Rent-A-Pal (2020)

The vhs man represents the dark side of David. With all the burden from her sick mum and it's deep down what he struggle between responsibility and relief. This is so real life situation and film in a unique way. The last 20 mins is the best.

Fmovies: This is not a horror so don't go in it for that. It's more of a psychological thriller than anything, overall it's a decent film nonetheless. Maybe a little slow at the start but stick with it Worth a watch 7/10

Ive never heard about Jon Stevenson, who has written, produced and directed this film, but from now i will for sure remember that name. i should really like to know how on this god forsaken earth he got the idea to a story like this, is it selfexperienced, or just a quaker moment of peter smart flashingly good idea moment. what i can say is that if you dive into this story you will for sure feel the strangulation of loneliness.

its a story from the late 80's or early 90's, its the vhs video system era, where everything could be done or solved by the help of a video cassette. the vhs plays a great part of this films dynamics, so this is the abc to the vhs era. about a man, taking care of his demented mum, ,living in the basement of his mums house, he goes through the daily routine, of diper shifts, feeding time, tv-watching and bed routines, day after day, he gets more and more depraved from his situation. he is friendless, but tries to find a companion via a dating agency. in those days, fortunes where made by offering people to come and record a short film presentation of youself for lots of dollars spent, and each time you made a hit, you got the reply video for a stash of doe to take home for evaluation. but this fellow aint a lucky fisherman by the female pond, and in desperation he buys a tape from the surplus clearout salesbin, called ''rent a pal'', e.g every lonely mans best pal for advisery and confort made for you from the livingroom chair to your living room chair.

so this is the initiation fase of the story, and as it develpes, you will experience a caracter study of brilliant proportions, you do hold hand with this lonely creature as he gets more and more depraved, desillutionized, fatigued and near psychotic into a frenzy of dialouging with the coloured spots of a tv screen, where the borderline caracteristics linger in the frames of this poor fellow.

its a small casted film, its made on a low budget, but the production dont bear signs of that. the staging and very realistic gadgets and stuff giving a timetrue realistic feel of this era of the last century are just exquisitlly well done. the score have the kind of tension that gives you the feel of , this is a good movie, appears from the very start.

acting is superb, an oscar from me to the male lead for his true deranged acting on a high truth factor, and the mother caracter as a dementedf feature, may well get nominated for best female assisting role. a demented caracter aint easy, and has to be observed thouroughly to overwhelm and convince a grumpy old man that has earned his doe at a geriatrics care facility for 95% of his working carriere, having dealt with hundreds of all levels of dementia at a daily basis.

well this is a true and honest review of a film that takes you into the grey, dry, and nearly darkest corners of a lonely mans life. there are not much gore and blood, but assure you a lot of funny and gutwrenching moments, its a high recommend .

Rent-A-Pal fmovies. Well that was a surprise. I definitely wasn't expecting this movie to be as good as it was. Other then the ending I thought this movie was pretty decent. It had a great cast and original plot. I can't really think of another film quite like it. I wouldn't necessarily call it a horror film though. It was more like a dark comedy. 6 stars from me.

This small movie hits all the right notes. The story of a single man living in his Mom's basement, lonely and frustrated by his Mom's illness, the film is perfectly cast by actors who are each wonderful in their role, but especially Brian Landis Folkins in the lead. It's the type of performance that the Oscar's would never recognize but should. Recreating an era to perfection when we were all still using VHS tapes , with excellent cinematography, this movie is brutally realistic and expertly written and directed. Jon Stevenson who wrote and directed created a very detail oriented movie and also a very tragic one. If there is a real problem with this movie , it's that the movie is so detailed it doesn't quite move along as it should , at least to be entertaining. The plot is actually very slight and it takes some patience to get to the finale. Ultimately as well crafted as the movie is, it's also very depressing , dark and so realistic in it's portrayal of loneliness and resentment that it's not going to be for everyone. I think it's worth it for the performances alone, but be warned, this is not the feel good movie of 2020.

I've felt that this movie needed an quick review.

If you like slow burning thrillers, weird ideas, character development and no "open ending" movies, then this film is for you. Kudos to the main actor, excellent job!

Great cinematography. The tape guy could be weirder, something was missing.

Solid 7.5/10.