Rent-A-Pal
IFC Midnight | Release Date: September 11, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 7 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
RogerEbert.comNick AllenSep 11, 2020
For all the nostalgia that comes with seeing David pop in a VHS tape, the movie’s time period allows Stevenson to focus our attention on the horror emitting from just one screen. Read full review
80
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpSep 17, 2020
Wheaton is the film’s first exceptional element. The second is Stevenson’s restraint. Read full review
70
Film ThreatChris SalceSep 12, 2020
Wil Wheaton is the true star of this film. His creepy therapist/creepy children’s TV show host take on his character was exactly what Rent-A-Pal needed. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckSep 11, 2020
What makes the film work as well as it does, at least up to a point, are the perfectly calibrated performances. Folkins is superb as the socially maladroit Andy, making his character sympathetic in his genuine satisfaction in being a caretaker despite the personal toll it enacts. And Wheaton, whose entire performance consists of sitting in a chair and talking directly to the camera, uses his innate likeability to at first disarming and then chillingly creepy effect. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubDanette ChavezSep 9, 2020
Rent-A-Pal goes full-tilt mayhem in its final act, shattering its carefully calibrated dread in a race to make an already belabored point: that technological advancements are to be questioned, and there is no substitute for human connection. Read full review
50
The New York TimesGlenn KennySep 10, 2020
Eventually the movie paints itself into a corner then sinks into grisly sludge. Stevenson’s technical skill can’t save him from a trite worldview. Read full review
42
The PlaylistAsher LubertoSep 12, 2020
As the film becomes more of a conventional horror flick, it also leaves unexplored the darker realities of these contemporary fears for easier, gorier thrills. Read full review
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