The Guest
(2014) 99 Min.
Rated: R (some nudity and gore)
Country: USA
Director: Adam Wingard
Stars: Dan Stevens, Sheila Kelley, Maika Monroe
Links: IMDB | Wikipedia
Rating: ★★★★★
A mysterious man claiming to know the deceased (killed in action) son of a family decides to stay with them for a while.
Synopsis:
A mysterious man named David Collins (Stevens) walks up to the Peterson house one day and claims to have known their late son. The Peterson’s older son Caleb died in Afghanistan and the family is still trying to recover emotionally.
Mother, Laura Peterson (Kelley) is the first to invite David in and offer him a room so that he can stay with the family since David doesn’t seem to have a car.
David claims to have just been discharged from his military service and had promised Caleb that he would tell Caleb’s family that Caleb loved them, etc. Of course, Laura, still wounded emotionally, finds this comforting and even when father, Spencer Peterson, objects she argues it.
Younger siblings Luke and Anna (Monroe) are a little more skeptical of the stranger.
While he stays with the family, David notices Luke has a black eye and eventually David gets revenge on the bullies by following them to a bar and beating them up.
David goes to a party with Anna and is very friendly. Protecting Anna’s friend Kristen from her ex-boyfriend. Kristen and David have some brief sex and David relaxes with some guys in the kitchen. He asks Anna’s friend Craig if he knows anyone selling guns and Craig agrees to find some for him.
David dotes on Luke a little and while Luke teaches David to carve a pumpkin, David gives Luke a butterfly knife. He advises Luke to hit people if they’re being mean to him.
David meets up with Craig and a man who wishes to sell guns to David. David checks the guns and says he wants all of them and proceeds to kill both the gun seller and Craig. He takes all the guns and (unseen in the film) he plants the gun and places an anonymous tip to the police blaming Anna’s druggy boyfriend Zeke for the murder.
Anna makes an inquiry about “David Collins” with the military and they reply that David Collins is dead. This also sets off an alert as David was part of a military project and needs to be found. Major Carver heads off a group of elite armed soldiers in order to track down David.
At school, Luke is called a slur and punches his bully. David convinces the principal to let Luke off with essentially a month of after-school detention. He will help prepare the homecoming dance. Privately Luke tells David that Anna doesn’t trust him anymore and is suspicious of him. Luke admits that he doesn’t care if David has hurt people and that they’re friends.
Back home David is helping Laura with the laundry when Major Carver and his men attack. There is a hail of bullets and Laura questions if David really knew her son. David says he did and then stabs Laura, killing her. He also manages to escape and kill every soldier except Major Carver. In his escape he rams the car into Spencer’s car as he’s coming down the dirt road in the opposite direction. David apologizes and kills Spencer with a gunshot. He heads off on foot towards the diner where Kristen works.
Major Carver picks up Anna and they must also pick up Luke and be relocated safely. He tells her that her parents are dead and that David was part of a military experiment. Simultaneously, David is attacking the restaurant and kills Kristen. He then blows up the building.
Major Carver arrives at the school dance hall which has a Halloween maze for it’s entrance. A teacher and Luke are inside. Major Carver warns them, but just then David turns down the lights and puts music on. The teacher tries to guide them out, but David slashes his neck. Major Carver tries to gun down David, but he too is killed. Anna then tells Luke to hide behind some boxes.
She eventually is able to shoot David while they’re on the foggy dance floor, but it’s in his arm and he attacks her. Luke runs out and stabs David repeatedly with his own butterfly knife. David lies dying and tells Luke he did the right thing. The straw-littered dance hall is engulfed in flames as the siblings make their escape.
The pair sit in the back of an ambulance as firefighters walk to and from the scene. One has a marked limp. Anna looks carefully at his face through the mask and he smiles back at her. It’s David and Anna exclaims “What the fuck?” The film ends.
Review:
The Guest is a slick movie with a great soundtrack. It hearkens back to films like Halloween but with a focus on thriller rather than horror. There are on-screen deaths and David does have Michael Myer-esque ability to not die. It’s also fairly refreshing that the director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett of You’re Next seems to hone their skills and have made an exciting thriller.