Review of The Perfect Host (2010) by Benedikt F — 31 Oct 2011

A brilliant premise and some tremendous acting on David Hyde Pierce's part is wasted an a lackluster script.

A young man fleeing from the authorities is desperate to find some place to hide till he can get back on his feet. He stumbles across an older, scrawny and very affluent man's house. Thinking this will be akin to taking candy from a baby, he immediately jumps on the opportunity. Little does our anxious felon know that this man is bat shit crazy and before he knows it, HE is now the victim.

The movie is great and superbly showcases Pierce's acting chops... for the first hour anyway. Then we're sadly thrown a curve ball. Suddenly we're no longer watching a horror movie featuring a lonely, sadistic individual who gets his kicks by hosting dinner parties with his imaginary friends. It becomes a crime drama; pretty much something straight out of NYPD Blue or Law and Order. It is almost as if the writer had two stories he was working on, couldn't figure out how to finish either, so he combined them into one less appealing story.

That being said, the casual horror movie watcher may dig it, but I can't imagine hardcore fans finding something truly unique or shocking here.