The Rental

I wanted to like the movie, but sadly it's been done before and better with the movies in my title. That said the cast is great, I think Dan Stevens is one of the best actors around.

So In my opinion it just doesn't do anything new and the ending was also poor, let's hope Mr Franco can come back with something a little more original next time.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"The Rental" (2020) is a nice little drama thriller flick. It is by any means a horror movie - do not be fooled. It plays more like a soup drama to be honest. I liked performances in this movie, especially by Dan Stevens and Sheila Vand. Set up was not original, but I bought it - i was into. But its the third act that kinda felt off for me. I liked this movie way more before the third act - I was involved into these characters story and then it just kinda did not deliver it for me at the end. There is a great idea somewhere done here, unfortunately it was not delivered in this movie fully.

The premise is interesting and the cinematography is good if understated. The story is a variation of others we've seen before. I'm sure that may detract for some but I don't mind twists on an existing idea. But the characters, ugh! I usually don't need to like the characters to enjoy a movie, but when a movie is so character-centric, it can detract, and in this case it did for me. Also, the ending implies something that seems implausible. I will have to Google to see if I can find any rationale for it.

Dave Franco doesn't bring anything new to the horror genre with his feature film directorial debut (which he also wrote) but he does provide an entertaining hour and a half (give or take) in this film about two couples who have booked into an AirBnB type property, only to discover a number of hidden cameras around the building.

Acting is decent enough and another good film for Dan Stevens' ever growing resume. Take this film as intended (a fun thriller - popcorn movie) and you will be entertained enough. Go in looking for the deep and meaningful and you'll hate it.

Ignore the reviews stating it is "pointless" - they clearly expected too much.

Whilst this is a decent effort for a directional debut with a constant feeling of tension and uncomfortability, the R18+ rating and horror genre classification seems misplaced.

There's a real longing for a decent new horror film, and this isn't it.

If you've seen every other horror film and have nothing better to do with time to kill, then give this film a watch... but if you don't get a chance to watch it, you're not really missing anything great.