Terror Tuesday: Room for Rent (2019)

If you judge a book by its cover, then you probably judge a movie by its poster and in this case, just skip it altogether.

While the poster shows promise, I thought the movie itself was a Single White Female for the geriatric crowd. Did I just say that?

Joyce Smith (Lin Shaye) has just lost her husband Fred after he's fallen off of their roof, making her even lonelier in her everyday life. She's told that there's only $2,200 in the savings account and Fred had heavy debt, which he was three months behind on a $6,000 loan.

With this news, she doesn't know what to do and after going to the library sees an article about making money with your house and decides to open up a bread and breakfast by renting out a room.

Her first guests are Sarah and Edward (Valeska Miller and Casey Nicholas-Price) who are having trouble in their marriage and Edward doesn't like Joyce's house. However, Joyce and Sarah bond and Sarah confides in her about wanting to become a writer.

Later that morning, Edward comes back to the house and tells her that he found a better place and they leave.

Joyce receives a letter from Sarah, and she tells her that she's left Edward, while Joyce tells her that she's turning the house into a longer stay hotel.

At the library, she meets Bob (Oliver Rayon) after she notices him take a tag from a flyer for a room to rent. She strikes up a conversation with him and he moves in with her.

Joyce becomes smitten with him and tries to seduce him on many occasions and protects her when local teen thug Wayne (Ryan Ochoa) and one of his friends are throwing eggs at the house. Bob throws a punch at him and tells him to get lost.

As Joyce falls deeper in love with Bob, she orders him an all football cable package for him (she tells him that she too likes football) and one night after waking up from a dream, she throws away Fred's ashes and hides when he comes home from the bar.

He returns a phone call and drops the receipt, which she picks up and hides in her bedroom.

Meanwhile, Joyce gets a letter from Sarah and she tells her that she's left Edward and wants to visit her. Joyce invites her to stay with her and Bob.

She and Sarah go to the bar that Bob frequents and while Sarah is away from the table, she asks the waitress (Shondra Jepperson) about Bob and she tells her that "he's quite the ladies man," which gets her even more jealous.

After Bob and Sarah meet, they have a one-night stand and Joyce throws her out of the house.

This wasn't the only reason why she threw her out because she saw her talking with her neighbor Gladys (Linda Cushma) and Gladys tells her that Joyce had an abortion because Fred didn't want children.

With Joyce mad at both Sarah and Bob, she tries to figure out how to get into the trunk in his room, but he catches her and after he receives a certified letter, Joyce flips out and devises a plan to get his keys.

And from here on out until the end credits, it just keeps going downhill.

This could have been a really good thriller, but there are so many plot holes that I'm surprised I still have hair left after scratching my head through all of the movie.

When Sarah talks with Gladys, she tells her that Fred's death was mysterious (something that could have been explored) and even though Sarah and Bob had a one-night stand, she's pregnant and it's his?

None of the characters are fully developed and at the beginning of the movie, Joyce is fairly likeable as a lonely person. Shaye does an excellent job making us feel sorry for her, but after her transformation into "sex pot" Joyce, it becomes laughable.

For Bob, he basically drinks beer and watches football yet has a mysterious side to him. Joyce is able to get into the trunk and finds money and cocaine, suggesting that he may be a drug dealer and since she doesn't know that it's cocaine, she does enough of it that it would probably kill an elephant.

But the scariest part of the movie is in the opening when a drone shot shows a roundabout (with traffic going through it) as the coroner van drives to the house.

As much as I try to avoid roundabouts, I could have spent the time I lost watching this, driving through one of them.

At least it would have been more productive.