Starring: Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Sheila Kelley
As much as I bemoan the state of modern mainstream horror (as a fan of the horror genre in general), there is some real talent out there. Such is the team of writer Simon Barrett and director Adam Wingard, who made their name off of the long-in-distribution-limbo You're Next; an 80's slasher throwback with an increasingly ridiculous strand of black parodic comedy. Well, they're back with The Guest.
More of a thriller than a horror movie, or perhaps fitting into that snug space in between, alongside Psycho and the whole giallo sub-genre, A sort of 80's-styled take on Shadow Of A Doubt, The Guest stars Dan Stevens as a man claiming to be a former comrade of a soldier killed in the Middle East and whose family Stevens is currently staying with. However, it's pretty clear that he's not the man he says he is and is far more threatening. Stevens is brilliant in the lead, giving a menacing performance of barely restrained mania. Every second he's on screen he is an entertaining delight, playing up the façade of the nice young soldier type who addresses people as "sir" and "ma'am", a model citizen of the conservative-minded. Other performances are fine, but Stevens is king here.
The film has as a tongue so planted firmly in cheek that it has become almost an appendage. With You're Next this was mostly kept under wraps in the promotion and was presented as a conventional horror film. Here that tone is blatant from the trailers and is clearly never intended to be taken seriously. This has its fun but the increasingly silly antics do end up clashing towards the end as the film's attempts at tension and genuine frights never fully pay off between the gags. Being such a dark comedy and a film that tips its hat more to films of the 80's rather than contemporary horror or thrillers, The Guest in an acquired taste...but then, the best things are.
No comments:
Post a Comment