Killer Rental review
Killer Rental strives for a new way to view a familiar sight.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Killer Rental
Directed by Ben Hausdorff and Jonathan Kadin
Written by Ben Hausdorff and Jonathan Kadin
Starring Lindsay Arnold, Momo Bedier, Aaron Cavette, Taylor Cooper, Wyatt Hinz, Megan Lawless, Tyler Lofton and Ryan Lucy
Killer Rental Review
Location, location, location. You’ve probably heard that phrase before when someone is discussing what it takes for a business to succeed. Well…Killer Rental utilizes the concept to make its slasher movie work. One of the biggest issues that slasher movies have had since their heyday is technological advances. Everyone has a phone (and a computer) in their pocket. You used to be able to feel isolated while in a suburb on Halloween night. Nowadays…you are always connected. Slasher movies have found two routes to deal with it. Scream incorporates new technologies into its narratives. Nearly everyone else finds a reason to get rid of the phones. Sometimes it’s a screen-free weekend where all the phones are collected at the start of the story. Most times there’s just no cell service in this area.
Killer Rental opts for that last idea…but it does it in a way that works better than simply watching a character looking for a signal and bemoaning their inability to find one. It places its characters, purposely, in the middle of nowhere. You can believe that there is no cell service at a cabin in the woods…even though there probably should be. Killer Rental sets its rental home so far away from another living being that it would be surprising if there was a Wi-Fi signal. The location doesn’t just solve the cellular problem…it solves the feeling of isolation issue. There’s an overhead shot of the rental property…and it is the most isolated location you’ll ever see. Eventually…the story even takes away its characters’ mode of transportation…assuring that there is nowhere to run and a long wait for help to arrive.
These aren’t the most important things in the world. But they do matter. Instead of artificially forcing things to try and answer, “why don’t they just…” questions, Killer Rental allows you to confidently say “I don’t know what they’re supposed to do about this”. If there was ever a place for a power tool wielding maniac to attack a group of young people…this is it. Which, of course, does happen here. Eventually.
Killer Rental tells its story in a fairly unique way even though it’s using some now common techniques. Technically a found-footage movie, Killer Rental utilizes hidden cameras as both part of its story and how most of the movie is viewed. That means a lot of stationary cameras to watch like you are creeping on the people at the rental house. The story begins with a different group of people finding the footage (which also includes POV videos shot by one of the visitors). They sit back to watch a conveniently edited account of what happened to some previous renters. There’s even a score attached to the slickly produced video. And there’s a reason for that.
I spent some of my time with Killer Rental questioning the music added to the footage we are viewing. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the movie had thought about how or why it would be there. Without heading too far down the explanation hole…we aren’t just watching the found footage…we’re watching a found footage film within a film. It just happens to be real. Bookending it with characters watching the footage themselves tips that off. A climactic reveal puts the reason into context. It allows for a clever button on the whole story.
I mentioned that the power tool wielding maniac attacking people in a remote location story plays out here…eventually. That’s because the first hour of Killer Rental doesn’t have a lot of it. We’re watching six friends on vacation together…and for most of the first hour that’s all we’re really watching. Killer Rental finds a few places to insert a kill and to take the characters’ transportation away…but most of the murdering is reserved for the third act. That’s when power drills, saws and nail guns get their time to shine. About two-thirds of Killer Rental requires you to care about the six friends to keep you engaged. I found them to be fine…but would have preferred seeing more violence from the antagonist known as “The Carpenter” along the way.
Scare Value
Though it disguises it with some clever narrative ideas (and takes longer than you’d like to get to it), Killer Rental eventually reveals itself to be a throwback slasher. The Carpenter’s set of tools are put to good use in the climax of the story. Getting to that point is a bit more hit and miss. Location is the key to allowing Killer Rental to provide that old feeling of being cut off from the world. The use of stationary cameras gives you an added layer of voyeurism. I just wish we could have been viewing more power tools piercing flesh.
2.5/5
Killer Rental Link
Streaming on Screambox
