THE RENTAL

Name: THE RENTAL
Item: THE RENTAL
Author: Tess Farrand

"Morality Tale Gets Lost in Unsatisfying B Thriller"

Content: -4 Intentional blasphemy, evil, gross immorality, and/or worldview problems. (To be avoided)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

THE RENTAL is a suspense thriller that’s streaming on Amazon. Two couples, a man and his wife and the man’s brother and his girlfriend, rent a spectacular house on one of California’s rocky beaches. The girlfriend is the married man’s business partner. While the brother and wife are sleeping, the married man and the girlfriend fool around in the shower. The next day, they find a small camera in the shower head. Also, the person who set up the camera seems to be stalking them secretly. Is it the caretaker, the caretaker’s brother or someone else?

THE RENTAL features talented acting, but it’s definitely a B thriller. So, it has a predictable, violent second half. Also, a serial killer gets away with his crimes, which makes for a downbeat, unsatisfying ending. As a result, the morality tale in THE RENTAL, about the dangers of bad character and illicit behavior, gets lost. THE RENTAL also contains lots of foul language, some drug abuse and one or two examples of extreme violence. The effect of all this negative content slips into the abhorrent category.

Content:

(B, ABAB, LLL, VVV, SS, N, A, DDD, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Light morality tale about adultery, lying and uncontrolled anger gets lost when a serial killer who stalks unsuspecting people before he kills them gets away with his evil, murderous crimes

Foul Language:

At least 79 obscenities (including many “f” words), four strong Jesus profanities, eight light profanities

Violence:

Extreme violence in one or two scenes and other violence includes killer plunges the claw of a hammer into an unconscious man’s head, and the man’s head is later seen lying on top of a pool of blood, would be victim stabs masked killer with a screwdriver, but killer just pulls it out (no blood sown here), woman grabbed from behind, man and woman get into a fight, and woman’s boyfriend angrily punches the man after throwing the man into a bathtub, killer uses his gloved hand to smother to death an unconscious man with small wounds on his head, car runs over some spikes deliberately placed on a dirt road, and car runs into a tree, man stabbed to death, half of dead woman’s face is all bloody, people throw a body off a cliff to hide what they think is an accidental case of manslaughter, people throw two or three large rocks at a corpse on a cliff that didn’t go all the way down, and one of the rocks hits the corpse’s head, and man climbs down the cliff to force the corpse the rest of the way down the cliff to a beach

Sex:

Partially depicted and implied adulterous sex in two brief shower scenes, adulterous kissing in a hot tub, a comical reference to self-abuse, and vaguely implied fornication in a bedroom scene between an unmarried couple

Nudity:

No explicit sexual nudity shown but woman’s upper back is shown in two shower scenes, and man with swimming trunks is shown joining the nude woman in one of the shower scenes, plus woman wears a bikini in one hot tub scene

Alcohol Use:

Some alcohol use

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking, but people are shown taking Ecstasy to “party” or “have fun”, and movie portrays it as no big deal, so movie seems to promote the use and abuse of this dangerous illegal drug; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Strong miscellaneous immorality includes lying, serial killer secretly spies on people and plants hidden cameras in rental places, people cover up what they think is an accidental death after a fight, but it is really an actual murder of an unconscious person by an unknown subject stalking them, and apparent Anti-Muslim behavior is falsely called racist by woman with a Muslim last name (there’s no evidence she’s a practicing Muslim).

More Detail:

THE RENTAL is a suspense thriller about two young professional couples who rent a fancy house on one of California’s rocky coasts for the weekend, where they become suspicious that the caretaker is spying on them. THE RENTAL features talented actors in a B thriller, but, otherwise, the movie has a downbeat, predictable, violent second half with lots of strong foul language, some drug abuse, and themes of adultery, mass murder and justice denied.

The movie opens with a tech wizard named Charlie celebrating some new funding for his company with his business partner, Mina. Charlie spies an expensive rental house on the Internet and decides he’d like to spend a celebratory weekend there with his wife, Michelle. Charlie invites his younger brother, Josh, who’s actually been dating Mina.

That night, Charlie and Michelle discuss the positive influence Mina has had on Josh, who did a brief stint in jail for beating up a man outside a fraternity house in college. Josh is now a Lyft driver who’s been taking some night classes to resume his interrupted college career.

Driving down to the rental house, Mina and especially Josh are upset. Mina’s family is from Iran originally, and her last name is Mohamadi. When Mina called the rental’s booking agent, he turned her down, but an hour later, he accepted Charlie’s offer. Then, when they arrive at the rental house, the caretaker, a man named Taylor, asks Mina, “How’d you get mixed up with this family?” This makes Mina even angrier. So, she asks Taylor if he’s the one who books the guests for the house. He says he is, but his brother is the one who owns the house. Mina expresses her displeasure at being turned down, but Taylor refuses to discuss it any further with her. He tells Mina and the others they can cancel their reservations if they wish, but Charlie smooths things over, and Taylor leaves.

That night, Michelle says she’s too tired to party with the others, who’ve brought some Ecstasy drugs with them. Charlie, Josh and Mina start dancing, but Josh falls asleep later. So, Charlie and Mina enjoy the hot tub outside. They start to kiss, but Mina interrupts the amorous behavior, saying she better go to bed. Cut to Mina taking a shower when Charlie suddenly enters the shower and continues what they started in the hot tub.

The next morning, Mina regrets cheating on Josh, not to mention Michelle, Charlie’s wife. She tells Charlie they shouldn’t do it again. Even so, Mina and Charlie are too tired to go hiking with Josh and Michelle. While they’re gone, Mina starts taking another shower, when she discovers what looks like a tiny camera in the shower head. Mina and Charlie decide not to call the police, for fear of having their adulterous tryst the night before uncovered.

This proves to be a mistake, because the person who set up the camera also seems to be stalking them. Is it the caretaker, Tyler, Tyler’s brother, or someone else?

The actors in THE RENTAL include two relatively well-known actors, but this is definitely a B suspense thriller. So, THE RENTAL has a predictable, violent second half. Also, a serial killer gets away with his crimes, so the ending is downbeat and ultimately unsatisfying. As a result, the morality tale in THE RENTAL, about the dangers of bad character and illicit behavior, gets lost. THE RENTAL also contains lots of foul language, some drug abuse and one or two examples of extreme violence. The effect of all this negative content slips into the abhorrent category.

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What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.