Horror Movie Review: The Rental (2020)

The Rental is a 2020 American horror film written, produced and directed by Dave Franco, in his feature directorial debut. Franco co-wrote the screenplay with Joe Swanberg from a story by Franco, Swanberg, and Mike Demski.

Charlie, his wife Michelle, his brother Josh, and Josh’s girlfriend/Charlie’s coworker Mina rent a remote seaside house for a weekend getaway. On their arrival at the property, they meet the house’s caretaker Taylor, who acts oddly and makes racist remarks toward Mina. After they have settled in, Mina, Josh, and Charlie take MDMA while Michelle goes to bed. Josh later passes out on the couch, and Mina and Charlie end up kissing in the hot tub and having sex in the shower.

The next morning, Charlie and Mina agree to forget what happened between them and not tell their respective partners. While taking a shower, Mina discovers a camera in the shower head and alerts Charlie. The two are confident Taylor has installed it. Charlie stops her from calling the police, as doing so would likely lead to Michelle and Josh learning they had sex. He also assures her that Taylor would not reveal the footage because it would involve him admitting to spying on them.

That night, Michelle calls Taylor over to fix the hot tub, while Josh realizes his dog has gone missing. Josh is suspicious that Taylor may have taken the dog, so he confronts Taylor upon his arrival, but he denies it. Taylor fixes the hot tub, and Mina privately confronts him about the hidden camera in the shower, which he claims to be unaware of. An argument ensues and Taylor attempts to call the police, but Mina tries to stop him. Hearing the commotion, Josh rushes in and, assuming Taylor was attacking Mina, beats him unconscious.

Mina is forced to explain the hidden camera in the shower, but does not reveal that she had sex with Charlie. The group gather in the living room to decide what to do. Meanwhile, a masked man sneaks inside and smothers Taylor to death. When the others return and find Taylor dead, they assume that he died from the injuries inflicted by Josh.

A frantic Michelle demands they call the police, but Charlie refuses to let his brother, who has previously been incarcerated, return to prison. He suggests that they stage Taylor’s death as an accident by throwing him off the cliff into the ocean. Michelle refuses to take part in their plan and goes to the bedroom.

How could the gang make this trip any worse?

You know, sometimes I watch movies and I think, the general public would probably have loved this. Is it just me that’s too picky? Maybe I should learn to turn my brain off sometimes. But then I watch a film with beyond lazy writing and I realise I can’t turn off my critic brain.

The Rental’s writing is beyond lazy, it’s just bad. It feels as if it’s been written and directed by someone who’s never seen a horror movie. Someone who thinks their idea is so original and never been done. The Rental is a very basic slasher movie with no explanation and little cohesiveness. And worst of all, no real gore.

Of course, there’s a final girl but we don’t even see her get killed off. She literally falls off a cliff into mist and the killer just, leaves I guess?

The acting in the movie was way too high quality for this. A dramatic, soap opera with a killer so cryptic that the director had to come out and explain what was even going on.

Overall, The Rental would be a good one to take to a casual movie night with people who can’t handle blood and guts. But for a real horror fan, it’s nothing to write home about. You may get sucked into the juicy drama and be freaked out by a legit scary real life scenario. But by the end, you’ll just be left unsatisfied by a very random movie with a very random killer.