What is he??

Something that clicked with me too is that Adam Wingard keeps saying in interviews and such that he absolutely loved Prometheus and was obsessed with the android in that.. lets not forget that android was called David.

I think it's cool it's left as a mystery thought, whatever they did to him or whatever he is he's very resilient to damage and also if you notice he doesn't get drunk haha.

I could be wrong and perhaps I am thinking too much into it, but I thought that maybe he didn't really know Caleb. I made sure to really look the second time I saw it, but in the photo with "David" and Caleb, you can't really make out "David". He certainly resembles him, but the photo was not clear by any means. There were all those references to plastic facial surgery or maybe the military contractors made him to resemble a soldier who died in war if he was indeed some futuristic android.

Seemed kind of like some wolverine experiment. Would be too farfetched that they could create an android with fully functioning working private parts.

One other interesting note though is he NEVER seemed to get even buzzed when drinking. I saw about 4-5 beer bottles by him alone when he was drinking with the Dad in the beginning. He didn't even seemed phased when he took a huge hit from the blunt at the party.

It's also interesting to note a couple of other things:

- He "sure puts his liquor away" and seemingly doesn't get drunk
- And also he mentions he doesn't really sleep or need too

Cyborg is possible, however he does bleed and develops a limp. I'd err on genetically enhanced. Especially to survive the massive knife wound.

Thank you for sharing such information.

I see fat people! Are you alright, Haley Joel Osment?

How is it a spoiler if no one even can answer the question?

If he knew Caleb, and Caleb was human, why would he be a robot? Supposedly they were in the same program and it's implied from the photo that "David" was formerly a soldier and buddies with the guys in the group. This program seems to have taken human subjects (like Caleb and the buddies) and modified them with programming, whether genetic or otherwise...so I don't think David is a robot., but rather part of that group of former soldiers. There are other clues that he's human...like when he's on the phone with the plastic surgeon outside and no one else is around...he got very emotionally heated and upset, pretty strange if he's a robot. I could see him being upset in front of other people to try and prove he's human, but no one else was around during that phone conversation.

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----MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW----

Also supports cyborg/robot/manbot theory (sorry if bad english):

- Intentionally runs right into the fathers car. Could have tried to killed the father in a much safer way. Why do such a reckless move if he doesn't know he's next to indestructible? Could have just blocked the road and the father would have stopped.
- Says "cash is easy to get". Cyborg could make a machine to dispense cash. Sure he could have just killed some people to get it, given he's a killer psycho, but still supports cyborg theory.
- Also walks like a Terminator when wounded.
- When the detective asks the mother he says "Did 'David' resemble this man?", or something like that. As if he is not the real David, but a 'project' that looks like David.

I think he's supposed to be part human, part robot. He's still got some human in him. Being upset in a phone call to the doctor for example. Also he's making a 'sorry it has to be like this' face when throwing hand grenades in the restaurant. Also being nice in general to the family, in *beep* up psychokiller way, until he kills some of them, but still nice. Read some other comment here that the kid didn't know how to stab etc. and 'David' is just genetically engineered. Hey, the kid stabbed him right in the heart for Gods sake, whole shank right in, and before that a good thorough stab in the back. Don't have to be a brain surgeon to kill someone with a knife you know. If he's only genetically engineered he wouldn't have survived that, much less be able to knock out a fireman and switch clothes and walk out of there.

Great movie with so much feeling in the references to 70s/80s movies of this kind. I saw this with zero expectation and was just blown away. A gem. I hope they make a sequel.

David also mentioned that he doesn't sleep.

Adam Wingard on 'The Guest' >>

"So I called Simon up and pitched him this fantastical story. It was basically taking the structure of Halloween into an action movie. Combining it with “Terminator” so instead of Michael Myers you have a cyborg. We have a Doctor Loomis character, which is basically Lance Riddick in the movie but I pitched Simon that and that really solidified our collaboration because he said, “I have this script idea that I was working on a couple of years ago that’s about this soldier that ends up coming to this family and he ends up living with them,” so it was a drama revenge thing. And he was like, “The script wasn’t working so I just stopped but you know what if we took that premise and combine it with this conceptual idea you have, I think it could work.” And he said, “We’ll just call it “The Guest”. That was it. Within 20 seconds he had the whole thing figured out."

So although it is never explicitly mentioned or even alluded to (other than the fact that David is apparently dead), it seems as though he is a robot. Or this is supposed to be heavily implied via genre.

That's the closest thing to accuracy I've read in this thread. It also helps to have a knowledge of Government Tactics when you watch this film.

No robot would even try to do tourniquet on his injured leg , the girl shot him in his arm and the boy didn't even know how to stab. I think he was more of an experiment ala Jason Bourne , highly skilled in combat and trained to resist serious damage.

That's the closest thing to accuracy I've read in this thread. It also helps to have a knowledge of Government Tactics when you watch this film.

Wasn't both him and Caleb in the same photograph? I think they were just part of the same program. The rest of em probably died in the experiment, this dude turned psycho instead. Or he took his self preservation programming a little too far.

Finally something that makes sense to me. I kept wondering why this guy would have gone to these folks house as he had gone to a lot of trouble changing appearance, teeth, fingerprints. It seems once he had done this and created a new identity, he would have just moved someplace far away and never be found. By going to the family they would not surprisingly be suspicious and his chances of being found were created.

I thought the same thing. If "David" and Caleb were part of the same experiment and "David" clearly can't be killed (at least not easily), then it's reasonable to assume that Caleb also couldn't be easily killed. Combined with the plastic surgeon reference and Luke's suggestion that this unscrupulous doctor could change faces and finger prints, it seems reasonable to assume Caleb and "David" are the same person. Or at least Caleb turned into "David" after the experiment. "David" borrowed a familiar face and identity for his transformation. I can't come up with another compelling reason why "David" would go visit this family, in particular.

Or Caleb wasn't part of the experiment, "David" is a liar and none of this matters. Hah.

^This.

He said he was with Caleb in Afghanistan so by this came to see his folks after he "died".

I agree with those who say it was genetic experimentation. This film was stuffed full of nods and references to great films from the 80s, the music, the bad guy ridiculously coming back at the end after suffering grave wounds, the way the film goes full on *beep* crazy when the government suits turn up. The genetic experiment angle for me felt like a nod to Universal Solider.

David and Caleb were in the unit that got experimented on. I believe David truly was friends with Caleb, and that part of him still existed even after the experiments. This is similar in Universal Solider how Dolph Lundgren's character still holds a rivalry with Van Damme's character, even though the experiments aimed to remove all traces of their personalities. I believe David's programming went "wrong" after Caleb's death, and so he went AWOL and went to protect Caleb's family. However, his programming once again kicked in when he was exposed, and so he went on a (highly entertaining) killing spree in order to protect the government program. He was protecting Caleb's family in a similar way, it was almost just like he'd forgotten his priority to the military and had confused the family as his mission objective.

It's a shame that some people have missed the point of this movie. It's meant to invoke the feeling of cheesy action films from the 80s and 90s, and people seem to rib it for being silly and over the top. Have these people never seen an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie?!