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Male Loneliness Is Taken to Heartbreakingly Chilling Lengths in This Gripping Tech Horror
Few things are as terrifying as pure, unchecked loneliness. Sure, the slashers that fill the horror genre are unnerving, but nothing compares to the realistic fear of not being connected to those around you, of missing out on the joy of community that having friends can bring. Some films recognize this and become eerie showcases of what loneliness can do to a person, but none portray this concept as disturbingly well as Jon Stevenson’s thriller Rent-A-Pal. Following a man desperate for any kind of connection, it sees him find a videotape that promises a friend who will always be there — and who, eventually, will turn our main character’s depressed loneliness into a shocking spiral of violence. Despite being set in the ’90s, the movie is thoroughly modern; it plays on the trauma so many felt during the Covid-19 pandemic to emphasize just how harrowing our protagonist’s experience is. Beyond the pandemic, though, where it really thrives is centering itself in the “male loneliness epidemic,” a well-documented issue as more men than ever are citing feeling disconnected from the world around them. It’s a complex phenomenon that this film delves into terrifyingly well, with Rent-A-Pal offering a lesson so many people need to hear: sometimes, all you really need is a friend.
In ‘Rent-a-Pal,’ Loneliness Is a Monster
While many scary movies make viewers cringe in fear, people watching Rent-A-Pal will find themselves uncomfortable for completely bloodless reasons. It follows David (Brian Landis Folkins), a single man forced to take care of his ailing mother whose only (apparent) hope for connection is submitting tapes to a video dating service (the reality of digital dating before the internet). His life is a heartwrenching one; the film uses its drab colors and Folkins’ expert acting to show how lifeless the world can feel when you go through it alone. Desperate for a connection, he picks up the movie’s titular videotape, “Rent-A-Pal,” which finally offers the connection he’s been hoping for in the form of perfect, pre-rehearsed conversations with his new recorded bestie, Andy (Wil Wheaton). This gives David the energy he needs to actually start a romance with kindhearted nurse Lisa (Amy Rutledge)…but then, Andy starts to break character. He criticizes David for “leaving him behind” and makes the man believe any slight stumble means he should give up on others altogether. It’s a vicious deconstruction of the meager confidence that David has spent half a runtime building, turning the story from one of hope into a cautionary tale about the horrors loneliness can bring.
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Releasing in 2020 meant that many people streamed Rent-A-Pal while socially distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. This instilled instant empathy; stumbling through a social interaction or eating alone may be meaningless for some, but by ensuring audiences understand David’s despair, the film turns his every lonely moment into something devastating viewers can relate to. Yet while it elicits empathy, Rent-A-Pal also calls out an aspect of male loneliness too many people forget: men are often lonely because they’re taught romance is the only permissable connection. The media has long delivered faulty messages that the only people men should forge deep bonds with are women in romantic relationships. This has led many to not only perpetuate their own loneliness by refusing platonic connections, but also becoming more aggressive, lashing out at the women they pin all their hopes upon. It’s a toxic cycle that Rent-A-Pal portrays well, as David’s happiness with Andy early in the film shows that if he had just focused on a friendship, he could’ve lived the life he wanted. By refusing that and shifting all the blame onto the women around him, he instead becomes a monster nobody could’ve expected — and a chilling example of how the “male loneliness epidemic” breeds a toxic culture of aggression in the modern day.
‘Rent-a-Pal’ Shows How Loneliness Can Destroy You
While Rent-A-Pal thrives at showing the horrors of loneliness, its supernatural elements confuse some of the themes at its center. Its messaging about aggression towards women and the fear of loneliness are the best parts of the film, so by hinting that Andy might actually be a digital demon rather than a figment of David’s imagination, it injects unnecessary fantasy into thoroughly grounded topics. Yet while this could complicate viewers’ understanding of the film, the fact that Andy exists makes one thing blatantly clear: all David needed was a friend. His easy happiness with the digital man could have been practice at trying to create a circle of platonic friends that could have not only stopped his loneliness, but taught him the skills to one day pursue romance healthily. It was by pigeonholing himself into one form of connection — and refusing to take accountability for his part in messy social situations — that led David to becoming the monster that the end of Rent-A-Pal sees him as, with this film teaching men the importance of not only multiple kinds of connection, but taking accountability today.
Rent-A-Pal
- Release Date
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October 11, 2020
- Runtime
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108 minutes
- Director
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Jon Stevenson
- Producers
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Robert B. Martin Jr., Jimmy Weber, Raphael Margules, Brian Landis Folkins, Jon Stevenson
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Brian Landis Folkins
David
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