#62 THE GUEST

#62 THE GUEST

Starring Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Brendan Meyer, Lance Reddick and Leland Orser. Written by Simon Barrett and direted Adam Wingard, 99 minutes perfectly formed.

What an absolute hoot of a movie! What a ridiculous and silly ride, what fun!

The less you know about The Guest the better, the plot at its most basic form is this, months after the death of their marine son, Caleb, the Peterson family get a visit from David, a solider who claims to have fought along their son and witnessed his death. Gently insinuating himself into his dead friend's family,  David seems to have only their best interests in mind, that is until odd coincidences start happening to Caleb's brother, sister and parents and a sense of, almost, supernatural menace starts to pervade their lives, perhaps David is not all that he seems...

In an absolutely career-making role, Downtown Abbey's Dan Stevens crushes any memories you might have of him as a posh toff as he re-invents himself as a solid leading man in this 1980's throw-back that seems to delight in leading you down one route before throwing you head first down another, at turns hilarious, savage and downright silly and all delivered with a glorious John Carpenter inspired soundtrack. One minute a psychological thriller, the next an action film and then a all-out horror film, this is a film that delights in playing with your expectations. It's by no means perfect, some of the direction is ropey and there are several 'what the?' moments but nothing that spoils the action.

8/10