The Perfect Host
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''The Perfect Host'' is a 2010 American
black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...
film co-written and directed by Nicholas Tomnay in his feature directorial debut, and starring
David Hyde Pierce David Hyde Pierce (born David Pierce; April 3, 1959) is an American actor. Known for his portrayal of psychiatrist Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom ''Frasier'' from 1993 to 2004, he received four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting A ...
and
Clayne Crawford Joseph "Clayne" Crawford (born April 20, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Martin Riggs on the Fox series ''Lethal Weapon'' (2016–2018) and Teddy Talbot on the SundanceTV series '' Rectify'' (2013–2016), the la ...
. It is a remake of Tomnay's
short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...
''The Host'' (2001). ''The Perfect Host'' was released in the United States in July 2011. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances of Hyde Pierce and Crawford, but criticized the pacing.


Plot

Fugitive John Taylor flees initially unspecified from a crime scene, with a wounded foot (with flashbacks and news reports revealing that he has robbed a bank, in collusion with a teller). He stops in a convenience store for some disinfectant, just moments before it is robbed; he turns the tables on the robber, but she gets away with his wallet. The store's CCTV identifies John and his car, so he quickly abandons it, proceeding on foot into an expensive neighborhood. Claiming to have been mugged, he gains entry to the house of Warwick Wilson, who is preparing a dinner party. John makes small talk and drinks red wine while trying to figure out his next move, and how to keep his lies from being found out. When the radio makes an announcement about the robbery, he angrily shushes Warwick and reveals himself. After forcing him to call his guests to cancel the party, John states that he intends to kill Warwick, but that he might spare him if he accommodates John until morning. Suddenly, John keels over; the wine has been drugged, and Warwick is not the person he seems. When John comes to, he is tied to a chair, and the party is in full swing, but with all the other guests being mere figments of Warwick's imagination. Warwick takes a Polaroid picture of John and reveals a scrapbook of his past dinner parties, featuring similarly captive guests arranged in a timeline of increasing distress and injury which culminates in death. Unbeknownst to John, Warwick's imaginary guests are cleaned up and respectable versions of the people in the album. As the night wears on, John is further terrorized, drugged and incapacitated, and learns various things about Warwick's strange lifestyle. John and Warwick play chess, with the prize being John's freedom; John, who is an excellent player, wins. Warwick lets John go as agreed but taunts him before he can leave, calling him worthless. John takes one of the swords on display in Warwick's living room and stabs him with it, but it proves to be a collapsible prop. John is knocked out and regains consciousness in Warwick's bathtub, where Warwick runs a blade across John's throat. John's body is left outside with the trash. He awakens and discovers that most of his injuries are fake; Warwick is a master of movie makeup. Detective Morton, who has been investigating the robbery, arrives at Warwick's door — Warwick is a police lieutenant supervising the case. Meanwhile, John becomes suspicious of Simone, the bank teller he conspired with, and discovers she made alternate travel arrangements out of Los Angeles that don't include him. John confronts Simone in a parking garage over her betrayal and faking illness which motivated him to rob the bank to pay for her medical treatment. He takes her car and the money, leaving her to be captured by the detectives. However, Warwick stops John from leaving and takes the money at gunpoint, leaving him with a couple thousand dollars to flee to Mexico. A couple of months later, Detective Morton receives mail from Mexico (implied to be from John) containing a Polaroid of Warwick and John together at a dinner party. Morton confronts Warwick, who dismisses it as a fake, but when Morton persists, Warwick invites Morton to a dinner party.


Cast

*
David Hyde Pierce David Hyde Pierce (born David Pierce; April 3, 1959) is an American actor. Known for his portrayal of psychiatrist Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom ''Frasier'' from 1993 to 2004, he received four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting A ...
as Warwick Wilson *
Clayne Crawford Joseph "Clayne" Crawford (born April 20, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Martin Riggs on the Fox series ''Lethal Weapon'' (2016–2018) and Teddy Talbot on the SundanceTV series '' Rectify'' (2013–2016), the la ...
as John Taylor *
Helen Reddy Helen Maxine Reddy (25 October 194129 September 2020) was an Australian-American singer, actress, television host, and activist. Born in Melbourne to a show business family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four. She sang on ra ...
as Cathy Knight, Warrick's neighbor * Megahn Perry as Simone Demarchi, John's girlfriend * Joseph Will as Detective Valdez *
Nathaniel Parker Nathaniel Parker (born 18 May 1962) is an English stage and screen actor best known for playing the lead in the BBC crime drama series ''The Inspector Lynley Mysteries'', and List of Merlin characters#Agravaine de Bois, Agravaine de Bois in the ...
as Detective Morton *
Brooke Anderson Brooke Victoria Anderson (born May 13, 1978) is a former co-host of '' The Insider'', and is now a correspondent for ''Entertainment Tonight''. Previously, she was a culture and entertainment anchor and producer for CNN and served as co-host for ...
as Thief


Production

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
took place in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
over 17 days in autumn of 2008.


Release

The film premiered in January 2010 at the
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...
. ''The Perfect Host'' played at several other film festivals, including
Fantasia International Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on fantasy, horror, sci-fi and cult genre films. Regular ...
and
Sitges Film Festival SITGES - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia () is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain. It specializes in fantasy film, fantasy, Horror film, horror and Cult film, cult films. Established in 1968, the festiva ...
. It won the audience award at the 2011
Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival The Imagine Film Festival, formerly Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, also known as Imagine Fantastic Film Festival or simply Imagine, is an annual film festival in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The festival was created in 1991 with a focus mainly on ...
, a
Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films bel ...
, and was named the Best Feature at the 2011
Abertoir Abertoir: The International Horror Festival of Wales is an annual horror and horror film festival held in the Aberystwyth Arts Centre in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales. History The festival began as a three-day event in 2006, expanding since to ...
festival (
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
's national horror film festival). The film had a
limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
in the United States on July 1, 2011.


Reception

The film tied with '' Atlas Shrugged: Part 1'' for the
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
Saturn Award for Best DVD or Blu-ray Release Saturn Award for Best DVD or Blu-ray Release (formerly Saturn Award for Best DVD Release) was an award presented by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films is an America ...
.


References


External links

* * * * * *
Sundance Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perfect Host 2010 black comedy films 2010 psychological thriller films 2010s serial killer films American black comedy films American psychological thriller films American serial killer films Features based on short films Films about bank robbery Films about kidnapping in the United States Films scored by John Swihart Films shot in Los Angeles 2010s English-language films 2010s American films Films about imaginary friends English-language black comedy films English-language crime films English-language thriller films Saturn Award–winning films