After a few minutes of watching The Guest, you’ll swear you’ve seen it before, and there is a reason for that. Director Adam Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett, the duo behind the horror film, You’re Next, were inspired by bad horror/thriller movies of the ‘80s and ‘90s and recreated them here right down to the annoying synthesizer soundtrack.

The film wastes no time at setting up the story. The Peterson family is grieving the death of their son, Caleb who died while in the service. Spencer (Leland Orser) and Laura (Sheila Kelley), Caleb’s parents, fight a lot more often, sister Anna (Maika Monroe) lies about her whereabouts and brother Luke (Brenden Meyer) is tormented by bullies at school. Within two minutes of screen time, Laura is visited by David (Dan Stevens) who served with Caleb. He is on a mission to visit the family and deliver the message that Caleb loved them all very much. Impressed with his manners, sensitivity and stories of serving with Caleb, Laura invites him in and offers to let him stay the night. The other family members are not as accepting of him at first, but David oozes with Southern charm and soon they all forget that they have just let a total stranger into their home.

As one can imagine, David is the model houseguest who begins to weave himself into each of the family member’s lives, but as he does so, it becomes more and more obvious, at least to the viewer, that he is up to no good. Perhaps it has something to do with the long close up shots of him slowly turning a smile into a scowl. Still, the family is not fazed by the fact that they know about nothing about their houseguest. Soon, David is picking Luke home from school, drives Anna home from parties and attends meetings with the school’s principal. And why not? He is a friend of the family for crying out loud. David finds way to “help” his new friends but as he does so, Anna becomes suspicious. She is shocked by what she learns and of course, nobody believes her.

This is not a movie to take seriously. The set-up of the story is already far-fetched, but as the story goes on, it gets even stranger and sillier. It’s part thriller, horror and sci-fi. Yes, all three. The acting is over the top, the characters do stupid things and the final act is filled with implausible situations. Finally, one question is never answered: what is David hoping to accomplish anyway? Talk about frustrating.

The Guest is not a good movie. There is a lot of violence, profanity and sex. There is nothing redeeming. It should appear at Redbox  in a couple of days.