The Rental Remix: The Winners!
As promised on October 13th
Remember this contest?
The challenge was to improve the second act of the film The Rental by replacing the in-fighting that fills that portion of the film. Well, one hundred twenty-seven comments later, here are our winners.
But first, let’s look at some options:
The story could’ve gone meta, like Cabin in the Woods where they find everything has been controlled for a higher purpose.
The Arab-American woman and the racist caretaker are in cahoots. Their enmity seems so overdone, I suspect it covered a huge lustful passion and they were conspiring in a Death Trap kind of way.
The dog, Reggie, is implanted with an alien embryo and explodes at dinner, releasing a huge, acid-for-blood predator that kills everyone.
They put the cameras in the house themselves, then pretended to “find” them.
Now the winners:
Atticus Blake — who touched on the age-old fear of seeing your own living room used as the set for a bareback orgy, complete with family heirlooms being fondled.
Hannah Simpson — who touched on the importance of Objects. That telescope is a metaphor for voyeurism, but it serves no larger purpose. Use it! At least make a spike jut out of it and impale someone in the eye.
Eric I — who touched on a larger use for the secret footage: slasher films.
Please email Dennis with your snail-mail addresses
As usual, if you’re listed above, please contact Dennis here. Send your snail-mail address. If you’re outside the United States, please include your phone number as required by Customs. PLEASE let me know if I should include dog or cat toys.
And thank you for playing the game. More to come.
As always, Congratulations!
Congrats to the winners 🎉
This was a great way to practice revision. By looking critically at someone else’s work, you can be ruthless. It’s often hard to step away from your own ideas, especially when you’ve become fond of them.
Congrats to the winners! There are so many unbelievably creative and talented people here.
I'm new here in the comments section, so I wanted to take a sec to introduce myself. My name is Karin, and I am kicking myself so hard right now. I subscribed to this Substack the second I heard about it back in September 2021. Unfortunately, however, after the first couple of weeks life got in the way and I completely fell behind. I've finally had a chance to catch up on reading/listening to almost all of the posts and comments -- and I am absolutely blown away.
Chuck, I know you hear this all the time...but let me add my voice to the chorus of THANK YOU for doing this! You have created a profoundly beautiful thing here, and I can't wait to be an active part of it. Just reading the posts and comments after the fact has been an education that is nothing short of life-changing. No exaggeration.
I'm kicking myself because I missed over a year of being able to interact with this amazing group of people. Insult to injury: I live in New York, so I could have been getting to know some of you in person for the past couple of months! But I'm here now, and I'm so looking forward to being a part of this magical circle of incredible humans.