Rent Spell (2020)

Very derivative black-only blm-bangwagon movie which wants to be GET OUT/MISERY. - Spell review by PV

I smell the stench of blm bandwagon on this and so many new movies besides. Written by a white male writer who knows which way the woke wind is blowing and then a black man (Brit) hired to direct of course. They each have a record in macho action movies.

It is an all-black movie, except for one early lawyer boss character, so one wonders why nobody noticed the complete lack of colourblind casting here - usually people yell and scream when all actors are one colour, non-BAME, that is. So all white is racist but all black is non-racist. Errrr.... THIS IS NOT PROGRESS.

It's a so-so derivative tale, a slice of hokum with several old horror tropes shackled together. The Others, people in old century-old photos, comes to mind, And of course MISERY, an effective man-kept-captive story - one of many though; and then we have spells, magic, cannibalism, the usual. The classic 1970s movie DELIVERANCE is the bar to reach though. WRONG TURN is better too. RITUALS is another great film.

My favourite part of this is how this movie shows social class/money divide BETWEEN black people in the USA. I always tell anyone who listens there is NO SUCH THING as white privilege; there are many privileged people who are not white or male too. The socio-economic class is what divides and the endless focus on identity politics and skin pigment is both harmful and, actually, racist.

Still, this is good enough - a Friday Night horror. Completely unbelievable but...

3 stars