RENT-A-PAL (2020)
Label: IFC Midnight Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 108 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Jon Stevenson
Cast: Amy Rutledge, Brian Landis Folkins, Kathleen Brady, Wil Wheaton
In the realm of sad-loser cinema we have Rent-A-Pal (2020) which is set in the VHS-friendly era of 1990. In it lonely, sad, and desperately single-guy named David (Brian Landis Folkins, Hoax) lives in the basement of his aging mother Lucille (Kathleen Brady, Breaking Bad), whose cognitive state is rapidly declining from the effects of dementia. David spends his free time listening to tapes of his late father's jazz music, watching his dad's vintage porn collection, and submitting VHS tapes to the video dating service Video Rendezvous. He obsessively calls the dating service to see if anyone has swiped right so to speak on his profile, but there never seems to be a match.
He also begins to watch a weird VHS tape titled Rent-A-Pal which he bought at the bargain bin at the dating service, it's a "video friend" tape hosted by a creepily, charismatic host named Andy (Wil Wheaton, The Curse). The tape offers the increasingly isolated David a much needed "virtual" friendship, but what starts off as a harmless, if deeply sad ritual, grows into an increasingly disturbing influence on David's life. Eventually the Video Rendezvous dating service finds a match for David, a sweet caregiver named Lisa (Amy Rutledge) who seems to have a lot in common with him. She understands the stress and emotional toll of caring for the elderly, she loves jazz, and they seem to hit it off after a roller-skating date.
However, the Rent-A-Pal VHS tape continues to have a dark psychological effect on David and it seemingly becomes a bit jealous when David spends more and more time with Lisa than watching the Rent-A-Pal VHS tape. David, now increasingly influenced by his video-pal Andy, begins to act more aggressive, now openly venting his formerly buried anger at his mother, believing that she was the reason his father died.
Eventually David snaps, he becomes embarrassed after prematurely ejaculating in his in his pants while making out with Lisa, and then his mom destroys the Rent-A-Pal tape, he becomes so distraught that he lashes out at the only people around him, resulting in violent and disturbing finale that leaves no one unscathed. This is the first film from director Jon Stevenson, and he turned in a rather excellent debut film. It is well-directed, the characters are strong, and while it's not a gore-soaked by any means it's an interesting character study of a deranged, lonely man who has gone off the deep end under the possible evil influence of a VHS tape.
The film sets up the early 90's era nicely, we get a suburban neighborhood, the skate park he visits feels so late 80's/early 90's to me, living in a home trapped in the past, the fashion style is basically leftover 80's, he always checking his messages on a bulky old school message
machine, and the VHS nostalgia is strong. The way David holds the tapes brought back my own experiences with horror and sex-comedy tapes at the video store, holding them in your hand, turning them over and obsessing over them. I also loved the macro shots of the innerworkings of the VHS player, peeking inside the magic magnetic
mechanizations happening inside the machines.
Audio/Video: Rent-A-Pal (2020) arrives on Blu-ray from IFC Midnight and Scream Factory in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. The digital shot film looks fantastic on Blu, the cool color scheme and tone captures the early 90's sheen very well. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 with optional English subtitles, as well as a English DTS-HD MA 2.0 descriptive audio track. The disc looks and sounds great, no complaints.
Extras kick-off with an hour long making of doc that gets behind-the-scenes for the entire production from start to finish, offering a birds eye view of making an indie film. We get loads of fun behind-the-scenes stuff, the cast and crew working hard but having a blast, including some great footage of Wheaton filming his scenes!
The best extras is the complete "Hi, I'm Andy!", which is 22-min of the unedited Wheaton scenes, it's like your watching the VHS tape yourself, so if you're feeling lonely and need a friend it's always there for you, but be careful, don't let it drive you nuts! Additionally we get the unedited "Meet Your Matches" footage, as if you were watching your matches on the the Video Rendezvous Video tapes.
Special Features:
- The Making Of Rent-A-Pal (60 min)
- "Hi, I'm Andy!" Featurette (22 min)
- "Meet Your Matches!" (4 min)
- Audio Descriptive Track (DTS-HD MA 2.0)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
- IFC Midnight Trailers: A Call To Spy (2 min), Centigrade (2 min), Sputnik (2 min)
Rent-A-Pal (2020) is a gem of the sad-loser variety, a dark character study of a lonely man under the thrall of a possibly supernatural VHS tape. I have now seen it three separate times in as many months and it keeps getting better with each viewing, and the extras on this release only improved it's standing.
Screenshots from the Blu-ray:
