“Quiet place. Terrible secrets ”- such a slogan was given by director D. Franco to the horror movie filmed in 2020, which is originally called The Rental. Russian localizers titled the film The Rental.
Four millennials – colleagues Charlie and Mina with their soulmates, wife Michelle and boyfriend Josh – go on a weekend. They book a luxurious villa through the site, take their pet pug with them, stock up on ecstasy and plan to “come off to the fullest” on vacation. However, from the first frames it becomes clear that the guys are going to where none of them will return alive.
But careless young people are not alarmed by anything: neither problems in obtaining employment, nor the most unpleasant landlord who met them, nor a dog that suddenly disappeared in the forest. The epiphany does not come until the morning of the second day, when Mina, taking a shower, discovers a hidden video camera. One by one, the heroes of a hard slasher become victims of a voyeuristic maniac.
A Quiet Place: The Meaning of the Movie’s Title
According to critics, this is “Airbnb horror”. The name “Rent” is much better than The Rental conveys its semantic load. The plot is based on a common fear of all tenants of temporary housing. In an unfamiliar house or apartment, everything seems different: there is a feeling that someone is watching you or something is specially rigged. It seems that some problem or mysticism is hidden behind a beautiful facade.
The personification of precisely these fears in the picture is a psychopathic killer who, with the help of video cameras placed everywhere, hunts down his future victims. After watching this film, gullible people who rent property from strangers with a calm mind risk getting paranoid and searching hotel rooms for possible peeping or listening.
Scary Mysteries: The Meaning of the Genre Mix
The second part of the slogan – “terrible secrets” – explains the genre structure of the film. Before displaying the attributes of a “horror” on the screen, the director devotes almost 2/3 of the time to another topic: relationships in family and friendly pairs of characters. Charlie cheats on his wife with Mina, Josh is terrified of being abandoned by his girlfriend, and Michelle learns new unpleasant things about his wife. The film does not relish physical fear, but takes the viewer into the plane of social fear: loneliness, betrayal of those closest to you.
The space of a country house is rapidly becoming more and more crowded, filling with a vacuum from the lies and omissions accumulating between the guys. They are overwhelmed by emotions, jealousy and envy. Immersed in personal grievances and squabbles, the heroes lose their sobriety of thoughts and are unaware of the tragedy.
Turning to the problem of the complex structure of love and affection, the filmmakers transferred everything psychological, odious and interpersonal, to the territory of the physical. They showed that it is easy to bring life to a cliff (on the edge of which the last victim of the killer, Mina, faced death) can easily be done without a mysterious maniac. And horror becomes not so much conventional as everyday. This is a terrible story about the dishonesty that poisons our lives. In a broad sense, the idea of the picture is that people can never be completely trusted.
The meaning of the film’s ending
In the face of impending death, none of the four has time to either realize their defenselessness or become resisting prey. The characters of The Rental are separated by torn family and friendly ties, they die one by one. At the same time, the creators of The Rental do not make it clear: would their solidarity affect the behavior of a serial killer and the outcome of a tragic story?
But two details of the film’s ending help the viewer “dot the i’s”. Of the entire company of unfortunate tenants, only the dog Reggie survived. The only one who hasn’t done anything wrong to anyone in the entire movie. The maniac did not cause any harm to the animal. A shot flashed in which he even tried to pet a pug. It becomes clear that the killer-voyeur is not a flayer, but a hunter of people who sees everything and punishes for hidden sins. However, the scenes shown after the credits make it doubt this.
Interpretation of post-credits frames
The final cut sheds absolutely no light on the identity of the killer, leaving the true motives and goals of the masked stranger with him. He remains devoid of not only character, but also face. The developed scheme of crimes, the methods of “covering up traces” indicate that this person commits massacre is not the first time. Acts skillfully, kills soullessly and routinely.
It turns out that there is no secret meaning in the film. Just a faceless and nameless psychopath booking houses through the site, making duplicate keys during the stay, installing cameras in the premises and preparing traps for future apartment tenants. And then, when completely different, random people rent housing, he comes back and kills them – just like that, because he can and wants to do it.
The epilogue finally frightens the viewer: a new place that an unsuspecting new family rents from a maniac who has dealt with the heroes of the film. This means that the deadly game “The Rental – I’m not guilty” starts again.
