wingard and Barrett created one of the great characters of genre cinema; with David Collins, they’ve created another.

Rating: 8/10

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