Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett are two of the most awesome film makers on the planet. They have yet to let me down and with their latest creation, The Guest, the bar has been set extremely high. These two are the present day John Carpenter and Debra Hill, but if Debra was a kickass bald white guy. Their latest outing is going to need its own genre tag, but for now will call it an action/horror/thriller that is completely awesome.
A soldier introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into their home, a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence.
The cast is killer in this film and is so perfect I can say without a doubt that everyone brought their A game to this film, but one guy went above and beyond in this film; Dan Stevens. Stevens plays the main character and delivers the performance of a lifetime. He doesn't just play the character, he brings the character to life. The man is like Jason Bourne and the Terminator rolled into one. Not only does Stevens whip some ass through out the film, but he is an intelligent and smooth talker when need be. This entire film hinged on his performance and he delivered on every level. I wish this film could be nominated for an Oscar, because Stevens would be a lock for the Best Actor category. He is just a loveable villain, you know he's bad but you can't help liking the guy.
The real cherry on top of this amazing performance has to be the film's score and soundtrack. Steve Moore's score to this is a sweet blend of classic Carpenter-like stingers mixed with subtle tones that took me back to one of my favorite shows The Hitchhiker. He then layers in an awesome song from Love and Rockets titled Haunted (when the minutes drags) and some Sisters of Mercy-Emma. I hope to here Moore do the composing for more films, because he has a sound that is both new and classic all at once. My God does this film have an amazing score and soundtrack.
Last but not least is the cinematography. I'm a sucker for good DP work and Robby Baumgartner owned this film like he was Dean Cundey. I don't think I can explain it any better. This is another guy who I hope to see more cinematography work from.
The film can be summed up like this. Take the badassness of Rambo First Blood, mixed with horror of Halloween, sprinkle it with the tension of Cape Fear and you have The Guest. Never have I seen a film like this where you have so many different elements from so many different genres blended together to create, simply put, perfection.
Rating 10/10 Stars.