Renters: The Holiday Special

Renters: The Holiday special is a follow-up to amateur filmmakers SixBananasinaKnot’s Renters – a short, irreverent snapshot of the mania that ensues when disturbed young men are tasked with sharing the same living space and making monthly payments. The follow-up maintains a frenzied humour and direction, but lacks a comprehensive throughline to justify a sequel (to the knowing admission of the filmmakers…)

Starring Dylan Manley, Darragh Boland, Leigh Carroll and Shane O’Grady – reprising their roles as a gang of eccentric reprimands – the film follows the gang as they embark on a homemade film project. The ‘Holiday’ part of the film’s title does some seriously heavy lifting as there is little festive about the short, but an unlikely effort to make it big as amateur directors leads to a few chuckles.

The appeal of Renters comes from the filmmakers themselves. There is something admirable about an unapologetic piece made by and for a group of mates and released out into the world to find whatever audience shares the same sense of humour – likely those in a similar living environment where you are never quite sure if your roommates have psychotic tendencies.

The opening credit openly admits that the guys are out of ideas – and its hard to really pinpoint what the point of the film is beyond breathing more life into the gang from the first short. Their capturing of the rental life makes this watch enjoyable and relatable (even though most people will not have experience of being the subject of their cohabitants amateur film project), though it is hard to make this a sales pitch in of itself. Prior knowledge of the characters from the first film is a must to have an appreciation of the group’s dynamics and circumstance.

For a homemade production, the dialogue is quite impressive, and the cast deliver it with conviction – bolstering the unlikely world of the renters and making their characters believable (or as believable as they can be given their actions…). Most of us will have known a Dylan or Darragh in our lives through Uni halls or from paying a grand a month to flatshare with 8 people because how else can you live in London these days… and their bizarre, directionless lives will bring up old memories for viewers.

Renters: The Holiday Special is odd – much like its predecessor. It’s an admirable effort from its amateur filmmakers who deserve credit for throwing ideas out there. Although it fails to raise as many laughs as the original. The filmmakers say they are out of ideas, and most viewers will agree. But ideas were never really the point of the series anyway…