Lin Shaye is good in whatever she stars in - she could wear a sack and gag and still steal the show and she does it in spades in this film.

Some of the scenes I found quite shocking and I am not easily shocked; notably the scene with the young thugs trying to molest her. Coupled with some very weird dialogue it does push this film into the more disturbing thriller/horror shelves. It is also quite sad in many ways illustrating the loneliness of being on your own in later years and the search for meaning.

Sadly the film although better than average, never rises above that due to the writing and lack of tension, the story just seems to meander all over the place as if it was written by several people or chopped to much in the cutting room.

Still it makes a good job of what it has to work with and is a lot better than some of the awful so called high budget movies being pumped out; seemingly daily.

Some reviewer said he did not understand the ending; seems simple to me she killed everyone in order to have the child she was obviously missing and once she had returned from Holiday and the baby had been born she obviously killed the young girl and was now Grandma to the kid - seemples but seems some folks need it spelled out for them!

Joyce is a lonely widow who needs money to keep her home, so she rents out a room. After trying to run a bed and breakfast, she later decides to have an ongoing tenant: a mysterious drifter named Bob.

Soon, she's making him the object of her deepest romantic fantasies. Yet when Bob falls for one of her younger friends, she decides to finally get everything she ever wanted no matter what it takes.

You may know Lin Shaye from the Insidious films, but here, she's gripping the spotlight all for herself. There are some great character moments, like when she attacks a gang of skateboarders by kissing one of their members right on the mouth or her flipping out and suffocating a friend with a throw pillow. I get the idea that Shaye is overjoyed to be a bad guy here, reveling in the ridiculous wardrobe and over the top melodrama.

I mean, what other movie will you see where Lin has a near-erotic moment as she brushes her teeth with the toothbrush of Bob, her drug-dealing fistfighting love interest? Or finds a bag of cocaine and does huge handfuls of it before dragging a dead body across her bric-a-brac festooned living room?

I laughed out loud several times during this and even if the ending is a little choppy, it's a hell of a lot of fun.

Room for Rent opens May 3 in select theaters and releases May 7 on VOD.

This 2019 thriller stars Lin Shaye, Oliver Rayon and Valeska Miller. Shaye (Insidious) plays Joyce, a lonely yet disturbed, widow who decides to open a bed & breakfast in her home. She meets a young woman, Sarah (Miller) whom she befriends and soon Joyce meets Bob (Rayon), a handsome loner whom she becomes obsessed with. Joyce wants the life she never had with a baby and will take extreme measures if anyone gets in her way. This isn't bad, it has dramatic & tense moments and Shaye is great as usual. Give this one a try if you're into psychological thrillers.