Starring: Ben Tiramani and Eliza Skelton
Director: Eric Woods
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
A man (Tiramani) checks into an isolated hotel, carrying with him a closely guarded secret. Little does he know that the night clerk (Skelton) has plans for him...
"The Guest" is a film that starts in mystery, adds more questions and mysteries as it unfolds, and ends with no questions answered, and even adds one final question as the end credits. I watched it twice, paying very close attention each time. I'm fairly certain I did not miss anything, and I am certain that everything obscure about this film remains obscure.
More often than not, this sort of approach bothers me; I am of the mindset that there should at least be enough hints dropped during a film for viewers to recognize a certain kind of stock character, or get some hint as to what might be going on, or why characters are behaving in this or that way. We get none of that in "The Guest"... and I hardly mind at all. What this film lacks in exposition, it makes up for in style and atmosphere to the point where we WANT to know the hows, whats, and whys of what's unfolding in this mysterious hotel, but still feel satisfied when we get no answers.
This is like the cinematic version of "Hotel California"--something weird and supernatural seems like it might be going on, we never get to know exactly what, but we don't care because the mysteries are presented to us in such a cool fashion.
I came upon "The Guest" in a remote, rarely visited corner of YouTube where I find many of the short films I spotlight here at Shades of Gray, and my first impression was that it was the only thing the lead actress and director had ever done. I thought that was a terrible shame, because this is a fantastic piece of atmospheric filmmaking. Although it's positioned as an effort in capturing a film noir vibe, it put me more in mind of late silent/early sound horror films. Why don't you take a few minutes to check it out, and then let me know what you think of it!
As it turns out, "The Guest" was NOT the only thing that writer/director Eric Woods and lead actress Eliza Skelton had done. In fact, you can watch more of Woods' works on his YouTube Channel, and you can visit Eliza Skelton's channel for the same.
Further, there's a second version of "The Guest", also available on YouTube, and Eric Woods appears to have revisited it several years later. He re-edited it, added a different music soundtrack, improved the sound mixing, added a few visual flourishes, and changed the opening titles and end credits. Most significantly, he added a classic B-movie style informational-newspaper-headline shot to provide a bit of an explanation to what's going on in "The Guest". Well, he attempted to, but doesn't quite succeed.
If you enjoyed the original cut of "The Guest", perhaps you will like the 2017 version as well. It seems to be the one that the director prefers, as it's what you'll find if you visit his YouTube Channel. Personally, I prefer the original, even if I understand why Woods made the changes he did, and I can appreciate that the "what" and the "why" are both much clearer.
Check out "The Guest" 2.0--let me know which version you prefer!
The Guest (2017)
Starring: Ben Tiramani and Eliza Skelton
Director: Eric Woods
Rating: Six of Ten Stars
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