Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

The Guest

Play trailer Poster for The Guest R Released Sep 17, 2014 1h 39m Action Mystery & Thriller Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
92% Tomatometer 121 Reviews 69% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
A string of mysterious deaths leads a teenager to become suspicious of a soldier (Dan Stevens) who showed up on her family's doorstep and claimed to be a friend of her dead brother.
Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

Where to Watch

The Guest

The Guest

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Boasting enough intelligence to bolster its darkly violent thrills, The Guest offers another treat for genre fans from director Adam Wingard.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (121) Critics Reviews
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. Jan 5, 2015 Full Review Justin Lowe The 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. Jan 5, 2015 Full Review Kate Erbland Film.com Wickedly entertaining. Rated: 7.2/10 Jan 5, 2015 Full Review Patrick Cavanaugh The Wolfman Cometh Devout horror fans might be underwhelmed with this You're Next follow-up, but The Guest delivers both laughs and thrills in an action-oriented experience, while showcasing the immense talents of the creepy Dan Stevens. Rated: 5/5 Sep 20, 2023 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review Stevens elevates The Guest into an experience every bit as tricky and intelligent as You’re Next. Rated: 3.5/4 Jul 18, 2022 Full Review Niall Browne Movies in Focus A lean and mean thriller, director Adam Wingard's The Guest is a hugely entertaining affair. Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett keep this retro-style pic simple in order to craft some tense moments and punchy action sequences. Rated: 4/5 Oct 31, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (1000+) audience reviews
angel m Great crazy movie; guns, blood, fights what more do you want. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/28/25 Full Review Audience Member I'm staggered u gave this film 92% lol,, just violent nothing else, usa selling huge guns left&right last thing they need is diabolical inspiration like this, was a really cheap Take on a classic Ryan Gosling film but the main actor isn't any good at all at playing the crazy gosling style, also the music was the sort of stuff I could make quickly with today's epic tech being a producer, the story was thin at best, directing ridiculously basic no style, i could go on & on, im stunned,, can see y this is called Rotten tomatoes again because that 92% review is defo 1 of those, absolutely tragic if this is the way films are going baffles me people read these scripts and want to make and take part in this,, HORRIFIC, and to think I absolutely love Tarantino, scorcese etc but man this is the conplete opposite of those masterpieces, no style, finesse, quality 😔 hopefully the director dosent make any other violent films cause god he can't do it at all Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/19/25 Full Review Sarfaraz A Simon Barrett wrote this Adam Wingard film. The cast includes Dan Stevens, Lance Reddick, Maika Monroe, and others. The film follows the story of a strange young man, David (Dan Stevens), who knocks on the door of a mourning mother, Laura (Sheila Kelley), who has lost her son in US-NATO-occupied Afghanistan. David appears to make their life easier by resolving their kids' issues, such as assisting their younger son, Luke (Brendan Meyer), in adjusting to his school where he is regularly violently bullied by his seniors. David also assists the father, Spencer (Leland Orser), in securing his job by killing a business competitor. Anna (Maika Monroe), the slain soldier's younger sister, dislikes David for some reason. Spencer does not want his daughter Anna to date a young guy who has known her since childhood; but, Spencer has no problem allowing a total stranger to live in the house near his daughter's room. He failed to persuade his wife not to let strangers into the house, but he expects his daughter to obey his house rules. Lance Reddick, who plays Major Carver, is shown to be quite sensitive to the news of David's whereabouts and prepares to go after him while understanding the possible risk. Nonetheless, he brought just a small number of elite forces, who were quickly taken out, and they were not even in a covert position before approaching the home from whence they received the information about David's location. The viewers are not informed about what happened to Anna's incarcerated lover. How could David survive a gunshot and a knife stab in the neck? The only injury we notice is David limping. The film had some wonderful moments, but it devolved into absurdity. The half of the story is solid, as are the acting and directing. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/18/25 Full Review Ryan M Not sure how I felt about this...seemed low-budget with equally silly music that sometimes...worked? Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/18/25 Full Review Troy R Tough one to review. I liked Dan Stevens performance but the movie was very.. odd. I never really knew if I should feel like its a horror movie, a comedy, or an interesting story about military special forces. The dads scenes were both really funny and really genuine, I think he was the stand out of all the secondary characters. I know the movie is meant to be somewhat of a parody and looking back at that I can see what it was going for, but very rarely did I find the "parody" things to be funny or worth wild to add. Ultimately think I would have enjoyed the film more if it went harder in one of those directions I mentioned previously, but its an ok watch if you want something out of the ordinary. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/12/25 Full Review Los G Starts intriguingly but descends into a sub-Bourne holy mess where the "back story" is rushed over in about 30 seconds. Some thrills, some shocks, but mostly schlock Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/10/25 Full Review Read all reviews
The Guest

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
The Nice Guys 91% 79% The Nice Guys Watchlist TRAILER for The Nice Guys 2 Guns 64% 66% 2 Guns Watchlist Kill Me Three Times 15% 30% Kill Me Three Times Watchlist Assault on Wall Street 25% 42% Assault on Wall Street Watchlist Get Duked! 88% 65% Get Duked! Watchlist TRAILER for Get Duked! Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis A string of mysterious deaths leads a teenager to become suspicious of a soldier (Dan Stevens) who showed up on her family's doorstep and claimed to be a friend of her dead brother.
Director
Adam Wingard
Producer
Keith Calder, Jessica Calder
Screenwriter
Simon Barrett
Distributor
Picturehouse
Production Co
Snoot Films, Splendid Film
Rating
R (Some Drug Use|A Scene of Sexuality|Strong Violence)
Genre
Action, Mystery & Thriller, Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 17, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 1, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA)
$332.9K
Runtime
1h 39m
Most Popular at Home Now