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The Perfect Host with David Hyde Pierce

Written by Jonathan Jacobs

July seems to be serial killer month on Comcast On Demand. Given the choice between the waifish and prosaic Jay Baruchel or the Frasier sitcom veteran David Hyde Pierce, I instinctively selected Dr. Niles Crane! The Perfect Host is anything but thrilling. Having written that glaring admonition, let me further argue that this film is a psychological drama, however slow moving. Pierce plays the character Warwick Wilson who is a schizophrenic torturer and serial murderer galore. Good news for the victim John Taylor (Clayne Crawford), who himself is a hardened criminal, Warwick is a very hospitable dinner host before he is a sadist!

Warwick makes being a friendless schizophrenic look like loads of fun. Everyday can be a vacation when one has several lifelong friends out and about. Maybe he is not a schizophrenic, he is a visionary! Drumroll please...The movie moves along rather painstakingly slow until Warwick's dinner party begins. John is treated to a myriad of conga and salsa dance maneuvers that somehow is eerily reminiscent of Dancing with the Stars! For good measure Warwick tosses in a dance train sure to entertain the entire household (of wraiths). Once the dinner portion of the get together (replete with roast duck and fine dinner wine) winds down the other guests arrive. The party looks to be thirty strong. Best of all, it is a smashing pool party. A fellow could drown in the crowd, or in the pool if he are not careful! Here's looking at you John. Clearly, based on the rapid-fire camera panning, only Warwick is able to visualize the plethora of additional guests. John is certain that nobody and nothing else exists.

Every attempt at escape or alerting a would-be rescuer is condemned to failure. John has been drugged and mostly immobilized. He is always groggy and in his semi-consciousness we come to understand how he wound up in this murderous predicament. He sought to pilfer enough capital to allow his lover to have mandatory surgery to cure herself of a painful and potentially lethal ailment. Unfortunately, John picked the affluent home with a complement of just one; one schizophrenic maniac that loves to entertain his guests be they real or imaginary. John's best hope for survival is to convince Warwick that he is suffering from several delusions and hallucinations. Good strategy with a murderous schizophrenic! Karma really does a roundabout in this picture as John is on the run for stealing the money necessary to get his woman the medical attention her body desperately needs, but he preys on the hospitality of a lonely stranger to obtain a safe haven while on the run from the authorities. In a way, despite his noble purpose, his actions are swiftly punished.

The Perfect Host is anything but thrilling. It is not particularly interesting or watchable. It suffers from a predictable plot, a boring premise, and a lack of real characters. However, it does offer one crucial and wonderful surprise; Mr. David Hyde Pierce. Pierce is a fierce actor dedicated to his craft. He has more personalities than a true madman, and has the ability to portray a repressed sweetheart just as much as he can a deranged lunatic off his medication. As a serial killer he beautifully fits the bill and looks truly disturbed. Having starred in Frasier for nearly a decade it should come as no surprise that he can manipulate his visage. As an exciting madman he leaves much to be desired, but such are the constraints of the script. Still, I found this film to be hilarious and the sense of desperation reached a fever pitch by the film's conclusion. It is commensurately as terrible as it is brilliant.