After seeing Collectively, I feel I can confidently proclaim that we’ve entered a golden period for physique horror films. Following acclaimed, grotesque latest releases just like the Oscar-winning The Substance and Shudder’s The Ugly Stepsister, author and director Michael Shanks’ insane new horror film a few mysterious power threatening to bond a struggling couple’s flesh collectively reinforces my religion in a subgenre I’ve at all times been cautiously interested in.
Stated couple from the 2025 film launch is performed by real-life husband and spouse Dave Franco and Alison Brie, who additionally produce Collectively, however truly beforehand collaborated on one other horror flick from a number of years in the past that I had at all times been curious to take a look at. It turned out to be one more instance of a film that I remorse not giving an opportunity sooner, and one I’d suggest to any horror fan who enjoys Franco and Brie’s work in Collectively – which we reviewed properly – however, largely, for various causes. Enable me to clarify, WITHOUT SPOILERS…
The Rental Is An Unsettling Trip Thriller
The film in query is 2020’s The Rental – the directorial debut of Dave Franco, who additionally co-produces and co-writes with Joe Swanberg, who is thought for the discovered footage horror favourite V/H/S and the insane residence invasion thriller, You’re Subsequent. Franco doesn’t seem within the movie, however it does star his partner, Alison Brie, alongside underrated Scream King Dan Stevens, future Emmy-winning The Bear star Jeremy Allen White, and Sheila Vand of A Woman Walks Residence Alone at Evening fame as two {couples} spending a weekend away at a trip rental residence that quickly proves to be a nightmare of life-changing and life-threatening proportions.
For his first characteristic, Franco proves to have a reliable deal with on crafting a powerful slow-burn horror film with The Rental (accessible with a Shudder subscription), with its ominous pacing and wonderful character-driven suspense, elevated by a forged that captures their roles’ desperation completely. Whereas not fairly as authentic in idea, I’d go as far as to name this a extra haunting story of Airbnb horror than 2022’s Barbarian, because it depicts a extra frighteningly grounded state of affairs and is portrayed in such harrowing and heartbreaking ways in which I would now be satisfied to solely use lodges for the remainder of my life.
The Rental Boasts A Few Similarities To Collectively
Whereas Collectively is a supernatural thriller and dramatically totally different in tone, I observed a number of ways in which it does relate to The Rental, outdoors of the involvement of Franco and Brie. Most notably, each movies incorporate troubled romance and codependency as prevalent themes, as every of the primary {couples} within the movie is threatened by secrets and techniques that develop from both repressed dissatisfaction or a scarcity of self-assurance. These particulars don’t have any allegorical connection to the movie’s extra overtly horrific moments, in contrast to what Collectively achieves with its physique horror components, however they’d show to be much more heart-wrenching in some respects.
Additionally, each movies show to me that Franco and Brie, as a artistic crew, will not be above utilizing domesticated animals to tug at your heartstrings. Collectively’s opening sequence, with out giving an excessive amount of away, includes two canines experiencing a really disturbing state of affairs, and there may be additionally a canine in The Rental, named Reggie, who proves to be a potent supply of trauma within the story when he abruptly goes lacking. I’ll simply say, his final destiny is nothing to be too nervous about, particularly when in comparison with the poor pooches in Collectively, however I felt I ought to warn pet lovers concerning the suspense that comes along with his absence.
I’ve heard little or no about The Rental because it got here out, however I hope to see its recognition surge following the discharge of Collectively. You probably have but to see it and you’ve got Shudder, I like to recommend you stream it, and even hire it on Amazon. You would possibly find yourself agreeing with me that it is without doubt one of the finest horror films you waited too lengthy to see.