Movies
[Review] ‘Rent-A-Pal’ Is an Unsettling But Familiar Retro VHS Thriller
Before the digital age and the internet, as we know it, dating services connected hopefuls through video dating in the early ‘90s. To say it was an awkward form of dating would be a vast understatement. For a fee, you could record a short pitch that summed up who you were and what you wanted in a partner, to be cataloged and collected with every other paying member, video rental store style. Using the stats on the label, you then selected potential mates to watch there or at home. Suddenly the world of online dating doesn’t seem so bad. Rent-A-Pal is a retro-styled thriller that uses the dated video dating concept to weave an unsettling but familiar character study.
Set in 1990, Brian Landis Folkins stars as David, a lonely bachelor living in the basement of his mom’s (Kathleen Brady) home and working as her full-time caregiver. She has dementia and requires his supervision and help nearly round the clock, ensuring he has no social life. That she can’t remember who he is only exacerbates his need to connect with others. He signs up for video dating in search of a partner, and it leads him to stumble upon a VHS tape called Rent-A-Pal. On it, he finds Andy (Wil Wheaton), a charming extrovert that promises true friendship. The more time he spends with Andy’s tape, the more he realizes that Andy’s company comes with a steep toll that David will have to sacrifice to afford.
Written and directed by Jon Stevenson, making his feature debut, Rent-A-Pal is deeply submersed in its period. From the score to the lo-fi VHS aesthetic to the production design, every inch of this movie screams 1990. Stevenson demonstrates a keen eye for detail in crafting this weird little world.
At a runtime of nearly two hours, Rent-A-Pal plays like a quiet character study, getting us acquainted with David’s profound loneliness while he embarks on his sojourn for a meaningful relationship. Folkins plays David with a genuine earnestness that maintains audience allegiance for most of it. Opposite him is Wheaton’s confident creeper, Andy. Andy says all the right things, but there’s a sinister underpinning that keeps you unsettled. Before long, David is shirking all responsibilities to hang out in his dark basement with his VHS buddy. That is until he meets Lisa (Amy Rutledge), a shy video dater that couldn’t be any kinder. It sparks Andy’s jealousy and creates volatile tension for David. David’s sanity, life, and tenuous personal relationships are at stake.
Much of Stevenson’s film plays like an intimate psychodrama, painting a destructive picture of a desperate man being swallowed whole by dedicating his entire adult life to a mentally unwell mother that toggles between aloof and vicious. His slow unraveling as he gives in to his more selfish impulses, spurned on by his new friend, slowly strips away the empathy he’d earned in the first half of the film as things grow darker.
The third act robs all the goodwill entirely, as David’s journey shifts from unsettling ambiguity to full-blown predictability. The brutal climax feels as rushed as it does unnecessarily mean-spirited, ending on a dour note that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. The narrative abandons thoughtful new examinations on the human condition in favor of retreading familiar ground.
Ultimately, Rent-A-Pal is a dramatic character study that favors full atmospheric submersion and details over characterization. It throws both the pacing and the character arcs off balance; late-game personality shifts don’t feel wholly earned. The shocking violence that comes is rendered all the more repulsive as a result, but that’s more detrimental here. Light on scares, expect a measured psychodrama with an emphasis on retro style. It’s well crafted and well acted, but while some might be lured into this introspective world, most will want to put this video back on the shelf.
Rent-A-Pal releases in theaters and VOD on September 11, 2020.
Ghostface is back on the big screen this weekend… well, sort of… with the release of Scary Movie, which marks the Wayans brothers’ return to the horror spoof franchise for the first time since Scary Movie 2 back in the day. It’s likely to be the talk of the horror community for the weekend, but don’t overlook the other six genre movies that were freshly unleashed today.
Here’s all the new horror that released on Friday, June 5, 2026.
The horror spoof franchise is back with Scary Movie now playing in theaters!
Marlon Wayans (“Shorty”), Shawn Wayans (“Ray”), Anna Faris (“Cindy”), and Regina Hall (“Brenda”) reunite for the new Scary Movie, with the cast also including Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Jon Abrahams, Damon Wayans Jr., Gregg Wayans, Kim Wayans, Benny Zielke, Cameron Scott Roberts, Heidi Gardner, Olivia Rose Keegan, Ruby Snowber, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, and Felissa Rose.
Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer (“Ghostface”), the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe…
Scary Movie will slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin stories, anything with the word legacy in it, and every “final chapter” that absolutely isn’t. A whole lot has changed in the horror genre since the Wayans Brothers were in charge of the franchise; their involvement ended with Scary Movie 2 back in 2001!
Michael Tiddes (A Haunted House) directs Scary Movie 6 from a script written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, original Scary Movie director Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans (Scary Movie 2), and Rick Alvarez (A Haunted House).
From IFC, shark attack movie Chum is now available on Digital.
Alice Eve (Haunting of Queen Mary) stars in shark attack movie alongside Eric Michael Cole, Jim Klock, Elle Haymond, Lisa Yaro, Johnny Gaffney, and Sarah Siadat.
This one sounds very similar to last year’s Dangerous Animals…
Here’s the plot: “A newlywed couple joins friends on a Mediterranean yacht excursion, only to find themselves caught between a predatory shark and a psychopathic killer in their midst-transforming a sun-drenched escape into a fight for survival.”
Jonathan Zuck directs Chum, from a script by Jonathan Zuck and Joe Leone.
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) and Kyle Gallner (Strange Darling) come together in Carolina Caroline, a sexy crime thriller now playing in theaters.
It’s not a horror movie, mind you, but it’s worth a mention here all the same.
Kyra Sedgwick (Family Movie) and Jon Gries also star in the romantic crime thriller.
Director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s film stars Samara Weaving as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her small Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner), and together they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast.
Adam Rehmeier previously directed the films Dinner in America and Snack Shack.
Tom Dean wrote the screenplay for Carolina Caroline.
Similar to Steven Spielberg’s upcoming big screen blockbuster Disclosure Day, Signal One explores humankind’s enduring question: what if we aren’t alone in the universe?
The sci-fi thriller is now available on Digital.
Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Josh Hutcherson (Five Nights at Freddy’s), David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Raoul Bhaneja (Possessor), Emma Ho (“The Expanse”), and Dennis Quaid (The Substance) star in Signal One from director Jonathan Sobol (The Art of the Steal).
When tech billionaire Sam Houston (Quaid) hires the brilliant computer scientist Annika (Fuhrman), she ventures to an isolated facility run by the brilliant, nihilistic creator of LITTLEMOUTH, a machine which can communicate with alien intelligence.
Annika soon learns some humanity-altering facts: that we are not alone in the universe, that alien intelligences are communicating around us at every moment, and that we are likely too primitive to even remotely understand what they are trying to tell us.
When the goal of the endeavor shifts from listening to talking back, the project rapidly devolves into chaos. With contact comes consequences, and soon Annika and the team must work to ensure the very survival of our species.
A schoolyard dare becomes an urban legend in the creepypasta-inspired horror anthology The Summoning. The indie film is now available on Digital from Brainstorm Media.
“A babysitting gig becomes a nightmare of urban legend when three teens summon Baby Blue. Survival depends on uncovering the past to escape a mother’s wrath from beyond the grave.”
Felipe Vargas (Rosario, Hive), Sergio Gonzalez, Brandon Piskorik, Corey Benson Powers, and Brian Sepanzyk direct the segments. Valeria San Martín, Justina Ceballos, Daniela Flombaum, Nannu Spannauss, Agustín Olcese, and Giovanni Onetti star.
The Summoning is written by Camilo Zaffora.
Happy Death Day actress Jessica Rothe stars as a mom struggling to keep her grip on her sanity and memory in the mind-bending Affection, now available on Digital at home.
In Affection, “Afflicted by a mysterious condition that resets her memory, Ellie becomes trapped in a cyclical nightmare with a man who claims to be her husband. She soon must uncover the horrifying truth of her existence—before she forgets it all again.“
Joseph Cross (“Big Little Lies”) and Julianna Layne (“Chicago P.D.”) also star in the sci-fi horror thriller. Affection marks the feature debut by writer/director BT Meza.
Daniel Kurland wrote in his review out of the film’s premiere, “Affection is steeped in existential questions and fears that plague modern society, while it embraces the ethos of the ’80s through bold body horror. Add to that Rothe’s revelatory performance, and Affection is a hidden gem that will connect with your mind, body, and soul.”
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s latest dark fairy tale, The Ice Tower, loosely reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s fable “The Snow Queen,” and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
In the ’70s set film, “Jeanne, a 15-year-old orphan, witnesses the shoot of a film adaptation of the fairy tale The Snow Queen, and she becomes fascinated by its star Cristina (Marion Cotillard), an actress who is just as mysterious and alluring as the Queen she is playing.“
Clara Pacini stars as Jeanne. August Diehl and Marine Gesbert also star in The Ice Tower, and look for a cameo from director Gaspar Noé (Climax, Irréversible).
“For me, The Ice Tower solidified Lucile Hadžihalilović’s place amongst the most fascinating creators of fairy tales today,” said distributor Yellow Veil Pictures co-founder Joe Yanick.
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