There was a movie like this 20 years ago. "Dumb, even dumber." But it was more meaningful than "Uninvited Guest." Good slashers have always united a magnificent black wit. Not only that. The dynamics of the plot always made strain not only nerves, but also thoughts. The only "bright streak" of black humor of "Uninvited Guest" sounds at the very end of the film. In a message to the police. (I won't spoil it). All that can be put in this film is 1.5 points. This is the viewing speed at which comfort begins when watching a movie. And Denis Quaid is handsome. If he played all the actors like in a benefit, you could put a solid five. I mean, the other actors, to put it mildly, aren't. And another addition that I was kindly allowed to make after writing the review. The psychological portrait of Howard Scott doesn’t fit in, I think, with the position he holds and very successfully – creative director. Yes, there is a reference to the murder of his brother, but the sullenness of the main character and the success of the creative artist are qualities in principle incompatible. But that's my personal opinion.
In principle, this is a remake of the “Devil’s Mansion” (Cold Creek Manor) in 2003, with Dennis Quad and Sharon Stone in the lead roles, here Quaid returned, but already an actor of the third plan, it looked not bad, not even much exciting, and the actors playing the main roles play average, but nothing original here unfortunately. . . 6 out of 10
Not the worst way to pass an hour and a half of his life, but "Uninvited guest" is unlikely to reach the bar in order to seriously consider it in the theme of the whole genre. Although there was a feeling that the tape had some opportunity to jump higher than Deon Taylor achieved, having a mixture of both positive and negative details.
I’ll start with what I like, and it’s a pretty solid first half of the movie. The development of the characters occurs without any emergency landings, systematically the main characters give the viewer more and more information about themselves. Against this background, even the script looks interesting, whether it is the hero of Queida, who does not part with his house, or the friends of the main characters, who from time to time supplement the background - dialogues in history are far from banal, with good for the genre of replicas and the behavior of the characters.
However, after the equator of the film, when everything comes down to the most important twist of the story - namely the removal of the masks of the main characters, the film begins to turn into some kind of olive, the reception of which could be completely excluded from the menu. Details begin to appear from the past of the main villain, his relationship with his family, and then an attempt to go into a slasher.
"Uninvited Guest" - a film for one-time pleasure, and you will enjoy it or not - depends on your expectations from watching. The actors in the tape coped satisfactorily with the tasks set, the director tried to make the film interesting, but, unfortunately, he did not get it in the best way. It is up to you to decide whether to pay attention to this project.
One day, Dennis Quaid was already in a situation similar to the one in which a married couple from the film The Intruder (“Uninvited Guest”) got into. In 2003, director Mike Figgis presented the thriller “The Devil’s Mansion” (known to the Russian audience as “The Cold Creek Manor”), which tells the story of a family who moved to the countryside and terrorized by the former owner of the mansion. Only then Quayed was a father of the family and a positive character, and now appeared in the image of an obsessed psychopath, thereby trying on the image played in 2003 by Stephen Dorff.
“The estate “Cold stream” at the time was awarded by critics of the characteristics of the type “consisting of stamps” and I am sure that the “Uninvited guest” will not avoid a similar fate.
Russel couple Annie (Megan Goode) and Scott (Michael Ely) move to a luxury house in the Napa Valley (in Napa County (and not only there) at one time operated a serial killer Zodiac). The former owner of the house – Charlie Peck (Dannis Quaid) has been a widower for two years and is going to move to his daughter in Florida, and therefore sells the family nest. He makes a big discount to his husband and wife, takes things and leaves. And the next day he comes back to ... cut the grass on the lawn by the house. Charlie becomes an obsessive and constant guest, which Scott does not like. Annie is more reserved towards the man, but she soon realizes that Charlie is dangerous. Terrorizing new owners, he pursues one goal - to return his house.
In fact, "Uninvited Guest" isn't that bad. The plot, as well as the further development of events somewhere more, somewhere less similar to such pictures, telling how the house becomes a deadly trap for its owners. These include “Fear” with Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon, “Estate “Cold stream”, “Strangers” with Liv Tyler and some other paintings. As a rule, the scrimmers in such films are the same – the silhouettes of villains suddenly snatched from the darkness, their sneaking shadows in the night house, peeping and spying and, of course, quite expected victims in the face of secondary characters who die due to their carelessness and being suddenly caught off guard by a maniac.
But if the general in the films is the same, then here is the particular - draws attention. In such paintings, it is always interesting to watch the main antagonists, their manic behavior, how they deftly hide their sinister mask under a completely harmless and even friendly face. It is interesting to see how a smile turns into an evil grin, and seemingly good eyes turn into the eyes of the beast. Dennis Quaid played great and is the number 1 person in the whole film, because his game he overshadows the two chickens (Russell’s wife), who dared to buy his house.
I associate Quaid as an actor who has positive images. He has pleasant facial features that are conducive to communication. Maybe that's why he became a villain - the "Uninvited Guest." Of course, many people remember him as the hero of the amazing and touching Dog Life, but I also like him in Every Sunday, where he plays the captain of the football team Jack “Cap” Rooney, in The Day After Tomorrow and the Point of Fire, and I remember only one of his negative roles – in Pandorum. Against his background, both Megan Goode and Michael Ely look pale, the heroine Goode resembles the hairstyle and physique of Demi Moore from “Ghost”.
The fact that the director of the film Deon Taylor is black, left an imprint on the musical accompaniment – as soundtracks, the viewer hears various rap and R&B compositions, which in my opinion somewhat does not correspond to the genre of the picture itself. For a thriller, such music is not very suitable. For sports dramas like Lefties or gangster movies like Training Day or Street Laws, yes, but there are other melodies.
"Uninvited guest" has a good atmosphere (but then again Quaid is inimitable), because every appearance of Charlie Peck alarms the viewer, because almost from the very beginning through the screen you can see the knife behind his back. Although there are stamped templates here, they are quite well implemented, which is why some plot moves, although foreseeable, are not bland.
But look at you. I do not impose my opinion on anyone.
“Uninvited guest”, in its cinematic spirit, is an undesirable comeback in the days of thrillers of the 80s – 90s, when titles such as “Lonely white woman” or “Hand rocking the cradle” inexplicably frightened American people. A new look at a similar plot, in which the neighbor gets representatives of the decaying upper class of the American middle class, came out so well: an unassuming and boring thriller that allowed the talented actor Dennis Quaid to play a kind of Dirty Harry, annoying a young couple.
The problem with Uninvited Guest, as with its predecessors, is the combination of predictability and stupidity. The characters inhabiting the film world are so dumb that they belong to a separate cohort of people deserving of the Darwin Prize. And since the script lacks shocks, the director begins to experiment, which leads to simple solutions.
So Annie and her husband Scott are buying a new house. Charlie, the former owner of the house who at first seemed like a friendly guy, is actually a freak who gets a couple. First of all, the lawn will mow, then the strange advice will give. Scott is not happy with Charlie's company, and soon the former owner will generally go on the warpath.
To make matters worse, Charlie considers Annie a replacement for his wife. Scott and Annie's relationship is a bit strained, although this nonsense has been added to stretch the timing. Charlie’s actions, when viewed from this perspective, are not terrible, but stupid. Why would Charlie want to kill a black couple? This is not explained properly.
At the same time, "Uninvited Guest" and cinematography is incredibly empty. Action is boring, suspense is at a minimum, and feelings of persecution in a huge multi-storey mansion are not conveyed. Add to that the unfortunate sound effects, and the loose interpretation of "home invasion." Whether it’s Funny Games or Don’t Breathe, there’s always a believable and brutal villain in movies like this. Returning to the person of Charlie – the antagonist is absolutely unconvincing and sluggish.
The mechanical thriller isn't as offensive as Deon Taylor's latest film ("Traffic"), if for lack of exploitation, but certainly unsophisticated. The characters and actors have no choice but to follow the trodden paths of the plot - they seem to have no inner life.
“Uninvited Guest” is an ordinary and at first glance unremarkable film copying the style of the 90s, of course, does not claim to be a cult hit and does not hope for the praise of critics. But at the same time, the film will definitely receive a sufficient number of positive responses from the mass audience, because not everyone and not always wants to watch exclusively dramatic stories. Sometimes the soul reaches for simple atmospheric thrillers without a semantic load.
The film is a completely straightforward development of events, where at the very beginning it is clear who is good, who is bad, and how everything will end. But at the same time, judging by the picture, the play of the actors and the production, it will be quite interesting to look at everything that is happening. Of course, the main characters (the young couple) in the frame look weak, but the antagonist played by Dennis Quaid is beautiful in all respects. There is a feeling that the actor all his life dreamed of playing a villain, and as soon as he had the opportunity, he broke away from the heart in full. Without false modesty, it can be argued that this is one of the best roles in his career. Brutal appearance, lustful actions and real madness in the eyes will be appreciated by many fans of the artist. The eternally positive hero of the unexpected will turn into a mad sadist and a murderer with twisted inclinations.
And yet, despite the simplest and secondary plot, the dramaturgy in the film is built correctly. The script clearly spells out goals, motivations, hero arches and other important aspects to get a good meaningful story. If this film had been released 25 years ago, it would have become modern classics, such as Stepfather, Cradle Rocking Hand, Cape Fear, Color of the Night and others. Now, of course, films of this format are not successful, and on large screens they appear very rarely, so for fans of old-school thrillers this will be a pleasant gift for home viewing, but as for the newfangled connoisseurs of cinema, they better immediately pass by and not waste their time, because for them there will be nothing interesting.
In general, once you can look safely, without straining, the more the quality of the production meets all the necessary requirements of the genre. Have a good time.