Serving Up Richard

Original title: The Guest Room

2011
1h 46m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Everett and Glory Hutchins live in a typical middle class neighborhood. Maybe your neighborhood. The Hutchins have a "guestroom" in their home. It's not exactly a business. It's a hobby. Or.... Read allEverett and Glory Hutchins live in a typical middle class neighborhood. Maybe your neighborhood. The Hutchins have a "guestroom" in their home. It's not exactly a business. It's a hobby. Or.....would you say religion? You see, Everett and Glory are practicing cannibals. It's a pr... Read allEverett and Glory Hutchins live in a typical middle class neighborhood. Maybe your neighborhood. The Hutchins have a "guestroom" in their home. It's not exactly a business. It's a hobby. Or.....would you say religion? You see, Everett and Glory are practicing cannibals. It's a proclivity that you can't readily share with friend or neighbor. When Richard Ruebens answer... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

4.8/10

210

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Featured review

3/10

Where cannibalism meets tedium

THE GUEST ROOM is a single location thriller for the most part, with a few horrific touches in the form of cannibalism. It involves your everyday protagonist, a family guy who finds himself locked up in an elderly couple's guest room, and awaiting the next family dinner in which he's the main course.

It's a workable premise, for sure, so a pity that the execution is so void of interest. Instead of focusing on suspense and thrills, the scriptwriters throw in lots of mumbo jumbo stuff about spirit guides and witch doctors and the like. These elements do nothing to further the plot and instead drag things down to tedious levels.

Veteran actor Jude Ciccolella plays the villain of the piece and gets the best scenes; they're typically the goriest moments, and he hams it up with relish. Ross McCall is a wooden and unsympathetic lead. As for Susan Pritchard, she has some complexity of character, which is nice, but she remains a mystery from beginning to end and there's definitely a sense of unfinished business where her character is concerned. In the end, THE GUEST ROOM feels like quite a sloppy production, and it's hardly one you can say you enjoy.