THE GUEST
Director: Adam Wingard
Cast: Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Leland Orser, Shelia Kelley, Brendan Meyer, Lance Reddick
Rating: (R16)
Four stars (out of five)
In a landscape curiously devoid of digital devices, an occasional glimpse of computers helps to reinforce that this is the present ... but not as we know it.
The premise is pretty straightforward: a family grieving the death of their son Caleb is visited by a former soldier who claims to have served with him in Afghanistan.
David Collins (Dan Stevens),
clean-cut and courteous to a fault, soon ingratiates himself with the Peterson family and they ask him to stay for a couple of days.
We (the viewer) are way savvier than they are and questions are raised, what are his motives, where has he come from and why didn't he phone first?
Soon some locals mysteriously die and suspicions about Collins' motivations are raised but is it too late?
The performances are spot-on and Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) is an inspired casting choice.
Spookily sinister in his mannerisms, he balances charisma with his character's malevolent motives.
The hero of the day is Anna, played by Maika Monroe.
Her earnest retro character is a perfect foil to Collins' eerie evil.
At the three-quarter mark it feels as if the scriptwriter has run out of steam.
With a lack of story to develop, he pushes play on a gratuitous shoot-em up scene.
With super slo-mo bullet casings flying and law enforcement officials dropping, it is easy to overlook the cheesiness when it's so stylish and full of oomph.
- Mark Orton
