This summer, Dave Franco made his directorial debut with The Rental, a horror/thriller written by himself and Joe Swanberg (V/H/S) and starring Franco’s wife Alison Brie (Scream 4) and Dan Stevens (Apostle). Due to the pandemic, it skipped a typical theatrical release and went straight to VOD, and it proved to be a surprise smash, too, topping the on demand charts for two weeks running. Now, the movie has earned itself a pretty distinguished fan in the form of the Master of Horror himself, Stephen King.
The legendary author often lets fans know what he thinks of the latest horror flicks on social media, and on Wednesday night King took to Twitter to reveal that he really enjoyed The Rental. He remarked that while its concept wasn’t totally original, he appreciated Franco’s “wire-tight” plot and compared it the works of John D. MacDonald.
“I liked Dave Franco’s THE RENTAL (Amazon Prime) very much,” he said. “We’ve seen this horror trope before, what Joe Bob Briggs once called “Spam in a cabin,” but this features an actual plot, drawn wire-tight. Has a John D. MacDonald feel.”
Also starring Sheila Vand and Jeremy Allen White, The Rental follows two couples on an oceanside getaway as they grow suspicious that the host of their seemingly perfect rental home may be spying on them. Before long, what should have been a nice little weekend trip turns into something far more sinister.
The film currently sits at a 74% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and has been hailed by many as one of the genre’s best efforts this year. It’s not a perfect movie, to be sure, but it’s a very, very enjoyable watch and well worth your time.
As Stephen King says in his tweet, you can find The Rental on Amazon Prime, or wherever else you like to buy or rent your films from. If you’ve already seen it, though, be sure to let us know what you thought of it in the comments section below.
