A celebratory weekend getaway along Oregon coast turns gruesome and an isolated seaside cottage becomes a slaughterhouse in this lean, if ultimately unsatisfying, take on voyeurism and dysfunctional family dynamics.
The Rental, directed by Dave Franco, gets its characters and mood right, relying on intrusive technology as a crutch to whip up paranoia and fear, at the same time playing up familiar genre elements to create tension from the outset. As business partners Charlie and Mina settle down in an Airbnb-like rental with their romantic partners Michelle and Josh, who also happens to Charlie's brother, so does the feeling that something's not right. Soon enough, there's drama, sex, lies, and a secret videotape, at which point it escalates into a murder and coverup. Their lives gradually unravel, but not before trust gets broken, secrets are spilled, and the fun outing metastasises into a stalker thriller that culminates in a bloody showdown. The horror is both psychological and corporeal, while also mining a sense of unease that can arise out of staying at someone else' home. Too bad, then, it eschews its unsettling premise for more cheap, splashier thrills that come off as a cop-out.
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