The Guest at Vidiots: A Retro Review

The Guest is a cult comedy/thriller from 2014 that has gone unnoticed for far too long. I recently had the privilege of seeing a special screening at the Vidiots theater/video store in Glendale, L.A., and it was an electric experience!

Vidiots is a testament to all things movies. Since 1985, this theatre/video store has been supplying film lovers with rental videos and exciting screening events. The screening I attended featured a Q&A with actor Dan Stevens, and producers Jess Wu Calder, and Keith Calder. This crew, along with Vidiots executive director Maggie Mackay, had a lot to say about the film as well as the theater-going experience.

What’s The Guest?

The Guest, quite simply, is an absolutely bonkers dark comedy/horror/thriller, beckoning back to midnight movies of yesteryear. The film follows David, a mysterious soldier who arrives at the home of a family whose son he served with. They unassumingly invite him to stay, unaware that he’s harboring a secret. What follows is equal parts shocking, hilarious, and just so much fun. Dan Stevens plays the charming gentleman/unhinged psychopath to a tee, with a fantastic family ensemble rounding out the cast.

This film was a revelation, casting Downton Abbey’s Matthew Crawley as a vicious killer, showing that he has acting chops far beyond his British roots. It also sports Maika Monroe in one of her first leading roles, and she plays a great foil to the secretly sinister David. The Guest fully leans into a tongue-in-cheek 80s vibe, making David a killer you just can’t help but root for. The absurd way the story unfolds just speaks to its strange sense of humor, the core of the film’s aesthetic.

Laughing Out Loud with a Crowd

I loved The Guest for a long time before I had the opportunity to see it in theaters, and that’s when it finally clicked. I would always tell people that the film was a horror/thriller, which altered expectations. The fact is, The Guest is a comedy- a dark, weird, and deranged comedy of the highest degree! In a way, the film is a satire of low-budget horror and action movies. It takes tired genre tropes and cliches, really pouring it on heavily to create an absurdist tone that does not let up until the credits roll.

A large part of what makes the film work is both the actor’s conviction and director/editor Adam Wingard’s attention to detail. Dan Stevens said in the Q&A that “This was the funniest script I had ever read”. Wingard told him he was the first person who had read it and thought so. Seeing it with a riotous crowd showed me just how funny the film is, as we laughed at every other line of dialogue. The film is not meant to be taken deadly seriously; it lends itself to a meta-campy tone that, in the right light, turns a horrifying story into something hilarious.

How The Guest Got Made

The Guest came after director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett’s debut film You’re Next. While both films are self-aware horror films with an edge, The Guest is elevated by the performance of Dan Stevens. Stevens had recently left Downton Abbey to start making feature films. According to producers Keith and Jess Wu Calder, word on the agency floors was “Dan Stevens is looking for something weird”. Turns out The Guest was just weird enough! And thank god for that.

Made with less than 5 Million Dollars, filming took place in a lazy truck stop town in New Mexico. Keith Calder talked a lot about how lucky they were when filming. There just so happened to be a Halloween maze in the town they were filming in, which is something the script called for. Wingard clearly worked with what he had, keeping things simple outside of his extraordinary cast. The team also landed Lance Reddick for a role as “Lance Reddick was a huge Downton Abbey fan”. With such a low budget and a small cast, the producers say that they really all became a family. The cast and crew still keep in touch to this day. This is something that cannot be said for many high-budget major feature films being produced today.

Movies 10 Years Later

This entire event really emphasized the importance of films and spaces dedicated to films in my life. I spoke with the Executive Director of Vidiots, Maggie Mackay, who had a lot to say about the movie-going experience. Mackay worked for several film festivals and was always advocating for film rental stores long before she worked for Vidiots. She was also one of the key members of the team who fought to reopen Vidiots after they closed in 2017.

Bringing People Together

Maggie and I spoke about the importance of community for lovers of film such as ourselves. “Not enough is being said about how physical spaces like theaters and video stores are responsible for keeping these communities alive”, Mackay says. She also noted how she was worried Vidiots would not take off after reopening, but at this point, both the theater and rental store have been extremely successful. Maggie’s mission is not just to cater to those who have a love of film but to create a space where anyone can find community and explore art in a new and exciting way.

While Vidiots is a remarkable location for film lovers, Mackay hopes that “more video stores will return, and that there will be a fund to help video stores remain open, and to open new ones”. Just like theaters, the video store is where film lovers and novices alike can meet, find new movies, and discuss film. I can’t remember a more excited and friendly group of film lovers than the ones I met at this screening. The Guest, a film that tips its head to retro films, brought people together for a singular experience. It’s important that we don’t let mega-blockbusters and multiplex movie theaters become the norm. It’s the smaller spaces, run by passionate people, that can really make a difference.