The Rental

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.

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.

A generic, pointless and anticlimactic movie that fizzle out into nothingness. It always amazes me when people get a shot at making a full length movie (in this case, Dave Franco) and when they don't have anything new or good to bring to the table. Then why even bother? A waste of money, time and talent (Stevens and Brie.)

Two brothers and their significant others spend a weekend in a beautiful beachfront villa. What could possibly go wrong?

Dave Franco does a decent job for a first time director. The Movie is beautifully shot, atmospheric and moody as all hell. The cast is awesome, I always enjoy Dan Stevens and he's a delight here, but so is everyone else. I almost loved this movie but sadly the whole thing falls apart in the third act. Its as if a tense thriller is interrupted by a slasher film and its as abrupt and awkward as it sounds. That said the movie does not go where you expect it to and it is shocking and surprising.