Actor turned director Dave Franco's debut The Rental is a horror film that fuses various subgenres. It's at once a surveillance thriller, a home invasion movie, as well as a masked-slasher flick. The film has proven to be successful in its limited drive-in theater exhibition since its release.
The story follows married couple Charlie (Dan Stevens) and Michelle (Brie Larson), as well as Charlie's brother Josh (Jeremy Allen White) and his girlfriend Mina (Sheila Vand), on a weekend getaway at an oceanside rental house. When a surveillance camera is found on the premises, the foursome is put in grave danger. The steeped paranoia of being watched can be felt in other movies within the horror and suspense genres, as well.
The Collector (2009)
Much like The Rental, Marcus Dunstan's 2009 horror flick The Collector relies on a home-invasion with a major twist. When the Chase family settles into their new isolated abode in Detroit, they hire handyman Arkin (Josh Stewart) to repair the doors and windows.
Desperate for cash, Arkin plans to rob the Chase's safe while working after hours. Once he breaks into the home at night, he's stunned to discover another criminal known as The Collector (Juan Fernandez) has already breached the house and laid a series of Saw-like traps throughout the house.
Vacancy (2007)
Directed by Nimrod Antal, Vacancy tells the story of Amy (Kate Beckinsale) and David Fox (Luke Wilson), a married couple who find themselves stranded at a secluded roadside motel. Worse yet, the in-house entertainment includes several low-grade horror movies that appear to have been shot in the very hotel room they've been assigned.
Before long, Amy and David discover that the motel is littered with hidden surveillance cameras, which are used to keep tabs on the various occupants before they are viciously murdered.
Disturbia (2007)
In a modern-day twist on Hitchcock's Rear Window, Disturbia revolves around juvenile delinquent Kale (Shia LaBeouf), who is consigned to house arrest following his latest incident with the law. Bored out of his gourd, Kale's paranoia increases after witnessing his neighbor transporting what he believes is a dead body.
With the help of his best friend Ronnie (Aaron Yu) and new neighbor Ashley (Sarah Roemer), Kale sets out to prove his neighbor Mr. Turner (David Morse) is a stone-cold killer. To do so, he uses various surveillance feeds to monitor Mr. Turner's every move.
The Beach House (2019)
While a creature feature at its core, The Beach House also features two couples who run into terrifying trouble when vacationing at a beautiful oceanfront abode. The similarities with The Rental are too hard to ignore.
Written and directed by Jeffrey A. Brown, The Beach House involves Randall (Jame Le Gos) and Emily (Liana Liberato), a young couple seeking a little R&R at his father's beachside home. Unbeknownst to Randall, his father already agreed to allow his friends Mitch (Jake Weber) and Jane (Maryann Nagel) to stay at the house. After agreeing to stay together, all four patrons become terrorized my an environmental mutation.
Body Double (1984)
Much like The Rental, Brian De Palma's explicit riff on Hitchcock's Rear Window also features a maniacal masked murderer and an obsession with perverted surveillance and secret spying.
Body Double tracks Jake (Craig Wasson), a claustrophobic actor who becomes obsessed with spying on his beautiful female neighbors while housesitting for a friend. When Jake witnesses what he thinks his a murder one night, he's sucked into a tangled web of intrigue, sex, and murder.
The Strangers (2008)
Bryan Bertino's The Strangers is an exercise in less-is-more horror, as a bickering couple returning from a wedding find themselves stalked and terrorized by a trio of masked maniacs in their isolated cabin.
James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Liv Tyler) are at odds when returning home from a loved one's wedding ceremony. As they try to remain amicable, the tension increases when a knock at the door introduces them to a young girl in a china-doll mask. Soon the girl calls on her two masked accomplices to turn James and Kristen's night into a living hell.
The Guest (2014)
Also starring Dan Stevens, The Guest is a low-key home-invasion thriller in the guise of a mistaken-identity story. Stevens plays a man called David Collins, a former U.S. Army Sergeant who ingratiates himself as a houseguest in the Peterson home.
Upon arriving, David claims he was a close friend of the Peterson's son Caleb, who died in battle overseas. The Petersons welcome the charming man into their home, but a series of violent mishaps make them suspect something gravely amiss with David's true identity.
Crawlspace (1986)
In one the most disturbing surveillance horror slashers ever assembled, Klaus Kinski plays Karl Gunther, the psychotic son of a Nazi surgeon who runs a disheveled apartment complex for women.
Gunther has equipped the complex with various surveillance methods, secret passages, and clandestine rooms that he uses to spy on his female patrons. He also rigs the apartment with torture devices and elaborate murder contraptions that he uses to punish the women who discover his perverted leering. Gunther even keeps a young woman captive in a cage in the attic.
Don't Breathe (2016)
Much like The Rental, Fede Alvarez's Don't Breathe also features a jaw-dropping wrinkle in the home-invasion subgenre. After casing the place, Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette), and Money (Daniel Zovatto) plan to steal thousands of dollars from the home of a blind war veteran (Stephen Lang).
Despite having no eyesight, The Blind Man has the advantage of knowing the layout of his house. When he cuts the power, he has the trio of thieves right where he wants them. However, Alex discovers a deep dark secret the Blind Man has been hiding in his basement, which alters the dynamic entirely.
Peeping Tom (1960)
Along with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, Peeping Tom is responsible for creating the modern-day slasher film. Since it also deals with sordid surveillance and creepy spying, it is the number one movie to see if you liked The Rental.
Directed by Michael Powell, Peeping Tom follows handsome but timorous Mark Lewis (Carl Boehm), a focus-puller for a British photography studio. Scarred by past trauma as a child, Mark is fascinated by capturing expressions of fear on camera. As such, he stalks the night with a knife hidden in the leg of his camera tripod and films the facial expressions of his murder victims in the moments before their death.