The actor makes his feature directorial debut with this effective horror thriller.
“I think there has been a general stigma against horror films,” lamented Dave Franco as he discussed his directorial debut, The Rental. “A lot of people write them off as being shlocky and cheap, but the truth is the best horror films have just as much merit as these serious dramas that are typically recognized during award season.”
“I think the reason why Ari Aster’s films work, for example, is because he approaches them like art films, it is about the characters and the relationships within that movie. It just happens to be a horror film, too; it happens to be scary.”
It also helps that Aster’s movies have been critically and commercially successful. The filmmaker’s best-known works are Hereditary, which grossed $80.2 million against a $10 million budget, and Midsommar, which grossed $47.9 million against a $9 million budget.
The Rental is about two couples who rent a vacation home for a getaway, but things take a nightmarish turn when they think they are being spied on.
“I think most people know me from the comedies I’ve acted in, so everyone is surprised to hear that my directorial debut is a horror film. As a viewer, there’s nothing I enjoy more than a smart genre film,” Franco explained. “I love the work of this new group of genre filmmakers like Aster, Jordan Peele, Amy Seimetz, and Sean Durkin. These filmmakers approach their work in a more nuanced atmospheric way, where they take their time with the story, and they let it creep up on you. When they take their punches, they land hard as opposed to other genre films that rely too heavily on cheap jump scares and then ultimately feel disposable.”
That’s not the only reason the actor-turned-director wanted The Rental to materialize in the way that it did.
“There are also logistical reasons for why I wanted my first film to be in this genre. I could make it with a small cast and relatively cheap as long as it was primarily set in one location,” the filmmaker admitted. “Within those parameters, I felt like I could have fun with the film’s overall style. The horror genre tends to deal with extreme scenarios and emotions, which gave me the freedom to make bold choices and push boundaries wherever I could.”
One thing that enabled him to do that was where he shot The Rental, opting for Oregon over soundstages and location exteriors.
