The Guest is a mid-2010’s thriller-later-action horror film that caused a fair bit of positive press when it originally appeared. The film has a decidedly 80’s vibe, in its heavy use of pulsing synth score and its unstoppable wise-cracking killer. It’s certainly a nicely building and often pulse bounding ride, that finds the film's anti-hero going from being a odds balancing savour, to an all-out no morals killing machine. Here from Second Slight Films is a new deluxe release of the picture- taking in a three-disc set, a blu ray, a  4k HD disc, and CD soundtrack- with a host of new and archive extras, and neat/ classy packaging featuring a 160-page book, and six art cards

Appearing in the year 2014 The Guest was a joint US & UK production, and set-in small-town America. It was directed by Adam Wingard( Your Next,  Blair Witch, one of the segments of anthology found footage film VHS), with a script by Simon Barrett( Dead Birds, Red Sands, Your Next).  And all in all, it’s a well-crafted thriller, with later touches of dark humour, horror, and a neat action-packed last quarter.
 
The film opens with very John Carpenter like credits- with bold blue text against a black background and a very pulsing 80’s synth score. We see someone running in the half-light, then we’re dropped down in the family home of the Peterson family- we have middle-aged husband and wife Laura( Sheila Kelley)  and Spencer( Leland Orsen), and their two kids- older teen blond Anna( It Follows Maika Monroe) and shy ‘n’ bullied teen  Luke(Brendan Meyer).  One morning just after everyone’s left for the day Laura is staring at a picture of her son, who was in the army- and killed in his line of duty. There’s a knock at the door and it’s David(Dan Stevens)- who claims he severed with the family dead son, he seems very charming and polite-and slowly but sure he wheedles his way into the household. Charming and befriending each family member of the family- he sorts out Luke's bullying issue, leaving a bar full of groaning and fallen teen thugs. he goes to a party with Anna- leading a seemingly carrying ear when she falls out with her friend, helps Laura with housework/ chores, and becomes Spencer's drinking buddy. All of a sudden a spate of murders occur in the small town- which are seemingly connected to the family. Anna starts looking into to see if David really is who he says he is, as things start kicking up a gear- as David's helping/ evening of the odds shift from beating folk up, to murder.
 
English actor Dan Stevens is great as the cool and calculated David- with a very believable American accent, and smouldering dangerous persona. The surrounded cast is also good too with Maika Monroe as the punchy teen girl, Brendan Meyer as the down beaten Luke, Leland Orsen as moaning salary man, and Sheila Kelley as the films caring housewife. The film nicely builds from its low key thriller/ mystery begins, switching mid-way into cool and calculated action, before switching into a mix of action, thriller and horror in its last half- with a great showdown in a  fake mist-shrouded Halloween maze with a mirror wall section. The dark humour/ tongue in cheek edges of the film are well done and subtle, with the action going from the neat and quick of hand, onto heartless gun downs, explosions, car crashes and the already mentioned maze showdown. I hugely enjoyed The Guest when I first saw it in the cinema back when it first came out, and still find it a very good thriller/ action/ light horror mix- though the 80’s tropes do feel a little overplayed/ heavyhanded at moments. 
 
Moving onto this new release of the film- and I can only comment on the Blu Ray disc, as we weren’t sent either the UHD or CD for our review. So the Blu ray features a brand new colour grading print- and this certainly looks great. Moving onto the extras- and we get a good, good selection of new stuff- first off we get a commentary from director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett, and this is a nicely chatty and laid back affair. They start off by discussing the new colour grading, moving on to discuss how the film had a disappointing initial release, and how the audience has grown for the picture. They talk about the films test runs, discussing on set stories, homing on certain scenes, chatting about other films that inspired the making of the film, talk about casting, locations, and more. Next, we get a selection of new on-screen interviews with the cast/ crew- there’s The Uninvited Guest- a 19.40 interview with lead actor Dan Stevens. A Perfect Stranger- a 7.29 interview with female lead actress Maika Monreo. By Invitation Only- a lengthy deep dive  48.32 interview with films director & writer. There’s Producing The Guest- a 23.19 interview with producers Keith Calder and Jess Wu Calder. Light and Fog- a 21.42 interview with director of photography Robby Baumgartner. Lighting Stikes- a 13.32 interview with production designer Tom Hammock, and lastly The Sounds Of The Guest- 12.26 interview with Steve Moore. All of the interviews are well worth a play, but I found the ones with Stevens and Moore most interesting, with the latter giving a good insight into how the composer worked on the film score. On the archive side of things, we get the original commentary track from when the film first came out, and deleted/alternate/ gag reel with optional directors commentary.
 
In conclusion, Second Sight have done a great definitive release of The Guest- with a great new print, bucket loads of new extras, the CD soundtrack, the book,  art cards, and the whole things packaging.