Room For Rent - Lin Shaye Is Outstanding
Room For Rent is a 2019 horror flick written by Stuart Flack and directed by Tommy Stovall. It stars Lin Shaye in the main role of Joyce Smith.
Let’s dive in:
Joyce has lost her husband and now lives alone in her home. She’s a nervous woman, unsure of herself, and not sure what to do next. She discovers from the bank that her husband left her with only $2000 and $6000 in debt. Desperate for money she learns about ShareBNB aka turning your home into a bed and breakfast.
She takes her guest bedroom and posts it online. Soon, two guests arrive, an unhappy couple named Sarah and Edward. They don’t stay long, but Sarah and Joyce form a great bond. Things are starting to improve for Joyce and she decides to offer long term rental. She meets a young man named Bob in her local library and he moves into her spare room. Joyce quickly becomes infatuated with him and with her new sense of confidence and self, she becomes more and more aggressive and manipulative.
When the beautiful Sarah returns to stay, will Joyce become enraged with jealousy or will these two renters make it out alive?
“You’re a dangerous woman.”
Here’s what I loved: (spoilers)
Lin motherfuckin’ Shaye. That’s it, that’s the review.
JK but hot damn. Her acting is incredible in this flick as she completely immerses herself in the role of Joyce. Joyce starts out vulnerable and afraid, being harassed by violent teenagers, and paying for cat food with pennies, you heart is so broken for this woman. But as she unravels and evolves you begin very quickly to doubt everything she says, and become fearful for those around her. Joyce doesn’t show violence outwardly, but as she spins more and more lies about having a son, having a loving husband, being involved with Bob etc, she becomes so terrifying. When Joyce finally snaps – suffocating her elderly neighbor with a pillow, the story takes this massive turn and you are fully along with the ride because of Shaye’s performance.
The minimal violence in this flick – considering the movie poster has Lyn Shaye on the cover holding a knife, there was far less violence than I expected. But I loved this. Because when Joyce does snap, it feels far more realistic. By the time she’s beating Bob to death with a frying pan, that flash of unstoppable violence is terrifying to watch. You also spend most of the flick nervous for anyone that interacts with Joyce, even though you haven’t seen her be violent to anyone yet, you can feel it brewing.
The unreliable narrator – this was a character piece you could friggin’ chew on. A Kong toy for humans. Joyce spins lie upon lie, story upon story, and as you follow along you believe less and less that comes out of her mouth. By the end of the film you realize you have absolutely no idea who Joyce really was. My thoughts on it – she totally killed Fred. The neighbor lets slip that Joyce got pregnant and Fred became enraged and made her get rid of that baby. I think that might have been the turning point for her. There was also mention of a possible affair between Fred and the neighbor. So, we know Fred isn’t a good guy. And I think Joyce killing Fred was the first step into her descent into madness. She kills him, she moves on with her life, but then starts interacting with all of these new people in her life, and her natural instinct to be done wrong by others flairs up.
The ending – yeah, okay, it left a lot up to the imagination and was a bit of a cop out. But it also could leave it open potentially for a sequel, but also to let your imagination run wild. And the ending does work. That unnerving moment when Joyce drives off to a fake vacation, leaving pregnant Sarah innocently living in Joyce’s house. We know Joyce is planning to come back, to possibly spy on Sarah, or lock her up. And as Sarah tries to enter Bob’s old room only to find it locked, the camera pans out and we see in that locked room a nursery. Most chillingly of all; a banner above the crib that reads, “Grandma Loves You.” Incredible.
“All I wanted was a decent man, is that too much to ask?”
This was a great little story with some twists and turns that you will see coming, but will enjoy nonetheless. But Lin Shaye is the star here and is the reason you should watch it. Dark, morbid, chilling. Check this flick out!
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