The Guest

An exhausted family welcomes a polite stranger named David into their home, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. Laura Peterson, still grieving, hopes for a distraction, while her children Anna and Luke warm to the idea of a companion in their quiet house. David's confident, laid back manner quickly wins their trust, and the dinner table becomes a calm hub of tentative humor. But a sense of danger lingers as odd accidents start to befall the household, each one more disturbing than the last. As the neighbors' whispers grow, the family wonders whether this visitor is simply unlucky or something far more dangerous, and the truth about David's identity remains unclear.

Directed by Adam Wingard and written with Simon Barrett, The Guest arrived in 2014 as a lean genre hybrid blending suspense with brisk action, produced on a 5 million dollar budget. The pair, known for tight pacing and pragmatic effects, had built a loyal genre following.

Box office receipts totaled about 2.7 million worldwide, a modest return against the film's 5 million production budget. The numbers reflect a cult audience that discovered The Guest through streaming and late night screenings rather than wide release.

Critics praised the film for its crisp pace, stark visual style, and the way it blends tense suspense with kinetic set pieces. Some noted Wingard and Barrett's ability to juggle character dynamics with brutal action, creating a sense of menace without resorting to gore for gore's sake. Themes of trust, the meaning of family, and how strangers disrupt a safe home drive the narrative without sermonizing.

The Guest left a mark with its retro 80s vibe, combining a neon lit aesthetic with a lean, almost minimalist score that heightened tension. Its practical effects and choreographed action sequences earned praise in genre festivals and sparked conversations about how to blend horror with slick, stylish entertainment. Dan Stevens's breakout turn and Maika Monroe's able performance helped Wingard carve a distinctive voice that fellow indie directors cited as influence.