The Rental (2020)

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Leisher
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The Rental (2020)

Post by Leisher »

Dave Franco's first attempt at directing, and it's not bad.

Two couples, one of which is made up of Alison Brie and Dan Stevens, head to a remote beach house for a weekend getaway. The men are brothers. When arriving they run slightly afoul of the property caretaker, played by the always excellent character actor Toby Huss, who they accuse of being a racist and creepy. However, the renters are not innocent of sin and a discovery they make puts them into an extremely uncomfortable situation that leads to the horror element of this movie.

That's as spoiler free as I can make this, and I do advise that if you want to see this, go in with a blank slate.

The biggest problem this movie has is pacing. It's a bit slow, BUT I am fine with that because I think Franco does a decent job of using the pacing to set the tension. It's not perfect though as while the pace is slow, the characters are still a touch too shallow. I just don't think the script establishes them very well. This is a big problem because the first half of the movie is spent on nothing but them and their problems. I don't blame Franco's direction, but rather the script.

I will also continue to complain about Hollywood's clear lack of lights, but it does help here considering the genre. It also seems to really assist Franco's "imagine it yourself" style of horror direction.

That all being said, I thought the concept of the film was strong and realistic. Stories about one aspect of the film happen all the time and it hasn't stopped that industry. I think if you do things with other couples, particularly getaways, this film could really trigger some "realism" vibes. Although, most of the residents of this forum are past the ages where certain elements of the plot are possible.

Franco's directorial debut, imho, is a success. Only 5.7 stars on IMDB, but a lot of the reviews whine about the pacing and ending. I didn't cover the ending here to avoid spoilers, but fuck those people. Also, Franco gives the audience a nod towards the end to show he's good people.

I thought of this tag line for the film: The "Jaws" of AirBnB. Trust me, that is very accurate.


Interestingly, there is another movie called The Rental in development. Even more interestingly, there is another The Rental from 2019 with the exact same plot, but it's considered a comedy/horror and I cannot find a single connection between the two films. Having the same plot is curious because Franco is on record as saying "this story idea came from his own paranoia".

No idea if it's any good, although I'm watching it now and it is super low budget. Found it on YouTube.

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