62
Metascore
30 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83ConsequenceMichael RoffmanConsequenceMichael RoffmanFranco exercises so much restraint, especially during the frenetic final act, that you’re always left on edge. There’s hardly a single gratuitous shot to the entire film.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterJon FroschThe Hollywood ReporterJon FroschIt's a confident, enjoyably nasty piece of work, unnerving enough to cure your FOMO about that canceled summer vacation.
- Take out the masked menace, this is still tense: Add them in, and it's stomach-churning. Brutal, smart, wild and mean, The Rental savagely reinvents the summer camp slasher for the vacation rental generation, and delivers a punchline payoff that will leave you reeling.
- 75The Film StageChristopher SchobertThe Film StageChristopher SchobertA sturdy, small-scale thriller that makes little lasting impact but certainly succeeds in providing some clever jolts.
- 70SlashfilmChris EvangelistaSlashfilmChris EvangelistaAs far as directorial debuts go, The Rental is a strong start for Franco, who proves here he can take not just one but two different tried-and-true genre formulas and rework them into something neat.
- 70VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanThere’s some crafty artistry at work in The Rental, and also some fairly standard pandering, which feels like a violation of the movie’s better instincts. That said, most of it is skillful and engrossing enough to establish Franco as a director to watch.
- 67IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichEven in spite of its obvious nowness, this thing is such a lean, mean, and utterly merciless old school programmer that it might seem anachronistic if not for the fact that it’s being released onto many of the same drive-in screens that would have shown it 35 years ago.
- 63Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenDave Franco has a mighty command of silence as a measurement of emotional aftershock.
- 50Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreThe younger Franco doesn’t reinvent the genre or advance it in any way. But horror, as always, proves a nice proof-of-directing-chops test case, and he passes with flying colors. The performances are pitch-perfect, the picture opens with dread and the suspense builds nicely.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleInstead of slavishly appending cliched horror tropes onto his otherwise worthy script, Franco should have at least taken the horror genre seriously enough to investigate how he might stretch it and make it better. That was within his reach, if only he’d reached for it. Maybe next time he will.