Film Review: Dave Franco’s The Rental Terrifies Airbnb Plans
Watching The Rental, I felt like I was seeing two movies that got mushed together. One felt like a terrifying AirBNB incident that ended up with psychopaths and gore, and the other was a marital drama about two couples that really should switch partners with each other. Dave Franco’s premiere as a director is good and solidifies that Franco has a visual eye and narrative talent worth watching as it grows. Still, with the ingredients for a better film, it fails to fully cook them.
The “Horror” Thrills
In perspective, the idea of a rental gone wrong can be terrifying. You go to rent a vacation home with your family only to find it is run by the Manson family, and you booked a 200 dollar a night room to die. TERRIFYING! The Rental plays upon this notion that you are paying to live in someone’s home where they could be watching and plotting against you, which is what happens to couples Alison Brie’s Nina with Toby Huss’ Taylor and Dan Stevens’ Charlie with Sheila Vand’s Nina. They become fodder for a murderous psychopath salivating to pluck them from the home as violently as feathers are yanked from chickens. The problem is that, though the idea is scary, and the film’s insidious, cinematic atmosphere draws you in, it still doesn’t manage to horrify.
If I think about all the ways renting a house could go wrong, I will, probably, get more scared than The Rental. Yet, I can be neurotic so take that statement as you will. It has its moody ambiances, creepy jolts, and lingering moments of tension, which is at the heart of horror thrills, but whether it innovates or adds to the genre is where you will get crossed between those who like the film and those who think, “Meh!” This juxtaposition happens because of the other side of this film…. the marital one. Ironically, it is the very thing that makes the movie distinct that might lessen, for viewers, “the fun” or scariness.
The Rental – Official Trailer | HD | IFC Films
Relationship Drama
Nothing like a potential serial killer on the loose upon your vacation weekend to make you wonder, “Am I in love with my brother’s wife?” Yes, the potential of death makes a person rethink how they lived, and, in a way, that is what happens to Alison Brie’s Nina and Dan Stevens’ Charlie. As they try to figure out who, what, and when their killer will strike them, they are also wondering if they married the right person: with Huss’ Taylor also being Charlie’s struggling brother and Sheila Vand being, simply, his partner. The latter two don’t feel as important or powerful as Charlie and Nina, whom are clearly the ones Franco, as writer, is pulling to be together.
In terms of emotionality, the movie is centered around Stevens’ Charlie and Brie’s Nina, who give fantastic performances. Yet, they feel like Marriage Story in the middle of The Conjuring; some ancient, spooky evil is afoot and we have to decide if this divorce is right for Henry. Stevens and Brie are enthralling as two people whom are in love with each other and can’t figure out how they are not together or how their busy lives ended up feeling so boring. Again, nothing like potential murder ruining your R&R time to make you see you live too routinely! Thus, the film gets filled with deep conversations and pining, sexual chemistry that can feel too serious for a horror film, but also left unfleshed because we are seeing a thriller, which means we need space for thrills. Hence, it is as if you want to tell the killer, “Wait! Stop! Let them do a few sessions of couples therapy and then attack!” The Rental comes out in VOD July 24.
