The Rental

Name: The Rental
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Released: July 24, 2020
Duration: 89 min
Rating: 62
Cast: Alison Brie, Anthony Molinari, Dan Stevens, Jeremy Allen White, Jovani Ridler

2020

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 77 Ratings

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5.6

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5.6	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 77 Ratings

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The Rental

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Movie Details & Credits

IFC Films | Release Date (Streaming): July 24, 2020 | NR

Starring: Alison Brie, Anthony Molinari, Dan Stevens, Jeremy Allen White, Jovani Ridler, Sheila Vand, Toby Huss

Summary: Two couples on an oceanside getaway grow suspicious that the host of their seemingly perfect rental house may be spying on them. Before long, what should have been a celebratory weekend trip turns into something far more sinister, as well-kept secrets are exposed and the four old friends come to see each other in a whole new light.

Director: Dave Franco

Genre(s): Thriller, Horror

Rating: NR

Runtime: 89 min

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Critic Reviews

Richard Roeper

Jul 22, 2020

This is a dark and brutal cautionary tale that traffics in any number of familiar scary-movie touchstones, but does so in consistently clever and entertaining fashion. Read full review

Matt Fowler

Jul 23, 2020

The Rental boats a strong cast, an intriguing set up, and a compelling mystery. It's a fun and feisty web of lies and deception with the added bonus of having a shadowy, stalking presence surrounding everything and everyone like a God-hand. It's a small film, but it's tense, dense, and delivers a harrowing final act. Read full review

Richard Whittaker

Jul 20, 2020

Take out the masked menace, this is still tense: Add them in, and it's stomach-churning. Brutal, smart, wild and mean, The Rental savagely reinvents the summer camp slasher for the vacation rental generation, and delivers a punchline payoff that will leave you reeling. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

Jul 20, 2020

There’s some crafty artistry at work in The Rental, and also some fairly standard pandering, which feels like a violation of the movie’s better instincts. That said, most of it is skillful and engrossing enough to establish Franco as a director to watch. Read full review

Michael Phillips

Jul 23, 2020

It starts out good and turns out dumb, ditching a promising, nicely suggestive first half for second-half payoffs (revealed in the trailer) taking director Dave Franco’s feature directorial debut into lame and lamer slasher-film territory. Read full review

A.A. Dowd

Jul 22, 2020

Much of the first half of the film plays like a straight drama, establishing the conflicts simmering between two couples on a weekend getaway. This setup is so credible, in fact, that it’s doubly disappointing when the thriller elements do finally materialize and then promptly fail to thrill; it’s as if someone snatched the remote and changed the channel to a half-assed slasher starring the same characters. Read full review

Jeannette Catsoulis

Jul 23, 2020

Featuring one of the most dissatisfying, anticlimactic endings in genre memory, this paranoid thriller (the directing debut of Dave Franco) turns an isolated seaside villa into a slaughterhouse. Read full review

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User Reviews

Rakib0301

Jul 24, 2020

Loved the movie.Marking Dave Franco's directorial debut, this sharp, engrossing horror-thriller gets by with no supernatural elements, relying entirely on scarily believable human behavior and intrusive technology. Working from a screenplay co-written by Franco, Joe Swanberg, and MikeLoved the movie.Marking Dave Franco's directorial debut, this sharp, engrossing horror-thriller gets by with no supernatural elements, relying entirely on scarily believable human behavior and intrusive technology. Working from a screenplay co-written by Franco, Joe Swanberg, and Mike Demski, Franco creates tension right away in The Rental with his human tableaus. Even the (sometimes dark) humor is designed to throw things off-balance. The very first shot shows Charlie and Mina leaning together over a computer monitor in such a familiar, comfortable way that we may immediately assume that they're a couple.

Everything in the movie is staged in a way that creates tension and dislocation, from Taylor's underlying racism and his sly way of deflecting it to Michelle being out-of-step with the other three. Michelle is the only one interested in going on a hike, and she takes ecstasy alone on Saturday night, becoming a kind of quirky comic relief and also a catalyst for more disaster. Brie and Franco are married in real life, and he's given her a rich role here that plays to her talents. Plus, Franco manages to comment on technology in a way that's subtle and not overbearing. He doesn't go easy on his characters, and he finds an ending that clicks into place with a true shudder. In essence, The Rental is a must-see thriller, both smart and unsettling.… Expand

1 of 6 users found this helpful15

baconpopsicle

Sep 5, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really don't understand what most of these people are talking about. Once again it seems that neckbeards and basement dweller virgins are negative bombing something the Franco brothers, do out of envy.

The movie begins with two couples on a retreat, the characters are genuine, in the sense that we all know people like this (if you have ever had college friends). The movie goes on threough their common and expected issues between couples and friends before it takes several twists and turns that leave you wondering where is this really going to go.

After the troubles with the landlord we are left uncertain to his involvement in everything that's happening, and that's when we see the real antagonist, a serial killer who kills, if for nothing else, out of pleasure. This guy is no nonsense, he doesn't play with his victims nor does he take 30 mins to track them down (looking at you Jason Vorhees) and the best part is that, unlike every single other slasher and scary movie, this guy doesn't get killed by some random teens.

We later see that this is a regular activity, his MO is shown to us throughout the credits while he takes on other victims.

Being filmed, mugged, killed or just be subjected to any kind of danger is something that is always in the back of our minds when we go to a hotel or to an airbnb, Dave takes this fear and shows us the worst csse scenario.

My only criticisms are first, that there are some scenes that feel too much like fillers, I feel that there could've been a bit more character development and second, some of the suspense sounds were a bit too much for me, it made it feel cheesy.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

rappM95

Jul 26, 2020

A good entry into directing for Dave Franco. Solid cast, gripping plot line. Genre-normal horror/thriller.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

JLau

Sep 25, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Two couples rent a place, there's some cheating, it's caught on a hidden camera and then, the guy who's spying on them turns out to be a serial killer for some reason.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

moviemitch96

Aug 2, 2020

This is the directorial debut of Dave Franco, and stars his real-life wife Alison Brie ('Community', Netflix's 'GLOW'), along with Dan Stevens ('Beauty and the Beast') as a married couple who, along with the husband's younger brother and his girlfriend, decide to get away for the weekend inThis is the directorial debut of Dave Franco, and stars his real-life wife Alison Brie ('Community', Netflix's 'GLOW'), along with Dan Stevens ('Beauty and the Beast') as a married couple who, along with the husband's younger brother and his girlfriend, decide to get away for the weekend in a cliffside rental home. But things soon start to turn suspicious around them as they sense that someone might be watching them. The film and its cast and premise intrigued me, and the first half of the film started off promising enough, building up a tense and rather eerie tone and atmosphere. However, much to my dismay, the film never really picked up or went anywhere interesting in the second half, as it began to seemingly lose its sense of direction. To cap it all off, the final 10 mins or so were far too vague and left too many unanswered questions, making the film an its ordeal simply feel random and pointless. Overall, the film showed potential to begin with, but the whole thing was pretty much ruined by an underwhelming and increasingly predictable second half that lacks any true thrills, as well as an ending that leaves no motives or explanations to speak of, making it very difficult for me to care about everything that preceded it.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Orukayu

Jan 22, 2023

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A 2020 horror film based on a deserted holiday home. It turned out to be a mediocre film with all the clichés of a similar style. Of course, stereotypes are relevant again. These include crashing into a tree, catching everyone off guard one by one, the strange landlord, etc. As for the subject; two couples, in which men are brothers to each other, rent a forest house. The goal is to smoke marijuana together and drink. Then the older man gets into the shower with the woman, who is also his business partner and his brother's girlfriend. A day later, they see the camera installed in the shower head. Now we understand that this secret will be revealed.

And we have a strange killer. Who keeps rented houses, connects cameras to them, watches them from near the house, and then kills those who rent the house.

It is not clear what the man's purpose is.

The film can not rise above the mediocre. The characters are all repulsive. There are no sexual elements, except for the lovemaking scene in the shower.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

kstud1

Jul 26, 2020

This movie made no sense and was extremely boring until the last ten minutes and your left with who was that and why did he do any of this.

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

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