M. Night Shyamalan’s new movie Knock at the Cabin takes place at a secluded vacation rental. A couple of dads and their daughter are enjoying their weekend getaway when four mysterious strangers show up and give them a horrible ultimatum.
Knock at the Cabin is just one of many recent thrillers set at vacation rentals. Let’s take a look at some of these movies! This list will ONLY include movies with at least 70% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Knock at the Cabin doesn’t quite make the cutoff. It has 67% on Rotten Tomatoes, which places it right in the middle of Shyamalan’s films.
Barbarian
Barbarian was a highly-reviewed horror film from 2022 starring Georgina Campbell, Justin Long, Bill Skarsgård, and Matthew Patrick Davis. It has 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. When Campbell’s character Tess arrives at her Airbnb rental late one rainy night, she is surprised to learn that someone else is already there (Skarsgård’s Keith), claiming that they must have been double booked.
The film sets up a horrifying tension from the very first minute, which only continues as we learn the truth of the rental and its history of owners.
Most of the movie takes place at the rental. Barbarian is scary, sometimes funny, and a great suspense film.
The Cabin in the Woods
The Cabin in the Woods came out in 2011, when Airbnnb was only a few years old. (The company started in 2008.)
Regardless of what company they booked with, the movie tells the story of five teenagers who rent a cabin in the woods for an isolated weekend. They arrive to find a bunch of weird artifacts, which turn out to be associated with the cabin’s many, many secrets.
Playing off of countless horror tropes, The Cabin in the Woods stars Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchinson, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, and Bradley Whitford. At 92% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, The Cabin in the Woods is absolutely a refreshing re-imagining of several horror genre staples.
The Lodge
Although it’s not as highly reviewed as the others on our list, The Lodge still clocks in with 74% on Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s the problem: it shows up on lists of movies about vacation rentals, but it’s not actually about a rental! I think it ends up on these lists because it fits the theme of being in a remote, secluded cabin that isn’t your usual home.
The film tells the story of a family who goes to their winter cabin for the holidays, just a few months after the kids’ mom dies by suicide. The dad gets called away to work, which leaves the kids with his new fiance, Grace. Terrifying events begin to occur to the kids and their soon-to-be stepmother, likely related to her traumatic past.
The Lodge stars Riley Keough, Jaeden Martell, Lia McHugh, Alicia Silverstone, and Richard Armitage. It is an eerie, unsettling movie about the consequences of our actions.
Why Do Vacation Rentals Make a Great Setting for Horror Films?
Are you noticing anything about these movies? They all have one thing in common: genre.
For some reason, rental properties seem to be an ideal setting for today’s horror flicks. Perhaps this is because renting someone else’s home is inherently vulnerable. It certainly lacks the anonymity of a hotel, and it sounds like people often have REAL horrible situations unfold at rentals. (Just check out this list of nightmare Airbnbs from Buzzfeed for confirmation.)
Horror movies and thrillers capitalize on our uncertainties and fears about things that seem safe but are in fact dangerous — at least in the world of the movie. It makes sense that this would include short-term rentals.
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