The Guest is a very good title for this movie. It says nothing about it, leaving you clueless about the strange story you about to watch.
The Guest starts with a behind-shot of a man running and all of a sudden the words "The Guest" appear in purple with a dramatic chord - then a close-up of a scarecrow with a Halloween-pumpkin head accompanied by another dramatic chord. What a way to start a movie. Obviously there is something eerie about this, but what happens next is pretty normal, so you forget about the beginning.
A soldier named David visits a family, claiming he was a friend of their son who died in battle. After a series of conversations, they invite him to stay there longer, to which he gladly agrees. It's a very typical family - an average housewife, a less-than-successful dad with mild drinking problems, the angsty teenage girl with a druggie boyfriend, and the smart nerdy middle-schooler who gets bullied. During the first few days of his stay, he befriends every one of them and seems to help them with their problems. The most apparent one is with Luke, where David goes and beats the shit out of the bullies. (The way he does it is also pretty cool - not the standard 'grown-up teaching menaces a lesson' beating, but actual, physical damage.) However, in all he does, there is still something uncanny about it. This is emphasized at the end of every scene, which shows him staring creepily into the camera. Obviously, there is some overt foreshadowing in this movie, and soon enough the bad things start to unravel.
When watching through the first part of the movie (which I described above), it was tricky to tell whether David was being creepy on purpose or because he was an awkward actor. (His creepiness wasn't as obvious in the first scenes, so I got confused.) Later I realized he was supposed to be like that (I still don't like the weird smirk he puts on every five seconds). Later as he helps the family, the audience gets to like him. He beats up bullies as mentioned above, he is able to support the parents through some stressful times, and he even goes with the daughter to a house party, in which he parties it up. We notice that he isn't afraid to use violence against threats, making him charismatic. However there is always something that makes the audience uncomfortable. He could handle situations with less violence and there is always something unnatural about him.
Another unusual aspect that bothered me till the end is the family. The movie's characters are mainly David and the family members, and I can see the makers tried hard to make it a standard family (by including the boring characters used in every movie). The fault doesn't necessarily lie in the banality of the characters - it lies in the fact that despite them being so normal, they still seem so unnatural. From the way they interact with each other, I can say the script needed some touches and the acting is not stellar. For example, David notices the bruises on Luke's face the moment he sees him, but the parents have been clueless the entire time. In fact, there is very little parents-children interaction in this movie.
The dad is an enigma because of several reasons, but not the enigma that you try to solve - the enigma you just can't understand because it's simply impossible. His attitude towards David changes suddenly from suspicious to affectionate for no reason. In later parts of the movie, he acts as if he has cared for his daughter all along. And every other line that comes out of his mouth is, "I need a drink" - just get your drink, alright, no need to declare it every other sentence.
Contrary to the supporting characters, the movie's strong point is the main character. David is an interesting character who develops throughout the movie. I've talked about his creepiness but also his charisma, and these two characteristic are recipes for a great villain. From beginning till end, the movie tricks us into thinking we know what the character is up to, but right then, it pulls out some weird card that confuses us again. To sum it up, David becomes less and less likable and increasingly frightening, but not completely despicable because you actually kind of liked him at first. A minor thought - the casting for his role could have been better.
The first half of the movie is pretty good - as I said, you don't know what to expect next because David keeps on changing and you enjoy getting to know the family members and how David interacts with them to build friendships. A lot of people say the second half is where the movie falls apart. I don't think it does so completely, but it definitely decreases in quality. When things start to get fishy and the daughter notices, she decides to investigate upon him and finds out some startling information. As we figure out David's identity, the movie has to start giving explanations. I won't spoil the details, but the explanations are just... boring. Lame. Overused. Also from the second half, the movie jumps into the genre of action, which is also one of its weaknesses. I understand David is supposed to be a well-trained soldier (and some other things, as you watch the movie) that make him an excellent fighter, but there is no way he could have lived through all that he did. I know in many movies the main character lives through incredible circumstances, but they do a good job of making it believable using appropriate direction and cinematography. In The Guest, they filmed the action scenes poorly, and I was just shaking my head through some of them. Finally, I have no clue what they were doing with the ending. It was unnecessary and just... ugh.
I know I've used the words 'weird', 'unnatural' and 'strange' often, but these are words that accurately describe The Guest. For what it was trying to be it did a decent job. I enjoyed the first half, which maintained the thrill of 'what's about to come next?' and the second half, despite some of its weaknesses, was satisfactory. I have one last question - are all high school Halloween mazes that well made? That maze was some high quality stuff.
7.5/10 - Enjoyable. I can't see too many people enjoying it though.
