Ardent, frank, and downright disturbing.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Jul 20, 2023

Despite its wacky premise, “Rent-A-Pal” works because it doesn’t see its subject matter as a joke.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 24, 2022

Both an intimate character study and a manic, unpredictable thriller, “Rent-A-Pal” is an unnerving and unexpectedly sad look into a specific world that is no longer active.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jul 5, 2022

There's nothing to be gained from [Rent-a-Pal's] oppressing experience. Rent something else.

| Jun 5, 2021

Unusual and gripping nineties-set horror/thriller about the need for connection outside of family and what loneliness can do to a person, featuring actors who are worth watching out for in the future.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 14, 2021

Builds a claustrophobic world of era-specific appliances and, ultimately, techno-horror as it dwells on loneliness, desire, and poisonous male relationships.

| Dec 28, 2020

While [the] methods for trying to find companionship are all decades-old ... the emotions at the core of Rent-A-Pal don't feel that distant from 2020 and its digital solutions for human connection.

| Original Score: B | Nov 16, 2020

Rent-a-Pal is an understated gem, and deserves a huge audience for all its principals, dealing with a subject that is rarely touched upon by mainstream cinema.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 26, 2020

Stevenson's script... is smart in the dialog but wavers in its structure, and could have benefited from a leaner edit before shooting.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 23, 2020

Soon enough things get dark.

| Original Score: C+ | Oct 22, 2020

It sets itself apart from similar genre fare in stylish and chilling fashion.

| Original Score: 8.5/10 | Oct 21, 2020

The majority of the film looks like it could have been a disturbing psychological study ... But then, Rent-A-Pal went down a very unimaginative and cliché horror path toward the end of the film.

| Sep 25, 2020

Throughout Rent-A-Pal, the language of misogyny bleats loudly, persuading the easily gulled that only their fellow Y chromosome compatriots understand them and that the roadblock denying them fulfillment is female influence.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Sep 24, 2020

Stevenson's directorial debut is a moody, retro exploration of toxic masculinity, both historic and contemporary, one that will disturb more than scare.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 20, 2020

This is one of those movies that would probably work better as a short.

| Sep 17, 2020

The movie aims to effectively unsettle you, but becomes increasingly off-putting and tedious.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Sep 17, 2020

A dark horror/comedy film that is wildly watchable. And that is even before the wheels absolutely go off the rails.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Sep 16, 2020

A heartbreakingly tragic story of loneliness and fractured friendship, Rent-A-Pal is packaged in a teasingly superficial plot of a man gone mad.

| Sep 15, 2020

...it's an interesting stab at something offbeat.

| Sep 15, 2020

While being strangely funny, it tackles serious themes over mental health issues, depression and loneliness.

| Original Score: B | Sep 15, 2020