Don’t trust handsome people. It’s just a good rule to follow in general. Don’t trust handsome people, and come to me instead.

The Peterson family could have abided by this rule. They should have abided. Instead, they let The Guest into their home and bad things happened. I won’t say what, exactly, but when shit hits the fan, it really hits the fan.

Written and directed by Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard respectively, the guys who made the absurdly absurd horror-comedy You’re Next, The Guest is an absurdly absurd thriller that purposefully takes itself so serious so as not to be serious at all. Is it a comedy? Not really. But is it a comedy? Sort of, as long as you like intentionally melodramatic music, intense staring by Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens and lots and lots of blood.

The Guest is a fun little film that, strangely, requires you to accept it for what it is. Go in expecting a full-on action movie and you’ll be disappointed. Expect a laugh-out-loud comedy and you’ll be disappointed. It doesn’t conform to any one genre, and while that makes it a blast in many ways, it means you may walk away hating it.

“The first half was so boring,” declared one crazy woman in the elevator after the screening. While she was crazy for nothing to do with her opinion, I can see where she’s coming from: not a lot of stuff happens for a long while, if by stuff you mean overt action. Barrett and Wingard take their time setting up the chaos that will come, and if you haven’t bought into what The Guest is, whatever it is, you might start twiddling your thumbs.

But The Guest isn’t boring. Barrett and Wingard take a little too long to get to the point, but then again, the build-up is part of the fun. The Guest isn’t perfect nor incredible, which was what I was hearing from my fellow Seattle movie critics, buts is formula is refreshingly unpredictable, its pay-off worth it.

Oh, and between It Follows and The Guest, how soon is beautiful and talented Maika Monroe going to become a household name?

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.