The Guest (2014)

I haven't seen this movie in a while, but Netflix just got it back apparently, so I was quick to jump right on it and give it another viewing. If I had to describe this movie in one word, I guess my word would be... "awesome".

The title gives way to the premise in that a family had lost one of their own named Caleb who died in a military mishap. Then suddenly, his best pal David Collins (yeah, that's the name of a Dark Shadows character alright) comes by to relay Caleb's love for his family, and he quickly warms his way into their hearts. What follows is a heartwarming story of grieving family learning to cope with the loss of a loved one with the next best thing. Dan Stevens as the titular character!

Now this dude is charming. Charming as fuck! He's sly, he's sexy, and he's everybody's best friend. This can only mean one thing. Is he too good to be true? Watch this movie and find out for yourself, fuckers!

The director's intent was to homage Halloween and Terminator, and he does just that. The vibes are excessive, and some of the music cues seem straight out of Halloween III (as do the Silver Shamrock masks!).


Of course, this movie is also really sad. It's sad because it was directed by Adam Wingard, who started off with some real shit and started to finally prove his worth as a force to be reckoned with... but this must have been his peak, because he went downhill right after this with shit like Blair Witch and Death Note. Now, he's working on stupid shit like Godzilla vs King Kong and a remake of I Saw the Devil. Dude should have quit while he was ahead.

The other sad part of this equation is whatever happened to Maika Monroe? She had a wonderful year in 2014 with this movie and "It Follows", then she fell into some Hollywood shit called "The Fifth Wave" and I haven't heard of her since. She could have been somebody if she chose her roles more carefully...

But as it stands, "The Guest" is cool as fuck, and I love it. It has some good music, characters, violence, and it even has an ahab. That's right, Lance Reddick plays a Dr. Loomis character in it, furthering that whole Halloween vibe. This movie is the tits.