‘Guest 2’ Review: A Haunting Film About The Horrors Of Loneliness
If you have yet to watch Guest, you should do yourself a favor and head over to YouTube to check it out immediately. Running for just over eleven minutes, the acclaimed short horror film deals with serious issues such as suicide and depression, while also adding a disturbing horror twist with the appearance of a titular supernatural entity. The short has accumulated over eleven million views, so writer and director Finn Callan clearly did something right.
With the film’s success, Callan returned to write and direct the sequel, and he unquestionably outdid himself with the second entry. Guest 2 runs for a much heftier 40 minutes, which gives viewers plenty of time to get to know the main character, Jill. She’s a miserable young woman who feels like she needs more out of her desolate life. She spends most of her time cleaning up the messes left by her careless brother, Ethan, instead of achieving her full potential.
Then, she meets Mia (Natasha Biggs) at a therapy group for people with depression. Mia struggles with severe abandonment issues and feels that all of the people she cares about are leaving her. The two women eventually form a strong friendship and start to help one another out of their helpless predicaments. You really will feel grateful at the fact that these two lost souls managed to find and befriend one another. English and Biggs are both brilliantly cast in their roles, and the chemistry between the two performers is undeniable.
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However, the supernatural entity known as the Guest soon appears to torment individuals with depressive thoughts, driving them to a deeper point of desperation. The origins of the Guest are never explained, and we never even find out what it wants. It also does almost nothing except occasionally appear before people and drive them to complete suicide simply by looking at them.
How the Guest someone pushes people over the point of no return without moving or even saying anything will no doubt leave you unnerved, as will the way it blankly stares at those whom it chooses to torment, without so much as blinking. The Guest clearly cannot be reasoned with, and you can only hope that you will never have the misfortune of gazing upon its blank, dead-eyed expression when you find yourself home alone at night.
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The outstanding makeup effects also need to be commended, with actress Anna Fraser spending hours in the makeup chair each day, to become the Guest. The inhumane design will also leave you wondering just what the Guest really is, as its vaguely humanoid form combined with its heavily contorted face implies that it might be something that tried to disguise itself as a human being but never mastered the finer details.
Callan tries to insert a positive message into Guest 2. It’s a film that reminds us that, no matter how bad things get, there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel. This is ultimately a film that tackles the horrors of loneliness and depression, with the supernatural elements of the story helping to reinforce the psychological damage of severe depression. By the end credits, you really will find yourself wanting to reach out to anyone you know who may be suffering from feelings of isolation and anxiety. This alone makes Guest 2 an important and meaningful short film that just might have a positive impact on society.
Summary
Guest 2 effectively addresses the topics of loneliness and desperation while also featuring haunting supernatural elements, making it an important short film which deserves all the recognition it can get.
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