One scene in this movie shows Maxwell punching his dog to death. The dog was screaming with every punch! It was just awful! Unnecessary scene! Made me feel terrible! My heart went out to the dog!
38 Reviews
A Good Bad Movie for Nanar fans
jfgibson7319 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The Guest House was entertaining from start to finish. It is a terrible movie, but it was so easy to watch. It hooked me right from the beginning and kept me interested all the way through. It's supposed to be a thriller, and it does build the tension enough that I was worried for some characters in the final act. I have to say something about the lead actor though. He is so un-photogenic that I could not take my eyes off of him. He has a quality, I'm not sure what it is, but it's not acting talent. Like all good-bad movies, there are moments of unintentional hilarity, but not really enough to make it worth watching just on its own. You have to be willing to commit to the actual storyline, and I wouldn't recommend too many people do that. But like I said, I was into it for some weird reason, and I think it sticks out enough that I will remember it for a while.
Well Made Quirky Thriller
SavannahLathem13 October 2017
The Guest House is an offbeat quirky thriller that puts a fresh twist on the Stalker Genre. Jake Roth, (Tom Alper), is kicked out of his house, and with limited funds and bad credit must find a place to live. Enter Max Foster, the seemingly perfect landlord with a cool-back house, (pool included), for rent. Jake and Max bond right away, becoming best of friends. That is of course, until Jake uncovers Max's dark secret. When Jake realizes he must distance himself from Max, the intensity truly begins.
This is clearly a low budget "indie", which is unusually well made for its seemingly modest budget. The acting is superb, with fine performances across the board, including some of the supporting roles by Daniel Baldwin who is perfectly cast as the arrogant-jerk boss. And Eileen Davidson, (Emmy award winning actress), who gives a rememberable performance as the "villians' therapist, who is put in an unenviable task of trying to provide therapy to a "psychopath".
The story is also very engaging, as it mixes dark humor, and plenty of action, into what is ultimately a psychological thriller. The film also features quite a compelling score that only adds towards the films appeal.
Perhaps if this movie was made by a big studio, with a big budget and big stars, The Guest House would have made of a lot more noise on a national, and worldwide level. But that is not to take away from this film. This is a fun, well made film, that won numerous awards at the Hollywood Reel Independent Festival. The Guest House keeps your attention, from beginning to end, and is well worth the hour and a half of your time.
This is clearly a low budget "indie", which is unusually well made for its seemingly modest budget. The acting is superb, with fine performances across the board, including some of the supporting roles by Daniel Baldwin who is perfectly cast as the arrogant-jerk boss. And Eileen Davidson, (Emmy award winning actress), who gives a rememberable performance as the "villians' therapist, who is put in an unenviable task of trying to provide therapy to a "psychopath".
The story is also very engaging, as it mixes dark humor, and plenty of action, into what is ultimately a psychological thriller. The film also features quite a compelling score that only adds towards the films appeal.
Perhaps if this movie was made by a big studio, with a big budget and big stars, The Guest House would have made of a lot more noise on a national, and worldwide level. But that is not to take away from this film. This is a fun, well made film, that won numerous awards at the Hollywood Reel Independent Festival. The Guest House keeps your attention, from beginning to end, and is well worth the hour and a half of your time.
What did I just watch?
veveronika2 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers
There is not one positive thing I can say. Stilted acting, the guy who is supposed to have a serious problem with anger regulation has the most phlegmatic face ever, the script makes no sense, the PA politely and calmly announces 'I am sorry to interrupt, but your car is one fire'... I mean - what? And where are the plot twists other reviewers talk about?
Poor attempt at a psycho thriller
Leofwine_draca17 April 2018
Warning: Spoilers
THE GUEST HOUSE is an attempt at a psycho thriller made on a tiny indie budget. The story is bogged down by endless small talk and small scale material with no real drama or proper 'meat' to the story to make it work. It's more a collection of cliches in search of a structure.
What the hell did I just watch?
gary-erwin28 May 2019
Surprised me!
redqueen-783612 February 2018
This movie The Guest House surprised me. It is a different take on the obsessive love/stalker movie. The movie kept me hooked from beginning to end. The acting was great. Daniel Baldwin has a small part and it was nice to see him in this movie. Overall I was very impressed with this movie.
Better than the other slop in Amazon's horror section
draftdubya8 February 2018
So bad, it's entertaining
hugh_d14 August 2020
The acting is horrid. Granted, the script they're working with is terrible. But still. I laughed more at this movie than I have at comedies. It's worth a watch if you need a good laugh or twenty. If you're looking for an actual good thriller, look elsewhere.
Terrible waste of time.
billsoa-1631025 January 2020
Not good, but falls short of terrible.
ksdilauri23 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Interesting assortment of reviews found on IMDb for this one. My take: first off, after enjoying 'Cell 211' 'Sleep Tight', and 'Even The Rain', I searched for other films with actor Luis Tosar, and 'Guest House' came up. I watched it out of curiosity (the opening credits revealed Tosar wasn't even in it) and just about managed to stay with it till the end---but fast-forwarded through an unnecessarily disturbing scene involving the dog. The story's main minus is the near-total unlikelihood that a big, hunky, moneyed ex-Olympic athlete would become obsessed with Jake--a straight, small-time, leeching, obnoxious, cheating, loser schmuck who has zero return interest in him. But, love is blind. (It MUST be. There's no other explanation.) You'll also recognize several classic errors made by the potential victims in every stalker movie you've ever seen. If you can get past all that, you may want to see how it plays out, because on the plus side it's photographed well, moves along smoothly, and there are a few engaging actors in the supporting cast.
Wealth at a price
TheLittleSongbird11 June 2018
Was drawn into seeing 'The Guest House' with a cool poster/cover, an slightly intriguing but very derivative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.
'The Guest House' is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films are present here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. As a film it's weak, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is very little good about it
Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky.
Although most of it looks schlocky, some of the shots look decent. The start intrigues somewhat, shame the rest of the film completely goes downhill and never recovers.
Unfortunately, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.
Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and it's best not mentioning the uniformly lumbering and histrionic acting.
Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about, never recovering. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way) if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both dreadfully done. Not to mention a whole novel's worth of inconsistencies and continuity errors and a structure so aimless and confused it renders some of the film incoherent.
There are a good deal of underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. The ending can be seen from miles away and is so ludicrous that the viewer's intelligence is insulted.
There is not enough threat here and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, it is completely unimaginative, very repetitive and more odd than creepy, completely failing to show any sense of horror and resorting to cheap typical horror tropes. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden, inexperience seems to be all over the film, and the music doesn't really fit. There is no creativity or anything shocking.
In summation, weak. 3/10 Bethany Cox
'The Guest House' is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films are present here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. As a film it's weak, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is very little good about it
Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky.
Although most of it looks schlocky, some of the shots look decent. The start intrigues somewhat, shame the rest of the film completely goes downhill and never recovers.
Unfortunately, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.
Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and it's best not mentioning the uniformly lumbering and histrionic acting.
Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about, never recovering. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way) if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both dreadfully done. Not to mention a whole novel's worth of inconsistencies and continuity errors and a structure so aimless and confused it renders some of the film incoherent.
There are a good deal of underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. The ending can be seen from miles away and is so ludicrous that the viewer's intelligence is insulted.
There is not enough threat here and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, it is completely unimaginative, very repetitive and more odd than creepy, completely failing to show any sense of horror and resorting to cheap typical horror tropes. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden, inexperience seems to be all over the film, and the music doesn't really fit. There is no creativity or anything shocking.
In summation, weak. 3/10 Bethany Cox
Why why why
connolley32525 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I only watched this because of Eileen Davidson and Vince Van Patten who were only in it for a hot minute. The lead was competent but it wasn't convincing that a gorgeous rich gay guy such as Max would be obsessed with him. Max was handsome but kind of stiff in the acting department. What I HATED was the dog getting killed and I fast forwarded through it because that's just unnecessary and cruel. There's other things they could do to convey Max is off his rocker. I hate movies that have gratuitous animal abuse! Good day, sir!
A good pyscho thriller
craigahrens12 June 2019
This film totally snuck up on me! It had great acting and I really liked the story. The landlord was creepy as hell. He took fatal attraction, stalking, call it whatever you want to a whole new level. His size is what made his so damn intimidating!! This film is a really good psycho thriller. Without question, this film gets a thumbs from me.
Surprisingly good
johnjanis6 November 2021
While far from one of the best movies I've ever seen this was better than expected. Maybe my expectations were just low but I enjoyed it.
You just can't take your eyes off the screen for some reason. The acting is good as well.
Some scenes are unintentionally funny but for the most part it's quite gripping.
Definitely worth a watch.
You just can't take your eyes off the screen for some reason. The acting is good as well.
Some scenes are unintentionally funny but for the most part it's quite gripping.
Definitely worth a watch.
A very accurate and good movie underrated because it's perceived as bashing etc.
deadbull-951713 June 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Harassment in general and and in sexual matters comes in many forms and degrees. This film tackles the politically avoided reality of hetero / homosexual male rape. Not your usual scenario, at least in movies.
Yes films like short eyes and American Me and several others deal with it in a prison context, but here we are in a suburban neighborhood where the aggressor is not only insane and homicidal, but a black dude obsessively and maniacally pursuing a white jock-type, using, among other things the standard ploy, initially, that the guy is really homosexual because he's having problems with his wife.
But the situation keeps escalating because polite refusals turn into obvious rejections and forthright hard refusals but nothing will stop the psychotic come on. Now there are physical attacks several murders and destruction of property, all of this over the top stuff. But the tone of it is straight on accurate. I mean I know guys who have been through this. I once had an employer who attempted this with me and had to be sorted out, lost his job and some other stuff, and never got his longed for prize.
At first we are supposed to take the liberal position that the victim is a jerk because he's rejecting his friend when he finds out he's gay, which makes him the politically incorrect bad guy. And he is quite unapologetic that it's true...he doesn't want his young daughter exposed to what he considers perverse. So, long before we are shown that in addition to his pursuers sexual stance, he's a murderer who burns his lovers to death, we are shown that neither of these guys are being considered for sainthood, and in fact the pursuer is initially depicted as a wounded bird, that just wants to be "friends." But all this reverses.
This stuff DOES happen, and with a political environment that will probably soon be encouraging relations with different animal species, it is hardly a surprise. Although there are multiple references and inferences to the combined sexual AND racial aspects of this "affair" the main concentration is on the endless harassment. It is a good movie for showing the complete disregard of a victim's rights and feelings, the total lack of empathy a stalker has, the sense of crazed entitlement that some people have. And this psychopathic package is all wrapped up in "I love you."
It would seem that in REAL WORLD many many people are trapped and maneuvered into extremely abusive exploitive situations by cunning creeps of any sex or race. .My guess, is, again, that the low rating here derives from people being offended by the racial aspect but they are missing the point. That being a particular race is irrelevant. This pair started as buddies and would have remained so if the straight guy, NOT to be misread as Caucasian guy, did not get put off by by first the discovery of his friend's sexual proclivities, and then his open attack upon him with those intentions.
By the time he's blowing things up, we know he's taking anti-psychotic and anti depressant and anger suppressing meds, whatever those might be, and we discover he has a history of arson and murder, all sympathy for this character is pretty much gone. The movie has now battered us with who the bad guy definitely is.
I like it because while it does go over the top, it is in the service of making a valid point about the dynamics of abusive relations and shows how their architecture develops. We are living in highly "sociopathic" times. To adjust to an insane society you must become somewhat insane to fit, and make no mistake, we are living in an evil place ruled by insane evil people. About the only thing that never comes up here is religion or some kind of overriding god consciousness.
It's definitely a movie of interest and guys like this absolutely exist, hunter and hunted.
Yes films like short eyes and American Me and several others deal with it in a prison context, but here we are in a suburban neighborhood where the aggressor is not only insane and homicidal, but a black dude obsessively and maniacally pursuing a white jock-type, using, among other things the standard ploy, initially, that the guy is really homosexual because he's having problems with his wife.
But the situation keeps escalating because polite refusals turn into obvious rejections and forthright hard refusals but nothing will stop the psychotic come on. Now there are physical attacks several murders and destruction of property, all of this over the top stuff. But the tone of it is straight on accurate. I mean I know guys who have been through this. I once had an employer who attempted this with me and had to be sorted out, lost his job and some other stuff, and never got his longed for prize.
At first we are supposed to take the liberal position that the victim is a jerk because he's rejecting his friend when he finds out he's gay, which makes him the politically incorrect bad guy. And he is quite unapologetic that it's true...he doesn't want his young daughter exposed to what he considers perverse. So, long before we are shown that in addition to his pursuers sexual stance, he's a murderer who burns his lovers to death, we are shown that neither of these guys are being considered for sainthood, and in fact the pursuer is initially depicted as a wounded bird, that just wants to be "friends." But all this reverses.
This stuff DOES happen, and with a political environment that will probably soon be encouraging relations with different animal species, it is hardly a surprise. Although there are multiple references and inferences to the combined sexual AND racial aspects of this "affair" the main concentration is on the endless harassment. It is a good movie for showing the complete disregard of a victim's rights and feelings, the total lack of empathy a stalker has, the sense of crazed entitlement that some people have. And this psychopathic package is all wrapped up in "I love you."
It would seem that in REAL WORLD many many people are trapped and maneuvered into extremely abusive exploitive situations by cunning creeps of any sex or race. .My guess, is, again, that the low rating here derives from people being offended by the racial aspect but they are missing the point. That being a particular race is irrelevant. This pair started as buddies and would have remained so if the straight guy, NOT to be misread as Caucasian guy, did not get put off by by first the discovery of his friend's sexual proclivities, and then his open attack upon him with those intentions.
By the time he's blowing things up, we know he's taking anti-psychotic and anti depressant and anger suppressing meds, whatever those might be, and we discover he has a history of arson and murder, all sympathy for this character is pretty much gone. The movie has now battered us with who the bad guy definitely is.
I like it because while it does go over the top, it is in the service of making a valid point about the dynamics of abusive relations and shows how their architecture develops. We are living in highly "sociopathic" times. To adjust to an insane society you must become somewhat insane to fit, and make no mistake, we are living in an evil place ruled by insane evil people. About the only thing that never comes up here is religion or some kind of overriding god consciousness.
It's definitely a movie of interest and guys like this absolutely exist, hunter and hunted.
Nice surprise
bigtast10 February 2018
I thought I was renting a cheesy horror film based on the cover on Amazon. However, I was greatly surprised. This is a well made, stalker movie, which actually plays more like a dark comedy/psychological thriller. Yes, the film was low budget, but was executed with a lot of effort and craftsmanship. Everything from the music, writing, acting, casting, was superbly done.
I often found myself laughing out loud at the premise of the movie. Imagine being stalked and pursued, by a six foot 7, muscular-athletic, black man, who has a crush on you and won't leave you alone, because he's lonely, and decided that you were his soul-mate. Tom Alper, who I've never heard of before, played the part to if not to perfection, then to a tee. At first you think Alper is a first rate jerk, since he's part racist, part homophobe, cheats on his ex. But the more you watch Alper, you realize he's not such a bad guy, just rough around the edges. In fact, Alper slowly wins you over as you see how much he loves his daughter, and his ex.
Just when you start feeling empathy for the lead, you realize what a mess he's in, and what a mess he's created for his family. Which of course, is what the writers had in mind. All of this leads to an exciting, action-packed climax and resolution. Alper's emotionally charged, crying scene at the end as he pleads with the villain, had me literally on the edge of my seat.
This film is fun, entertaining, original and about 100 times better than the average indy film. Big thumbs up.
I often found myself laughing out loud at the premise of the movie. Imagine being stalked and pursued, by a six foot 7, muscular-athletic, black man, who has a crush on you and won't leave you alone, because he's lonely, and decided that you were his soul-mate. Tom Alper, who I've never heard of before, played the part to if not to perfection, then to a tee. At first you think Alper is a first rate jerk, since he's part racist, part homophobe, cheats on his ex. But the more you watch Alper, you realize he's not such a bad guy, just rough around the edges. In fact, Alper slowly wins you over as you see how much he loves his daughter, and his ex.
Just when you start feeling empathy for the lead, you realize what a mess he's in, and what a mess he's created for his family. Which of course, is what the writers had in mind. All of this leads to an exciting, action-packed climax and resolution. Alper's emotionally charged, crying scene at the end as he pleads with the villain, had me literally on the edge of my seat.
This film is fun, entertaining, original and about 100 times better than the average indy film. Big thumbs up.
Loved the writing and acting
dantelock18 August 2018
Great writing. Great acting. Great story. Directing was flat. Clearly a low budget production with a great original twist, and spin on the whole fatal attraction genre.
I wasn't expecting much, but found myself sucked in, and intrigued by the storyline, and writing.
Nice job, all the way around.
I wasn't expecting much, but found myself sucked in, and intrigued by the storyline, and writing.
Nice job, all the way around.
Great but can someone answer this for me
mariedasizania17 April 2020
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