By: John M Jerva

Anyone who has seen the 2014 thriller The Guest is probably like me in the sense that they really don’t know how to categorize the film which stars Dan Stevens in one original type of role. Stevens starred in the film as David, a former soldier who becomes friends with a family grieving over the loss of their son who died in combat.

The stranger tells them that he was friends with the deceased so the mother and father takes him in and welcomes him into their family no questions asked. There’s something not on the up and up of course and the couple’s teenage daughter Anna (Maika Monroe) suspects something is awry from the get go.

What transpires is a delicious mash up of action film sprinkled with a little slasher vibe coupled with a horror tinge that is definitely an adrenaline ride from start to finish. David is the quintessential antagonist who has anti-hero tendencies that run amok as he dishes out some brutal mayhem per his programming.

The ending to The Guest was ambiguous to say the least and many fans of the film have been wondering if a sequel would ever come to pass. Director Adam Wingard, who has sense gone on to bigger and better things which included directing Godzilla Vs Kong, has always thought of a sequel along with writer Simon Barrett but they both didn’t want to do something that would be inferior to the original.

Well, Wingard and Barrett have delivered a sequel of sorts in a new soundtrack of original music to a follow up that doesn’t even exist. Steve Moore, who composed the music for the film has contributed a few tracks to the new soundtrack and even created new key art which looks bad ass. Check out the image below courtesy of Spotify.

From looking at the new key art, it would appear that Steven’s David is ready to do battle with some sort of cult. Another impressive takeaway is that Monika Monroe is looking rather bad ass as she is in full tactical gear with an assault rifle and knife. Do David and Anna form an uneasy alliance? Did David teach Anna a thing or two about combat skills? Has Anna forgiven David for essentially killing here mother and father? Or is Anna going after David as they both run into this cult? Burning questions indeed.

These are the burning questions that fans hope will one day be answered if Wingard would indeed do a follow up. Unfortunately, there aren’t any concrete plans at this time but Wingard has teased that maybe the story will continue as a limited series.

Wingard made the comment in an article with THR. He also talked about how he and Barrett have had discussions about furthering the story.

Well, the simple answer is that The Guest was a slow-burn cult classic. It’s a movie that was pretty largely unknown when it came out. It did well critically, but it didn’t really pick up until last year. During the pandemic, when it was re-released on Netflix, it really made a big splash with audiences finally. People finally started seeing it, and it was the number one movie on Netflix for a little bit. So, even though I don’t have a Guest sequel, [screenwriter] Simon [Barrett] and I have talked about it. We don’t have necessarily something that we’re excited about yet per se, but I’ve talked to Dan about it. Recently, I’ve seen Dan once a week, and we just hang out and chill. So we’ve talked about it a lot, but there’s nothing concrete. But I will say that we do have a very special Guest “sequel” that I’m working on in an unconventional way. It has to do with the music from The Guest, so there is going to be a big Guest thing coming up really soon that I think is going to thrill people. But no movies in the works just yet. There’s also a potential limited series down the line for it. Instead of doing a direct sequel to The Guest, we might do a limited series for it as a sequel. But again, it’s just not where our heads are at right now, so we’ll see.”

I’ll have to admit that when I saw The Guest for the first time, I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not. I have watched it more times on Netflix and must admit that it has grown on me. It’s not what you would expect and it is loaded with some impressive action and taut, tense moments with Stevens delivering a truly chilling performance.

The film never really tells us what David is but it does give you little bits and pieces so a limited series could truly flesh out more of his past. Plus, even though David was essentially the heavy in the first film, we’ve seen it before where the villain becomes the anti-hero. After all, he was just doing what he was created to do.

Hopefully, Wingard, with his busy slate, will be able to revisit this universe and give us more to bite off. The Guest isn’t for everyone but if you’re looking for something a little off the beat and path that mashes up genres with some highly punctuated violence then this one is for you.

In the meantime, enjoy the soundtrack on Spotify and check out the best action sequence from the film!