The Guest
Welcome to Movie Night with Brandon, which is basically my excuse to discuss and review any film I feel like. Whether it's a brand new film or an older one, it's whatever I feel like doing. In this series, I won't be giving grades because I don't feel that they're necessary for this particular series. With all that out of the way, let's talk about some movies.
The Guest is easily one of the most genuinely fun movies I've seen in the last few years. This film just simply oozes cool and is always a good time to watch. I'll go further into detail about this movie without giving any spoilers but if you have not seen it yet, please go watch it as soon as possible. It's currently on Netflix so please watch it.
The movie starts with the family grieving over the loss of their son who died in combat. And one random day a guest shows up at their front door claiming to be a friend of their recently dead son. The mother invites him in and they talk about how they knew each other from the Army and how he was asked to tell the family he loved them. All seems well and good when David (the guest) first comes to town. He is an extremely well-mannered guy and extremely like able. But then strange things start happening around town and you start to wonder who David really is.
The first thing I really have to commend is Dan Stevens for his portrayal of David. He displays so much charisma through his performance but you can also sense that there is something else going on with him as well. He had the presence that the role required as well as very good comedic timing when the scene called for it. Maika Monroe also did an excellent job as the sister in the film. She was always very believable and she never felt non-authentic to me. Between her performance in this and It Follows, I think she has a bright future ahead of her. The rest of the cast also feels very believe-able as well, but the younger brother sometimes faltered in some of the earlier scenes, but he does get better as the film progresses.
The direction of The Guest is also spot-on. Other people have made the connection to John Carpenter and I really agree with the comparison. This film hits so many different genres and it always feels effortless. The director of the film Adam Wingard also directed films like You're Next and a few segments of the the V/H/S franchise. I enjoy both those works but this is obviously his best film as of yet. While the cinematography never blows you away, it is well done and there are some clever shots in the movie. The Guest also takes place during Halloween and it really adds to the atmosphere that it's trying to create, especially during the ending segment of the film.
If you know me, you know I love a good soundtrack/score, and this movie has one of my favorite soundtracks in the last ten years. The soundtrack really adds the style the film is going for and helps it feel even more unique than anything recently released. I own the soundtrack and I listen to it almost on a weekly basis.
This film is so infinatley re-watchable because of it's fun story, awesome soundtrack, and memorable characters. I can see this movie becoming a classic in years to come and being considered when it starts to receive the recognition it deserves.
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