In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Monday 12 January 2015

THE GUEST [2014]

Director Adam Wingard's enticingly sinister psycho-thriller, The Guest, tells the story of soldier who visits the family of a friend who died in action to deliver a message to them.
Like Wingard and his crew's previous film, You're Next, it manages to take a simple and silly concept, paste a dumb face on it and deliver it with wit, style and a slickness that keeps you glued to your seat from beginning to end.  Known for gently playing the doomed Matthew on Downton Abbey, Dan Stevens takes an impressive turn as a menacing soldier turned killing machine in this ode to the '80's b-films.  If John Carpenter were to mix A History Of Violence and Drive, with a heavy dose of excellent post-punk/Goth-pop then this is what you'd get.  

3½ mix CD's out of 5

3 comments:

Borderline said...

Maybe this is me coming off the high of just finishing the film (the credits still roll) but 5 unrealistically elaborate high school haunted houses out of 5.

cuckoo said...

XD Wasn't the haunted house great?

Loved the banter between the family at the beginning too. Especially when you tossed David into the mix.

Borderline said...

I'm so glad he opted out of Downton Abbey. I can't wait to see what Stevens does next.