The Rental

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.

There is suspense and some mystery, but the ending doesn't answer any questions.

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.

After reading all those negative reviews I can only come to the conclusion there are a lot of quickly unsastified people on earth. I don't what they expect from a horror thriller like The Rental. I thought that for this genre it was a pretty decent movie. It won't win prizes or so but it's certainly entertaining. There is some good tension building and the acting wasn't bad either. I only know Jeremy Allen White from the excellent series Shameless, the rest of the cast was unknown to me but they all did a decent job. As for the horror it's mild but yet effective. All in all it wasn't a bad movie, certainly better than I expected for a movie in this genre.

Way better than the ratings. It keeps the intrigue for the first part and the rest has a good rhythm. Pretty decent directing by Franco. I don't see it lower than at least a 6. It is one of the lowest ratings compared to the quality of the film I have seen in my whole life.