Okay thank the movie release gods, I can finally say something about this film legally after seeing it half a year ago.
Yeah, I guess I could write a lengthy review for this, but there’s not a whole lot to discuss when it comes to The Rental besides the fact that James Franco’s baby brother is taking this “actor become director” career out for a spin too. If you’re looking for the most subpar, generic, mediocrely assembled, and accidentally funny horror movie that simultaneously aches to be this socially aware avant-garde on America’s dependency with on-demand reliance (because you shouldn’t always trust strangers *GASP*) but just manipulates itself more so as a blatant outcry for meaning, you’ll probably be satisfied by this. Hey, it’s the best thing we’ve got on the market as of now to watch during quarantine with your zoom call date!
It’s so weird, on the latter side, however, that I actually came to somewhat appreciate the final 5 minutes of The Rental because they felt like they were a part of an ENTIRELY different movie—almost reminiscent of some dark as hell Haneke material. It’s almost as if the writers were like, “shoot, how are we going to differentiate this generic Blumhouse-styled horror movie from the others? Screw it, jam in some very on-the-nose BUT significant and eerily executed (finally!) social commentary at the end of the movie just in case nobody got its message.” I mean, it all does technically connect with what happened previously in the movie. However, if we never saw the first 90 minutes of the movie and just saw the conclusion alone, the conclusion would literally be just as impactful as it would be with seeing the entire movie, considering how braindead the majority of The Rental is in how it propels its horror elements in an unrealistic environment that wants to be realistic.
Anyways, Alison Brie was pretty hilarious in this though. She’s Dave’s “save card” basically. Aww.
Verdict: D+
“The Rental” will be available VOD on July 24, 2020.
Burning the Celluloid 
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