Recently dumped by his long time girlfriend, a young man is now stuck living all alone in a big, empty, creepy house. One night he lets a stranger in from off the street to use his phone. He leaves the room for one second, and when he comes back, the stranger has gone. Or has he? As time goes by, the young man begins to feel paranoid; could the stranger still be inside, hiding from him, living in his home?
This movie, man. This fucking movie. I thought I had it pegged, during the first 40 minutes or so, as a slow-burn home invasion thriller, one dependent on ominous shadows and mysterious noises to build suspense by toying with the imagination of the viewer. It could have been that kind of movie, and would have been a good one, but no. Oh no, it has so much more in store for you. Without delving into any spoilers, let us say that eventually, uh, the tables turn and the movie shifts into a bizarro dark comedy about the potential of living in someone's home without their knowledge. That is, until it turns into a moody surrealist horror movie that symbolically doubles many elements from the first half.
Again, without going into much detail here, the film has an unexpected bifurcated structure that reminds me a little of Afraid of the Dark, a peculiar horror movie I watched for last year's YVIAHMMAOIHTNQ. The second half of Uninvited Guest resolves the first half's story only in an abstract sense, and the final "answer" for what is happening during the film just raises more questions. What does it mean? I'm not sure. And I mean that as a great compliment. Highly recommended to those who value the strange and unpredictable.
Grade: B+
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