The Guest 2014

Wesley Morris, Grantland: The crazier the movie gets, the better it is -- the climax is set in a homemade fun house complete with billowing artificial fog, and it works first as comedy, then as mild suspense, and, finally, as surprise. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: An '80s style action thriller that turns out to be more suspenseful and keenly plotted than most, with a compelling centerpiece performance by Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) that deserves attention. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: The Guest ravels smartly; and, after too many herky-jerky entries in the faux-found-footage subgenre, it's nice to see a scare film with a pearly visual style, which gives the enterprise the patina of both elegance and plausibility. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Wingard wreaks havoc on another nuclear family in this giddily violent treat for genre fans. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: Dumb fun is rarely this smartly delivered. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: To note that "The Guest" is not for everyone is to belabor the obvious. But for fans of smart, well-made horror, it's a treat. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: That's a familiar setup, but Barrett and Wingard take it in one unexpected direction after another, displaying obvious pleasure in their mad dash to keep topping themselves. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: For much of its running time, "The Guest" plays an interesting guessing game with the audience. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Yes, it's all just a regurgitation of murder machine tropes - right up to the very end shot - but as regurgitations go, "The Guest" is fine, sick fun. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett have fashioned a sly, entertaining tip of the hat to '70s-era John Carpenter films that also works on its own terms as crafty popcorn entertainment that never devolves into parody. Read more

Keith Staskiewicz, Entertainment Weekly: The coat of irony helps when the film takes a major pivot in tone, and Stevens is unnervingly placid as the corn-fed terminator. Read more

Kate Erbland, Film.com: Wickedly entertaining. Read more

Justin Lowe, Hollywood Reporter: A slow-burn approach seems to pose a challenging change-up for the filmmakers, who struggle to build tension as the second acts stretches well past the point when the level of menace should be escalating. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: One of the many pleasures of director Adam Wingard's tough, fun thriller "The Guest" is seeing Matthew Crawley -- er, British actor Dan Stevens -- serve up a mesmerizing star turn of psycho charm. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: The Guest transcends the genre with characters who could have come out of a more serious movie. When they're in peril, we actually care. Read more

Bruce Diones, New Yorker: The director Adam Wingard joins the ranks of the current masters of unease with this suspenseful horror tale. Read more

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: Together with the writer Simon Barrett, whose canny scripts flip and swerve at unexpected moments, Mr. Wingard is building a resume that pays at least as much attention to character and story as it does to scares and body count. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: The Guest borrows from other genre pictures with such intelligence and clarity of purpose, it manages to feel fresh, exciting. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Completely ridiculous. And entertaining as hell. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Dan Stevens is mesmerizing as the avenger, helping director Adam Wingard turn The Guest into a blast of wicked mirth and malice. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: I enjoyed it from beginning to end, and if you've been lamenting the dearth of violent genre movies that don't assume the audience to be morons, you will too. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: "The Guest" remains watchable through the finish, but all pretense that this is some kind of attempt at a good movie goes out the window after the first hour. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: The Guest isn't here to deliver an earnest social message about the state of veterans' affairs. Instead, the way good horror movies do, it channels our collective fear, guilt, and rage by creating a monster. Read more

Robert Everett-Green, Globe and Mail: The pleasures of The Guest lie mainly in anticipating how the next expected corner will be turned. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Nothing can stop the wicked smoulder of Stevens, who makes a smile seem like a weapon of mass destruction. Read more

Guy Lodge, Time Out: An effectively bloody, breakneck ride, given an extra coat of alluring gloss by the John Carpenter-influenced 1980s styling that is currently all the rage in the genre. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: It's not a particularly brilliant conceit, but, not unlike Stevens's beautifully one-note performance, it's evocative nevertheless -- lending the whole movie an aura of pop inevitability, turning its blunt predictability into something of a virtue. Read more