The Guest premiered at Sundance early in 2014 and I've been really looking forward to it after reading all the positive buzz. The tone of the film being compared to John Carpenter's films and The Terminator got me quite excited. I haven't read anything more about the movie's plot beyond the basic premise.
It's directed by Adam Wingard who directed You're Next, he also directed segments of V/H/S and V/H/S/2.
I am hoping this movie turns out to be this year's Drive while gaining wide attention and appeal.
Here is part of the review by Matt Goldberg from Collider, posted in January 2014.
From 1974 to 1988, director John Carpenter was pretty much unstoppable. His films were scary, funny, strange, and thrilling. Adam Wingard’s The Guest feels like a lost Carpenter film from the director’s golden age. The picture effortlessly moves between a nerve-wracking mystery to a gleefully dark comedy, and at its best it even mixes the two together. While Wingard carries the Carpenter-esque tone by making excellent use of Robby Baumgartner’s cinematography and Stephen Moore’s score, his greatest asset is Dan Stevens’ tremendous lead performance. And even when the picture starts to get away from Wingard, it never ceases to be an entertaining ride.
THE GUEST Acquired by Picturehouse for Fall Release. THE GUEST Stars Dan Stevens
This was posted by Adam Chitwood when the movie got picked up for distribution in March 2014.
The new film from You’re Next director Adam Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett will be coming to a theater near you this fall. After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews, Picturehouse has picked up U.S. rights to The Guest for a fall release, marking the studio’s second feature film release after making their debut with last year’s Metallica Through the Never. The Guest stars Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) as a soldier who befriends the family of a fallen comrade and becomes a threat to everyone around him when it turns out he may not be who he says he is. I caught the pic at Sundance and it’s a great 80’s throwback that’s kind of like a cross between Halloween and The Terminator. Stevens is excellent in a dark role that is the polar opposite of his Downton Abbey character, and Wingard and Barrett have a ton of fun with the gleefully dark premise.
Steve Weintraub posted the following before posting his interview with the director.
One of my favorite films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was The Guest. Directed and written by the team behind You’re Next (Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett, respectively), The Guest is fantastic and as Matt said in his review, it “feels like a lost John Carpenter film from the director’s golden age. The picture effortlessly moves between a nerve-wracking mystery to a gleefully dark comedy, and at its best it even mixes the two together.” Trust me, it’s a film you should be excited to see and I’m sure it’ll be released sometime this year. The Guest stars Dan Stevens (in an amazingly dark turn), Maika Monroe, Leland Orser, Lance Reddick, Chase Williamson, and Brendan Meyer.
