Review of The Guest (2014) by Dawdlingpoet — 22 Nov 2021

This is a mystery thriller film, featuring themes including drug dealing, harassment and bar fights. It is quite atmospheric, with a spooky or otherwise mildly sinister tone to it from relatively early on. The main character, David, seems...not quite right, like he's holding in a fair bit of anger. This obviously means that he's quite volatile and it doesn't take long for the viewer to realise this is someone with a seemingly shady past, who keeps himself to himself but isn't afraid to fight his corner when he deems necessary. Volatile is probably the key word when it comes to this film.

Cast wise, the main character, David, is played by Dan Stevens. This film reminded me of another show I've seen him in, a very strange and peculiar US show called Legion. It has to be said, he seems to do particularly well playing such mysterious, volatile people. Other cast members include Maika Monroe, who plays Anna Peterson, the daughter in the household that David finds himself in, while Brendan Meyer plays the son, Luke and the parents (Laura and Spencer Peterson) are played by Sheila Kelley and Leland Orser respectively.

Music wise, there are a number of somewhat spaced-out, electronic type pieces played. I don't think I'd heard them before but they are somewhat niche sounding - they certainly heightened the sense of tension and intrigue during the scenes they feature in. Some examples of tracks played, according to IMDB.com, include Hourglass by Survive, Omniverse by Survive, Storm Column by Gatekeeper and Emma by The Sisters of Mercy. I felt that elements of it, including the visual style as well as the music featured in a number of scenes, gave it a sort of a daydream (or, should I say, nightmare) angle. It seemed to me to have something of a 1980s neon horror/thriller look to it - there are horror type elements but I wouldn't specifically classify it as a horror per se, as there are a fair few non-violent and non-gorey scenes.

Content wise, the film contains sex references (including homophobic terms/hate crime terminology), partial nudity, moderate to strong violence including gunfire and hand to hand combat type violence, with bloody injuries shown, hence a fair amount of blood spatter is displayed. There is, of course, strong language and there are scenes depicting drug taking. Apart from that, the film is quite dark in tone generally and could frighten or otherwise disturb younger viewers.

This isn't the kind of film where you can say a great deal about it without giving away spoilers, hence why I'm keeping this relatively short, which hopefully you understand. I found it quite an engrossing watch and it seemed to me a good mystery thriller film. I suppose, thinking in terms of criticisms, the plot isn't entirely original - the whole 'random stranger appears and turns out to not be entirely who he says he is' plot idea isn't exactly brand new but it was a good watch regardless. Regarding the 'some plot aspects' disadvantage that I note, that is because I found myself feeling rather sceptical of some plot elements but I won't disclose them so as not to give away spoilers. Suffice to say, some of what comes to light and what happens in the 2nd half seemed a little too over exaggerated. I wouldn't say it made the film not at all entertaining all the same though.

Yes, I'd recommend this film as I found it to be quite engrossing, atmospheric and the plot intrigued me for a fair while. It isn't perfect, with the main plot a bit unoriginal and some of the plot details seemed a bit unrealistic but overall its a decent mystery/thriller type film, so I'd recommend it on this basis.