Adam Wingard's The Guest has been playing in limited release. Find out what we thought.
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"I think my shirt is stuck in my mouth
Would you like to dig it out
with your tongue?" |
Let’s get it out of the way: Horror has
found its Quentin Tarantino, and his name is Adam Wingard. A filmmaker head
over heels in love with the movies he grew up with, Wingard’s knowledge of 80s
slasher films and thrillers is clearly encyclopedic. He knows how to
respectfully pay homage in ways genre fans will cheer over, but creates
something more than a derivative mashup. This is a fully realized and stylishly
energized thriller that ranks among the best films of the year.
Consider the setup: A handsome drifter
played by Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) shows up on the doorstep of a
family that recently lost one of their own to the war overseas. The stranger
introduces himself as David, produces a photograph of the Army unit he served
in with their son, standing with arms around each other’s shoulders; it helps
his cause that the photo already existed on the family’s mantle. He’s
confident, polite, says his “yes ma’am’s,” listens to everyone’s problems,
shares a few beers with the dad, and carries messages of love from their
deceased son. Why not let the young man stay for a few days?
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What's better than a hot
Maika Monroe in a waitress outfit?
A whole bunch of them. |
As the archetypes and back stories of the
characters are fleshed out, we can draw certain conclusions based on the films
Adam Wingard and his writer Simon Barrett have learned from. When we meet the
distraught parents played by Sheila Kelley and Leland Orser, we know they’re
looking for a surrogate to ease the pain of their loss. We meet their younger
son Luke (Brendan Meyer), a geeky misanthrope in a baggy hoodie who is
routinely victimized by the football team’s king jock, and the relationship
dynamic practically writes itself, as the combat-trained David befriends the
limp-wristed lad. But Wingard and Barrett are too smart for that, because they
know we’ve seen all the same movies. They use our own film going nature against
us and take us on one hell of a ride, using the cliches we’ve come to expect as
their weapon of choice, following them through with a strange logic to
conclusions that are sometimes scary, often surprising, and oddly hilarious.
This has more laugh out loud moments than most pure comedies.
A film like this requires performances to
be calibrated just right, and Dan Stevens brings it like none other. He’s
creepy, mysterious, charming, funny (but not too funny), charismatic, all in
the exact measure and alternating strokes the film requires. Stevens flashes a
James Bond gaze one way to an attractive brunette, beds her in minutes, and the
next moment, he’s leveling a glare at the camera that could make the shit in
your pants shit its pants. It won’t win any Oscars, but this is a performance
for the ages.
With a presence as commanding as Stevens,
we know a villain is only as good as his nemesis, and The Guest provides
us a great one with Maika Monroe as Anna. A plucky blonde, ferocious with
attitude, and drop dead gorgeous to boot, Monroe is what you would get if you
crossed Kat Dennings with Brie Larson, gave her Larson’s acting chops, and took
away Dennings’ uncanny ability to annoy the ever-loving snot out of anyone not
distracted by her chest to the point of hearing loss. Monroe and Stevens share
a lot of screen time together, and when they aren’t saying much is when the
film is saying it all. This is good stuff.
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"Oh look! The masks from
Halloween III." |
The Guest comes on the
heels of Wingard and Barrett’s last feature length collaboration, You’re
Next, a terrific exercise in style that had one of the most memorable kills
in recent years. This time, they top themselves. Giving their performers room
to put the characters first, they create a film that strays outside of their
comfort zone just enough for it to still be a snug fit while we can still see
their toes dipping into new waters. This is top-notch work: Darkly comic and
thrilling while being completely absurd and so entertaining that it doesn’t
matter. But in the end, this film belongs to Dan Stevens. This is a star-making
performance that will surely catapult The Guest into the realm of cult
classic, and squarely on to a list of the ten best films of 2014.
