Really Awful Movies: Ep 338 – The Rental

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Two brothers and their significant others rent a sprawling seaside mansion, Air B’n’B-style.

In this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, Dave Franco’s The Rental.

In his directorial debut, Franco, who also co-wrote the script, casts wife Alison Brie (Community/Mad Men) in one of the leads. She plays Michelle, and her beau Charlie (Dan Stevens) is a startup superstar entrepreneur. Charlie’s brother (Jeremy Allen White from Shameless) is a bit of a loser with a criminal past, who feels like he isn’t good enough for his love, Mina (Sheila Vand). She’s also his bro’s business partner in the Bay Area.

The trip gets off to a rocky start when Mina suspects the home’s caretaker of being an Islamophobe and all-around a-hole. However, the foursome has invested time and money in this weekend getaway, and figure it’s best to let things lie.

Before too long, Mina and her boss get a bit too close for comfort when their partners pass out early. And that is when tensions really ratchet up.

The Rental is pretty damn good as a directorial debut, with good characterizations and atmosphere, marred by a bit of a goofy antagonist. Still, sharp, surprising and with enough twists to more than warrant a recommendation.

Join us on the latest episode of the show.

Really Awful Movies: Ep 337 – The Invitation and Doctor Sleep

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On this, the latest episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast: The Invitation and Doctor Sleep.

There’s not some sort of hidden link between the two, but these are recent horrors (released within the last five years) that caused quite a stir in some circles, with outlets like the Village Voice saying this of the social convention horror The Invitation, “you won’t see a more shocking thriller all year.”

Hmm, that’s high praise indeed, especially for a year that gave us The Witch, Green Room, and Bone Tomahawk (all of which we podcasted on Really Awful Movies – check out those episodes at your own volition).

Still, there’s enough meat to warrant a discussion.

Also on the podcast: Doctor Sleep. The de facto sequel to the indelible The Shining, it features Ewen McGregor as Danny Torrance, all grown up, but suffering from the aftereffects of his stint visiting the Overlook.

You could say this is an easy movie to…overlook…especially if you have a set of expectations from the Kubrick epic. There’s something to this film, even if it comes up short.

Tune in, folks!

Really Awful Movies: Ep 336 – Citadel

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In advance of St Patrick’s Day, a foray into Irish horror movies with Citadel, a psychological effort set in Glasgow Scotland.

For this, there’s a terrific IMDb description: “an agoraphobic father teams up with a renegade priest to save his daughter from the clutches of a gang of twisted feral children who committed.” If you don’t find that enticing as a premise, you’re reading the wrong website!

Astute viewers will notice similarities between the antagonists here, and those in David Cronenberg’s The Brood.

This is one film that won’t do wonders for Glasgow Tourism! A bit of a shorter entry for this week’s podcast. We will be coming back strong next week, complete with both hosts, as we dive into different flavours of genre film.