THE RENTAL (2020) *** Dan Stevens, Alison Brie, Sheila Vand, Jeremy Allen White, Toby Huss, Anthony Molinari. Actor Dave Franco makes a fine directorial debut (and co-wrote the screenplay with fellow filmmaker Joe Swanberg and Mike Demski) in this horror film about two young couples on a weekend vacation for a celebration that eventually downward spirals when they learn their rental is being spied upon. While relying on genre tropes (fog, wide shots to see something just on the horizon lurking, a pet in peril etc.) the story takes its time from a complex character study into full on terror with surprising restraint in say gore or exploitation. Familiar yet receptive.
Review of The Rental
