The Rental

Charlie, his wife Michelle, his brother Josh, and Josh's girlfriend/Charlie's business partner Mina rent a remote house on the Oregon Coast for a weekend getaway. On their arrival at the property, they meet the house's caretaker Taylor, who acts oddly and makes racist remarks toward Mina. After they have settled in, Mina, Josh, and Charlie take MDMA (ecstasy) while Michelle goes to bed. Josh later passes out on the couch, and Mina and Charlie end up kissing in the hot tub and having sex in the shower.

The next morning, Charlie and Mina agree to forget what happened between them and not tell their respective partners. While taking a shower, Mina discovers a camera in the shower head and alerts Charlie; the two are confident Taylor has installed it. Charlie stops her from calling the police, as doing so would likely lead to Michelle and Josh learning they had sex. He also assures her that Taylor would not reveal the footage because it would involve him admitting to spying on them.

That night, Michelle calls Taylor over to fix the hot tub, while Josh realizes his dog has gone missing. Josh is suspicious that Taylor may have taken the dog, so he confronts Taylor upon his arrival, but he denies it. Taylor fixes the hot tub, and Mina privately confronts him about the hidden camera in the shower, which he claims to be unaware of. An argument ensues and Taylor attempts to call the police, but Mina tries to stop him. Hearing the commotion, Josh rushes in and, assuming Taylor was attacking Mina, beats him unconscious. Mina is forced to explain the hidden camera in the shower, but does not reveal that she had sex with Charlie. The group gather in the living room to decide what to do. Meanwhile, a masked man sneaks inside and smothers Taylor to death. When the others return and find Taylor dead, they assume that he died from the injuries inflicted by Josh.

Frantic, Michelle demands they call the police, but Charlie refuses to let his brother, who has previously been incarcerated, return to prison. He suggests that they stage Taylor's death as an accident by throwing him off the cliff into the ocean. Michelle refuses to take part in their plan and goes to the bedroom. Charlie, Josh and Mina carry Taylor's body to the cliff. It falls onto an outcrop, forcing Josh to go down and push it into the sea. Back at the house, Michelle hears the sound of a shower and when she investigates, she is lured into a room where a television shows the footage of Charlie and Mina having sex. Michelle confronts Charlie about what she has seen, and drives off angrily. Down the road, she runs over metal spikes, crashes into a tree, and is attacked by the masked man while texting Charlie for help.

Charlie gets a text from Michelle's phone and goes to search for her. He finds her dead body on the road and is then attacked and murdered by the masked man. Back at the house, Mina and Josh are looking for the shower camera's transceiver to destroy any footage it recorded. Josh receives texts from Charlie's phone that contain evidence of Charlie and Mina having sex. Josh then hears someone enter the house and, thinking it is Charlie, rushes to confront him. Instead, the masked man ambushes and kills Josh. Mina flees, pursued by the masked man. Sprinting through the forest in the darkness and fog, she accidentally runs off a cliff and falls into the ocean.

The masked man returns to the house, removing all evidence and surveillance equipment and then removes his mask (revealing dark hair and what is implied to be a younger man, though his face is not shown). As the man is about to depart, Josh's dog runs in through the backdoor, showing that he did indeed just run off for a day as opposed to being killed. The man attempts to pet the dog gently but the dog recoils, and the man departs without harming the dog.

He rents a new property and installs cameras in it. It becomes clear that as a serial killer; he first rents a property and installs the surveillance equipment, and at some point in the future, he uses that equipment to aid in killing future renters before removing the equipment and moving on. During the credits, footage is shown from the hidden cameras of the masked man attacking a sleeping couple as he emerges from a closet.

• Dan Stevens as Charlie
• Alison Brie as Michelle
• Sheila Vand as Mina
• Jeremy Allen White as Josh
• Toby Huss as Taylor

In March 2019, it was announced Alison Brie, Dan Stevens, Sheila Vand and Jeremy Allen White had joined the cast of the film, with Dave Franco directing from a screenplay he wrote alongside Joe Swanberg.[6] Franco, Elizabeth Haggard, Ben Stillman, Teddy Schwarzman, Swanberg and Christopher Storer served as producers on the film, under their Ramona Films and Black Bear Pictures banners, respectively, while Michael Heimler and Sean Durkin acted as executive producers.[7]

Principal photography began on April 22, 2019, lasting through May 24, in Bandon and Portland, Oregon.[8][9]

Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans composed the film's score, released by Lakeshore Records.

In April 2020, IFC Films acquired distribution rights to the film and scheduled it to be released on July 24, 2020.[10] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film held its premiere at the Vineland Drive-In theatre in City of Industry, California on June 18, 2020.[11]

Franco has voiced his interest in a sequel, saying: "It was the intention from the beginning to leave the ending ambiguous enough that we carry on the story if given a chance... I have a very strong idea for what I would want to do with a sequel."[9]

• The Rental at IMDb