THE GUEST: More Adam Wingard & Simon Barrett Collaborations

When was the last time you dusted?

Sometimes patience is its own reward. Eh, on second thought, screw that. The reward for patience at this year's Festival is The Guest, the last-but not the least-of the Midnight Madness movies.

If you've been a Midnight Madness fan for a while, you've likely seen at least one of the collaborations of Adam Wingard (director/writer/actor) and Simon Barrett (writer/actor). But what about those Midnight Madness n00bs who don't think The Guest sounds like a very exciting title for a movie? That's what we are here for. Here's a look at a few of Wingard and Barrett's other collaborations.

NOT an episode of Storage Wars.

A Horrible Way To Die (2010)
Screening at Midnight Madness in 2010, this claustrophobic thriller lives up to its title and then some. Sarah is just trying to make it through her AA meetings when she finds out her serial killer ex-boyfriend has escaped from jail. Like the best horror movies, there's a level of emotional drama in the backstory that makes this film exceptionally unsettling and compelling.

I can have a three-way, with myself!

Autoerotic (2011)
Wingard and Barrett contributed on this movie with Former Unofficial Vanguard Blog Mascot Joe Swanberg! Autoerotic is series of vignettes about the sex lives of several twentysomething couples in Chicago. Swanberg's frank and unflinching eye informs the movie as does a fair amount of humor. Amy Seimetz, who played Sarah in A Horrible Way To Die, also shows up.

What Fun We Were Having

What Fun We Were Having (2011)
Another series of vignettes about sex, this time on various permutations of rape. If that sounds heavy, you're right, but the movie is not exploitive, preferring to examine the insidiousness of rape in our every day lives. And there are genre elements, too. And look, there's A.J. Bowen from A Horrible Way To Die! And Joe Swanberg (again)!

Here's to YOU, Joe Swanberg.

You're Next (2011, released 2013)
This was another Midnight Madness selection that didn't make it to theaters for a couple of years due to a bidding war and the merger between Lionsgate and Summit. It's an incredibly gory, suspenseful, hilarious, and feminist take on the revenge slasher, with Sharni Vinson as a bona fide badass. It also features Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Ti West (The House of the Devil), and scream queen Barbara Crampton.

Even with a robotic eye, that is one ugly bathroom.

V/H/S "Tape 56" and V/H/S 2 "Phase I Clinical Trials" and The ABCs of Death "Q is for Quack"
Wingard and Barrett love their short films! For the first installment of the V/H/S series, they provide the wraparound story about where the infamous tapes come from. "Phase I Clinical Trials" is a sci-fi supernatural yarn about the dangers of robotic eyes and actually stars Wingard. He and Barrett also star in one of the funnier segments of often-sobering The ABCs of Death (which screened at Midnight Madness), poking fun of themselves in a refreshing way.

Wingard and Barrett can do horror, drama, and comedy very well--especially all at the same time--and The Guest takes that blending of genres to another level. Don't miss it at the Festival!

THE GUEST screening times:
Sat., Sept. 13th, 11:59 PM, RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 14th, 6:45 PM, SCOTIABANK 3