I came into this movie with no clue what to expect, other than it was well regarded. Turns out it was the perfect subject for a Halloween horror review!
Discussing the plot of The Guest is a bit of a tricky proposition. Even including it in a horror movie review series is a bit spoilery, so I’ll try to tread lightly. The premise involves a small-town family that is visited by the soldier friend of their son, another soldier who was recently killed in Afghanastan. They invite him to stay with them until he has the chance to figure out his next steps after returning from war, and he becomes a bit of a surrogate son & brother for the grieving family. There is also clearly something else going on with him which sets their teenage daughter on edge, but I won’t get into whether he is the best or worst thing to ever happen to the family because the movie masterfully walks that line until the 3rd act. As I stated, it’s worth going into this one with as little information as possible, but I don’t want to set expectations that there is some Shamalayan-esque mind-screw at the end (something that I had partly expected given all of the similar warnings I read in reviews prior to watching the movie). In many ways this is a fairly conventional plot, but one that is executed masterfully, and that benefits from the sense of disorientation and doubt that director Adam Winegard weaves into the story.
Dan Stevens as the titular guest, and Maika Monroe as the college-age daughter are excellent in their roles. Really, the whole cast delivers as there is nary a weak spot.
In terms of scares, the movie is exciting and unnerving at times, particularly in the final act, but I wouldn’t say it was particularly terrifying. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a lot of fun, which is actually a more important criteria for a successful horror movie anyway. The winking nods to the audience (the set design is crawling with Halloween bric-a-brac), the dark humor, the considerable body count and an amazing final set piece all indicate that the makers of the film are primarily concerned with giving us a good time. That makes this one an easy recommendation. Pair it with Winegard’s other horror classic, You’re Next, for a thrilling night of movie watching.
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