A young soldier called Dave turns up at the home of the Peterson family whose son has recently been killed in action overseas . Happy to see their late son's friend they invite Dave to stay longer and Dave quickly ingratiates himself in to the family's affection . But is Dave who he says he is and if not what is his agenda ?
!!!! SUGGESTIVE SPOILERS !!!!!
A familiar story , so much so that before seeing it I had it instantly nailed as a rip off from an episode of Brian Clemens THRILLER from the mid 1970s which had the exact same premise . Premise isn't the same as plot however and despite hitting the occasional plot turn with its bedfellows THE GUEST does have an idiosyncratic feel of its own
It's something of a film of two halves . The first half sets up Dave to both the Peterson family and the audience and right away Dave comes across a very likable guy especially when he sorts out some school bullies on behalf of young Luke and much of his likability is down to the way he's played by Dan Stevens and it wasn't until after seeing the film I found out that Stevens is a Brit .Keep an eye on the name Dan Stevens because you might just be hearing a lot more from him in the future . In fact Dave is so likable I did find myself in agreement with Luke that it doesn't really matter who Dave is or what he's done in the past because anyone who can maim a few school bullies can't be all bad
But THE GUEST has to follow a formula which means Dave has to be a bad man and a bad man is indeed what he is so when Anna Peterson contacts the military and Lance Reddick informs every spook in a fifty mile radius to shoot Dave on sight this gives a clue as to how bad he might be . Actually at this point the film might just be making a detour in to the science fiction genre but to be fair it's not as jarring or as leftfield as it could have been .From the outset Dave surprises people around him . He can run from the bus station to the Peterson house surprising Mrs Peterson , he can consume massive amounts of alcohol without getting drunk etc etc which suggests superhuman abilities along with the suggestion he's not human at all which means despite all the familiarity of the story and its flaws ( The ending is a bit over the top ) THE GUEST is a more intriguing film than you might have expected it to be
