The Guest is one of the hidden gems of 2014. It is directed by Adam Wingard and stars Dan Stevens as David, a stranger who visits a grieving family of his friend who got killed in the war. Below is my The Guest (2014) movie review
When David is introduced, he comes off as a nice guy who is sympathetic towards the Peterson family. He feels bad for their loss of their son. David is immediately taken in since he comes off as very sincere and trustworthy. He also provides the family with memories of their son. This further cements the idea that he is welcoming guests in the family. In a very short time, David begins to mingle with the family matters. He helps them in any way he can with various issues they are facing. However, one of the family members, Anna (played by Maika Monroe), starts to get suspicious of the stranger.
The whole movie is shot in a way that keeps moving from portraying David as a good guy and as an unpredictable guy. Due to his calm demeanor you can buy both sides of him. He is also well trained in combat and has good conversational skills. This contributes to the idea that this guy is overall very resourceful. Without going into much detail, all hell breaks loose once suspicion takes over in the second half of the movie. It leads to some great action scenes as well as a tense atmosphere with a melodic synth score. Similar to the one used by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth in Halloween III: Season of the Witch.
The director that there was a longer cut of the movie that revealed a lot more about who David was and how he became who he is in the movie, but during the test screening, the audience felt it was a little too much information. I couldn’t agree more since not knowing too much about David helps with the overall reveal in the movie. The movie is well paced where clues are sprinkled throughout the dialogue but it is not over the top information. It takes its time while maintaining a constant momentum of giving away just enough to keep us watching.
Overall the movie was well paced, acted, and directed. There are a lot of things to be learned from dialogue so pay attention to that. While the whole idea of stranger not being who they seem is not new, this movie has good action to back up its not so fresh take on that genre. It is a fun and well done movie. Highly recommended for every movie goer.
Thanks for reading my The Guest (2014) movie review
