A different way of telling a story

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Well I watched the trailer and couldn't believe my eyes NILES starring in a serious role?!?! (he may have starred in many for all I know, if so I apologize!)Anyway, I had to see this. And what can I say, at first when I saw the trailer I sort figured out how I thought the movie would go, and boy was I..... WRONG. This movie has some twists and turns, it's written fairly well. There's a couple cringe-y parts in there but they are meant to be there. I can honestly say, I never expected where this movie went. I didn't see half of it coming, and it was great. This movie is unique. The acting was superb. I only wish I could watch David Hyde Pierce star in more films like this.This truly is a hidden gem. And don't take my word for it, look at the score up at the top yourself.... that isn't just handed out to ANY movie on IMDB... I hope you Enjoy!

John Taylor (Clayne Crawford) is on the lam. We get flashbacks of the crime as the movie progresses. He cons his way into the home of Warwick Wilson (David Hyde Pierce) who reminded me of a gay Kelsey Grammer. John's picture is all over the news. Before the party can start, John reveals to Warwick who he is and forces him to call the guests and cancel the party that is supposed to start in 15 minutes.The film has an early twist...and a few lesser twists later on, so don't expect to see too much on plot in reviews. We have seen this kind of thing in horror movies, but the delightful soundtrack turned this movie into an excellent dark quirky comedy. I suggest you watch the movie and not read Amazon reviews on this one as they give away too much of the twist.F-bomb, no sex, no nudity.

People will tell you the trailers give away too much if you watch them before seeing this as true... The truth is though what the trailer gives away only makes you think it's given away the real twist only to reveal it much later on in the film and that's what makes this movie so very good.The movie begins feeling like a crime drama with a limited budget. A criminal, John, is bleeding from a wound to his foot and on the run from the police. While trying to find a place to lay low he comes across a house with an older gentlemen, Warwick, and uses a letter from his sister to invent a character to work himself in. He soon reveals after a bit that he is desperate criminal who needs to lay low, only to shortly afterwards realize he's been drugged. He then Wakes up to the reality Warwick is not the man he thinks he knows but rather a man who sees hallucinations of people and also sadistic and consumed with conducting various forms of torture on his physical guests. As the movie goes on it reveals more about both John and Warwick that reveal they are significantly deeper characters then the spoilers give away and even though I marked this as a spoiler I would feel horrible revealing such a wonderful twist as this movie delivers. All I can say is if you are looking for a dark comedy/suspense thriller you can't go wrong with the Perfect Host.

John Taylor carries out a bank raid and finds himself in an LA suburb with the cops closing in on all sides . Needing somewhere to cool the heat he tries knocking on a few doors only to have his feeble pleas for sanctuary rejected . Finding a post card in a mail box he knocks on the occupant's door and uses a cover story that convinces the owner to let him in . As it turns out John has a lot more to worry about than having the police on his tail A very quirky independent thriller even though if you give it much thought everyone will collapse very quickly . THE PERFECT HOST manages to get around this simply by being outrageously entertaining . Just when you think it's twisting one way it turns in to something slightly different . It does get off to a bad start when John walks in to a grocery store and something happened that made me think this was trying a little bit too hard and I thought we could have done without this scene . As the story continued I thought we'd be getting 90 minutes of John trying to bluff his way out of awkward conversations with Warwick , a bit like the scene where Matt Dillion's private eye tries to BS his way out of discussing architecture with Lee Evans in THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY . This happens for a bit but then the story takes an entirely different tangent . I will say no more what this involves but I was thoroughly involved and did chuckle a few times while feeling a little bit guilty at the same time I'm not much of a fan of FRASIER but from what I recall David Hyde Pierce's legendary role as Niles Crane isn't a million miles away from the idiosyncratic way he plays Warwick here . I did think the character of Warwick could have been portrayed in a slightly more expressionistic manner similar to Sara Goldfarb's deluded mind in REQUIEM FOR A DREAM . I often had to double check with this site that John Taylor was played by Clayne Crawford because I was constantly thinking I was watching a young Ray Liotta . These two performances hold the film together for much of the running time and THE PRFECT HOST is a grotesque and amusing movie even though it's never entirely credible