Review: "The Guest"

Director: Adam Wingard
Runtime: 100 minutes

Trading in meta-horror for more traditional thriller fare, You're Next duo Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett are back with The Guest. Though sincerity isn't a trait that runs through Wingard and Barrett's films thus far, The Guest does see them paying straightforward homage to a genre, rather than deconstructing it. In their latest, they have conjured up a gloriously dumb throwback to the John Carpenter-esque horror/thrillers of the 80s, complete with a delightfully charming and menacing turn from former Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens. It lacks the winking smarts of You're Next, but The Guest proves that when it comes to B-movie thriller fare, Wingard and Barrett know how to stay true to a genre's roots while tweaking it just enough for the 21st century.

The Guest certainly doesn't waste any time in putting things in motion. Opening with Stevens' David running along a dusty Midwestern road, only moments later he's at the door of the Peterson family. With his aw-shucks charm and his piercing blue eyes, David has no trouble convincing parents Laura and Spencer (Sheila Kelley and Leland Orser), that he served with their recently deceased son in Iraq, and became his closest friend. He's even in a photo of the dead son's platoon, smiling with a machine gun on his shoulder.

Naturally, David has no trouble cozying up to the family and making himself useful in unexpected ways. He helps the Peterson's youngest child Luke (Brendan Meyer) deal with some high school bullies, and even manages to bond with suspicious daughter Anna (Maika Monroe) after a stressful night at a party.

As with similar charming mystery figures, the role of David requires a certain unassuming, placid confidence, and Stevens proves to be ideal casting. The posh accent and dapper clothes are gone, replaced by the look of boy-next-door who may or may not be capable of snapping someone's neck in the blink of an eye. Stevens admitted that he eventually grew somewhat bored of his character on Downton Abbey, and at times it showed rather painfully. Here, however, he seems reinvigorated as a performer, capturing David's vaguely sinister sense of optimism with just the right touches of camp.

And while most of the Peterson clan (as well as their friends and neighbors) may be total saps, Maika Monroe does quite well distinguishing herself as the only person to never fully believe in David's story (even when she catches a glimpse of David's physique fresh out of the shower).With a look that falls somewhere between Greta Gerwig and Dakota Fanning, Monroe's low-key flippancy is an added gift, and further solidifies The Guest's success as an effective homage.

However, with so many expected developments obvious from the outset (of course David isn't going to be entirely who he appears to be), Wingard and Barrett sometimes get a little too high on channeling certain styles, and let the plot stagnate. At 100 minutes, The Guest does outstay its welcome a bit, especially since it gets everything set up so quickly. Wingard and Barrett make the whole adventure knowingly dumb fun, but they also take too long to get to the real turning point of the narrative. 

So when it comes time for the explanation of exactly who David is, The Guest comes uncomfortably close to tripping over its own shoe laces as it crosses the finish line. By now, the particulars of David's backstory have been so overdone that it's underwhelming to see Wingard and Barrett not add anything into the mix. Though Barrett's script refrains from coming to a halt solely for exposition, a little more than the basic motivations would have cemented The Guest as an even more admirably loopy piece of work. Thankfully, the actual finale is mostly a success, with the climactic set piece moving from action-thriller into firm horror territory, complete with a perfectly designed maze of sorts for folks to run around in while avoiding death. 

Stylistically, Wingard and his technical collaborators have upped their game, with the photography and set design being standouts. Faded neons add a off-kilter glow to the otherwise plain desert setting, and the color variety expands nicely once all hell starts to break loose. The throbbing electronic score is another plus, and makes The Guest feel like a perfect mix of modern and retro thriller atmospherics. Like David, The Guest looks the part entirely, even though it has a few glaring red flags. It may not have the meta smarts of You're Next, but The Guest - in large part thanks to Stevens' chilly and charismatic work - succeeds as a mindless little slice of empty calorie cinema.

Grade: B-

Review: "You're Next"

Director: Adam Wingard
Runtime: 94 minutes

Next to a January release date, being kept on the shelf is one of the most obvious signs that a movie is a dud. So it's rather baffling that You're Next, Adam Wingard's home invasion horror-thriller, managed to stay in the dark for almost two years. After being acquired for US distribution during the 2011 Toronto Film Festival, Wingard's film never quite managed to secure a solid release date. Thankfully, the studio finally realized what a hugely enjoyable ride they had on their hands. Following in the footsteps of The Conjuring, You're Next ensures that 2013 will go down as the year that horror, not superheroes, truly ruled the summer. 

As is common of the home-invasion story, it's not the story that matters, so much as the specifics of the execution. Working from Simon Barrett's script, Wingard wastes no time dispensing with the feeling of safety. From the moment that parents Paul (Rob Moran) and Aubrey (Barbara Crampton) open up their sprawling mansion, it feels as though bloody mayhem is ready to break out in an instant. It doesn't take much longer for that promise to be fulfilled. Once the cast of expendable characters arrives and settles in for dinner, a group of masked strangers starts firing crossbow bolts through the windows. 

Rather than drag out the inevitable, You're Next happily dispenses with a large chunk of its ensemble in rapid succession. By immediately trimming the cast down to fewer players, the film opens itself up to less cluttered character interactions. Better yet is Barrett's sense of humor, which helps break up the flashes of blood and terror. Even in the midst of total chaos, Barrett tosses in a stray line of black comedy that never detracts from the overall sense of tension. Are these characters (and some of their conflicts) cliched? Absolutely. The difference is that You're Next executes and subverts those cliches in a manner that is a never less than enjoyable.

The secret weapon of the film, however, is Sharni Vinson's Erin. The girlfriend of Paul and Aubrey's son Crispian (AJ Bowen), she also has a (perfectly loopy) background that has given her a talent for fighting back. As one of the few characters to constantly keep a cool head, Vinson is the glue holding all of You're Next's winking cliches together. Vinson may not do anything extraordinary with the role, but she's more than convincing as a closet-badass. As the mansion's residents are picked off, Erin moves closer and closer to center stage. Paralleling this shift is the film's transition from standard slasher horror to domestic thriller. The film's last half hour, in an inspired decision, jettisons much of the horror, and transforms into the grisliest Home Alone movie ever made. 

Throughout the entire endeavor, Wingard's direction is to-the-point and unfussy. The violence and teases of violence (there are some great shots involving reflections) is never exploitative, despite the amount of fun that Wingard has with the staging. Whether it's a stabbing or simply a lingering shot on a creaking door, the atmosphere is consistent and engaging. The ominous score, which could have easily been a distraction, only adds to the malevolent overtones, without becoming overbearing. Like the movie around it, the music gets the point across, without ever stretching beyond its tidy ambitions. 

When compared to The Conjuring, You're Next offers up less in the way of obvious craft. However, it makes up for this by being a much snappier and more entertaining bloody thrill ride. With its off-kilter sense of humor, satisfying horror jolts, and badass heroine, Wingard's film proves to have been well worth the two year delay. And even though the film as a whole likely won't give you any nightmares, there's a good chance you'll hesitate to stare out of an open window, lest one of those simple-yet-menacing white animal masks pops up. 

Grade: B