Movie review: ‘The Gift’

The Guest, about a guy who shows up at a family’s door and who is not quite what he says he is, hit theaters at the tail-end of last summer, bringing with it a knowing, tongue-in-cheek salute to ’70s-era John Carpenter movies.

This summer, there’s The Gift, another thriller about a guy who shows up unexpectedly, though actor-turned-director Joel Edgerton artfully and suspensefully riffs on life-invasion movies like The Hand That Rocks the Cradle more than Halloween.

Jason Bateman is Simon, a successful exec who has just moved with his wife, Robyn (Rebecca Hall), from Chicago to a sleek, mid-century modern home in the Hollywood Hills. While buying furnishings for their new place, they run into a former high-school classmate of Simon’s named Gordo (Edgerton). Pleasantries and promises of getting together are exchanged.

But then gifts start being left on Simon and Robyn’s doorstep and Gordo makes surprise, and increasingly unnerving, pop-ins. What’s with this guy? What does he want? Is he just lonely? Is he after Simon or Robyn? And, whatever the case, how did he get the address?

Bateman excels as the corporate guy who is not only being pushed over an emotional edge but might have some secrets of his own.

Edgerton, who wrote the script, works in the low-budget thriller tradition that marks the work he and his brother, Nash, have either written or produced for their Blue-Tongue Films collective back in their native Australia.

Such movies as the woefully underrated The Square, Wish You Were Here and the Oscar-nominated Animal Kingdom show they have a unique sensibility to ratchet up suspense and unease without devolving into shock tactics.

Straight-up horror fans should take note that, despite the presence of producer Jason Blum (Insidious, The Purge, Ouija and Paranormal Activity franchises), The Gift is not a horror film in the contemporary sense. There’s no gore but it’s entertainingly unsettling all the same.

This story was originally published August 6, 2015 at 9:09 AM with the headline "Movie review: ‘The Gift’."