Three years ago, director Adam Wingard was being hailed as the Hot New Thing in horror with his movie You’re Next, and while it didn’t quite turn the genre on its head the way many of its fans would have you believe, it did warrant attention for Wingard himself. In the interim he’s directed segments within in the V/H/S anthology series, and now he’s back with the movie that it feels like he was supposed to make all along.
The insanely charismatic David (Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens, acting up a sexy storm) arrives at the doorstop of the still grieving family of his former army friend who was killed in action. Inviting him to stay with them, David notices some problems with the household – the dad has turned to drink when passed over for a promotion, the son is being bullied, the daughter has a drug-dealing boyfriend – and he begins to get more involved in their lives, acting out the revenge fantasies for each of them.
Then the movie takes a sudden, neck-snapping right turn when you realise this is but a small part of a much bigger story, but without ruining any of the surprises, influences arrive from the likes of The Bourne Identity, The Cabin In The Woods and The Terminator. There’s also a heavy debt owed to Drive, with the fantastic 80s synth score and Stevens clearly borrowing some mannerisms from Ryan Gosling, all while delivering a crooked half smile that movie stars are made of.
Wingard is in total command of his movie as it flips effortlessly between pitch black comedy to violent paranoid thriller and then back again, aided not only by Stevens but by a particularly game cast including that-guy-from-that-thing Leland Orser as the tightly wound patriarch, Maika Monroe as the smarter than she looks damsel in distress, and Fringe’s Lance Reddick as… well… we really shouldn’t say.
Without a doubt, one of the most purely entertaining movies you'll see this year. Avoid the spoilers and get to see it as soon as possible!