THE RENTAL

By Dave FRANCO

PVR INOX PICTURES LTD/PVR INOX LTD. - as DISTR Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD, INDIA, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Maldives

Horror - Completed 2019

Two couples rent a vacation home for what should be a celebratory weekend get-away.

    • Year of production
    • 2019
    • Genres
    • Horror, Drama
    • Countries
    • USA
    • Languages
    • ENGLISH
    • Duration
    • 88 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Dave FRANCO
    • Producer(s)
    • Dave FRANCO, Elizabeth HAGGARD, Teddy SCHWARZMAN, Ben STILLMAN, Joe SWANBERG, Christopher STORER
    • Synopsis
    • Charlie, his wife Michelle, his brother Josh, and Josh's girlfriend/Charlie's coworker Mina rent a remote seaside house for a weekend getaway. On their arrival at the property, they meet the house's caretaker Taylor, who acts oddly and makes racist remarks toward Mina. After they have settled in, Mina, Josh, and Charlie take MDMA (ecstasy) while Michelle goes to bed. Josh later passes out on the couch, and Mina and Charlie end up kissing in the hot tub and having sex in the shower.

      The next morning, Charlie and Mina agree to forget what happened between them and not tell their respective partners. While taking a shower, Mina discovers a camera in the shower head and alerts Charlie; the two are confident Taylor has installed it. Charlie stops her from calling the police, as doing so would likely lead to Michelle and Josh learning they had sex. He also assures her that Taylor would not reveal the footage because it would involve him admitting to spying on them.

      That night, Michelle calls Taylor over to fix the hot tub, while Josh realizes his dog has gone missing. Josh is suspicious that Taylor may have taken the dog, so he confronts Taylor upon his arrival, but he denies it. Taylor fixes the hot tub, and Mina privately confronts him about the hidden camera in the shower, which he claims to be unaware of. An argument ensues and Taylor attempts to call the police, but Mina tries to stop him. Hearing the commotion, Josh rushes in and, assuming Taylor was attacking Mina, beats him unconscious. Mina is forced to explain the hidden camera in the shower, but does not reveal that she had sex with Charlie. The group gather in the living room to decide what to do. Meanwhile, a masked man sneaks inside and smothers Taylor to death. When the others return and find Taylor dead, they assume that he died from the injuries inflicted by Josh.

      A frantic Michelle demands they call the police, but Charlie refuses to let his brother, who has previously been incarcerated, return to prison. He suggests that they stage Taylor's death as an accident by throwing him off the cliff into the ocean. Michelle refuses to take part in their plan and goes to the bedroom. Charlie, Josh and Mina carry Taylor's body to the cliff. It falls onto an outcrop, forcing Josh to go down and push it into the sea. Back at the house, Michelle hears the sound of a shower and when she investigates, she is lured into a room where a television shows the footage of Charlie and Mina having sex. Michelle drives over to Charlie, confronts him about what she has seen, and leaves angrily. Down the road, she crashes into a tree and is attacked by the masked man while texting Charlie to come help her.

      Charlie gets a text from Michelle's phone and goes to search for her. He finds her dead body on the road and is then attacked and murdered by the masked man. Back at the house, Mina and Josh are looking for the shower camera's transceiver to destroy any footage it recorded. Josh receives texts from Charli