The Rental-- My take on the movie with spoilers!

PLOT SUMMARY: When two couples rent a vacation home, they find themselves in a dangerous predicament when a man is killed. 

Here’s another story of couples choosing a remote house for a weekend getaway rather than a resort or a five-star hotel with so many benefits.

At this point, I’ll find a story believable of people choosing to go away from the city is if their career demands it. As a writer, I can understand the need to find some quietude so I can get some writing done without hundreds of distractions.

Yes, I would even maybe turn off my cellphone for a while just so I can slip into a world that I’ll create piece by piece.

Or else, why choose a place, so far from everything that no one can hear you scream, and the only way out in an emergency is your own car.

THE RENTAL Movie Plot 

In the Rental, we meet Charlie and Mina going crazy over a house they find online for a getaway. There is some chemistry between them and it’s a tad surprising when Josh walks in and not only is he Charlie’s brother but also Mina’s boyfriend.

They’ve chosen a house in the middle of nowhere and the price is apparently through the roof. But Mina and Charlie believe they’ve earned a little time off because of the work they’ve put in starting a new company.

Charlie is married to Michelle and there is some discussion as to how Josh is a troubled man with criminal record and anger issues.

Michelle is all for Mina being the best thing to happen to Josh, but Charlie seems a little sour. He keeps maintaining that Mina is too good for his own brother. There is a hint of jealousy in his tone and perhaps Michelle has caught on to that because she keeps on supporting Josh’s and Mina’s relationship.

The next day Michelle and Charlie go pick up the couple and Charlie is pissed Josh has decided to bring his dog with him because the homeowner had a strict no pets policy.

Josh plans to hide the dog but Charlie thinks it’s stupid to drive to the other end of the country only to find out that the homeowner turns them away for having a dog.

They make an extremely long drive to the house that is near a cliff. They discuss racism because Mina had the name Mohamedi attached to her. She states that she registered for the weekend for the house but got rejected and minutes later when Charlie did, he was accepted.

They reach and meet Taylor, a grumpy looking aged man whose brother owns the house he’s letting people rent for weekend getaways. He is in shabby attire and Mina straight away asks him if this is really his house. Taylor is irritated that she would think he couldn’t afford this house and goes on to ask her how she got mixed in with the others, an indirect racist statement.

Mina gets pissed because she thinks only she has the right to put people down. Josh tells her to calm down and that Taylor would go away soon.

Taylor shows them around the house, even a hot tub at the porch.

Michelle wants to look at the stars and talks about how she forgot to bring her telescope. Taylor remarks what use could she possibly have for a telescope unless she wanted to spy on others in the city.

He laughs then and offers to bring the telescope he has so she can use it to see the stars. Taylor leaves, Josh brings out his dog and the couples go for a walk at the beach.

While Mina and Charlie are talking, Josh asks Michelle if she’s jealous her husband is spending too much time with some other woman. Michelle says she doesn’t like it but that she thinks Mina is good for his creative side. She clearly, trusts her husband.

They all get back to their respective partners and head on to the house. They find a telescope inside and Mina remarks how weird it is that Taylor left the telescope inside the house rather than outside.

Telescopes are probably expensive and he didn’t want to leave it outside for just anyone or even birds to poop on. But Mina wants to make it all about her hatred for Taylor because she thinks he’s racist. The others groan because Mina is ruining their mood all the time.

After dinner, Michelle brings out drugs but claims she doesn’t want to indulge because she’s tired but that the others should and leave her some for the next night. She also wants to go for a hike the next day so urges everyone to get some rest.

While she sleeps, the vent directly above her bed vibrates and some dirt falls on her.

The other three have not only done drugs but also drink and dance like loonies. Eventually, they want to get into the hot tub.

Josh quickly burns out and falls asleep. Mina and Charlie get into the hot tub and it isn’t long before their obvious attraction takes over and they make out.

Mina does leave after kissing, but when she goes into the bathroom, Charlie follows her and they cheat on their partners.

So far, the story goes on about couple problems and now we have cheating added to the mixture. There is more relationship drama to come. Where is the horror bit? It will come but it will be so further down that that you won’t be that impressed.

It’s like the writer decided to create all these characters, make them extremely unlikeable so when what is going to happen to them happens, you actually don’t feel sorry for them. It’s a lot like, there’s a lot of character build-up and the writer decides midway that no he hates these characters and obliterates them in a sudden, and meaningless way.

What happens is this: the next day they all wake up. Michelle is her perky self because she loves hikes and didn’t do drugs like the others. Mina and Charlie are completely out of it. Josh joins Michelle on the hike and Michelle makes it plain that her husband has to make up for refusing to go to a hike with her by making dinner.

When they leave Mina and Charlie discuss how this can never happen again and how full of regret they are. Josh did tell Mina to bring the dog back into the house but she easily forgets as she brings the telescope back in, puts the cover on the hot tub and then goes for a shower while Charlie sleeps, unaware that in his absence, his brother has revealed his past to his wife.

Michelle knows Charlie was with Jen when she hooked up with him and feels bad about it. What she didn’t know was that her husband had a cheating pattern. He was with someone else when he met Jen and then with her when he met Michelle. She gets mad, Josh realizes Charlie isn’t very truthful with his wife, and the whole hike is ruined. Meanwhile, someone is watching their drama.

Back at home, while Mina is taking a shower and regretting her time with Charlie, she sees a camera in the showerhead. She calls Charlie and they find another one in another bathroom. Mina is quick to accuse Taylor of it and wants to call the police but Charlie tells her that they were in the shower when they cheated on their partners and it was all probably recorded.

They decide to say nothing to Michelle and Josh when they return. Melissa is in a bad mood and Charlie is pissed that Josh ratted him out. He was supposed to be the good brother and Josh ruined his reputation.

Michelle comes out and wants to do drugs but no one else wants to. She is annoyed that no one wants to do what she planned on their last night. She insists she wants to have fun and does drugs. Meanwhile, Josh remembers he had a dog and asks Mina where he is. Mina realizes she gave more importance to the hot tub and telescope rather than a living being.

They all rush out to search for the dog and when they can’t find him, Mina conveniently blames Taylor rather than her own irresponsible behavior. When they return, Michelle tells them she called Taylor because the hot tub isn’t working.

He comes by and Charlie is insistent in not confronting Taylor about the dog because then he would know they smuggled him in. Josh still asks about the dog and Taylor tells them why they brought a dog when it was clearly a violation of their rental terms. He fixes the hot tub and is leaving when Mina comes out. He tells her that he hopes they find their dog because he likes dogs but it is his brother who doesn’t like them. Mina doesn’t care he’s being nice. She wants to confront him about the hidden cameras.

Taylor is shown the showerhead camera and freaks. He thinks Mina is the voyeur and wants to call the police. Mina realizing her affair will be revealed, tries to stop him but Taylor pushes her away. Josh thinks he’s attacking Mina because he’s a racist and beats him up. Michelle and Charlie come and pull him away while Taylor lies in the bathtub unconscious.

While the four are discussing how violent Josh is, a stranger in black clothes enters and suffocates Taylor. The four return to find Taylor dead. Michelle wants to call the police but Charlie becomes protective of his brother and doesn’t want him to go to jail. They plan to toss him off the cliff. Michelle doesn’t want to be any part of it and goes to mope in her room.

The three head off to the cliff and throw Taylor down but he lands on a hitting rock. While Josh climbs down to push him off the rock, Michelle hears sounds in the house while she is packing. She follows the sounds and finds the TV on and a video of Charlie and Mina in the shower.

She realizes her husband is a dirty rat and gets into the car. After having successfully covered up the murder, the three return to find Michelle leaving in their only way out of the area. Charlie asks her what happened and Michelle tells him she knows he’s a cheating rascal.

Josh is mystified at Michelle’s behavior but doesn’t ask too many questions. He is told about the hidden cameras and they all search for the control room where there would be monitors.

THE RENTAL Ending Explained with spoilers! 

Michelle is weeping and driving when the tire bursts and she crashes into a tree. She texts Charlie for help and just as she presses send, she is attacked by the stranger with a hammer.

When Charlie receives the message, he heads out to search for her. He finds the car and her but is immediately attacked by the stranger who is wearing a mask of an old man.

Josh receives texts from Charlie and wonders why his brother sending him naked photos of his girlfriend.

Then he too sees the video and is aghast that his girlfriend is just as bad as him. She has little time to apologize before the stranger appears and starts using his hammer at Josh.

Mina escapes and throws her shoe off the balcony so that the stranger thinks she jumped off. Then she walks down the stairs and plans to run when the masked stranger appears, clearly clever enough not to fall for her ploy. He chases her down the woods and Mina runs as fast as she can before she slips.

They were living in a house near the cliff. In the dark Mina hadn’t realized where she was running. The masked stranger is pleased with the results and heads back home to retrieve all his hidden cameras and recordings.

He removes the mask but his face remains unseen to us. The dog returns and doesn’t go to him.

The masked man finds another house he can put up for rent and starts installing cameras. This time it is of a family and after watching them for some time, he gets bored and kills them in their sleep.

The attacker has shown to have no other motive other than being bored of whatever is on TV to the point he wants to create his own reality shows and then instead of changing the channel, wants to eliminate everyone and then create the same show. He sure lucked out when Josh, Charlie, Mina and Michelle rented the house. They had enough relationship drama to keep him entertained. He’s not always going to find such couples, is he?

However, their drama wasn’t enough of a hook to keep watching the movie. It becomes tedious after a while and when the horror part comes in a few minutes before the movie is about to end, there’s no thrill, no rooting for the characters to survive.

The characters aren’t even given a chance to defend themselves. They get knocked out pretty quickly and are left for the dead.

Will an investigation be launched? Will people realize those four people are missing? Will the killer leave behind traces? Will the police finally realize there’s a serial killer on the loose?

Scare scale: 2/5