This image released by IFC Films shows Sheila Vand in a scene from “The Rental.”

This image released by IFC Films shows Alison Brie in a scene from “The Rental.”

This image released by IFC Films shows Dan Stevens, Sheila Vand and Jeremy Allen White in a scene from “The Rental.”

This image released by IFC Films shows Dan Stevens and Alison Brie in a scene from “The Rental.”

To the list of established movie genres, we must now add another: the Airbnb horror film. Wait! A sub-genre: The pandemic-era Airbnb horror film.

Halfway through 2020, we’re all surely craving some sort of remote getaway (maybe Pluto?) But this summer, first with “You Should Have Left” and now “The Rental,” the movies seem to be sending those of us seeking such isolation, at least via Airbnb, a stark message: Be careful what you wish for.

More bluntly: Stay home! That gorgeous rental with floor-to-ceiling windows? More like floor-to-ceiling murder and mayhem. And who knew “drop-dead views” was a literal term?

“The Rental,” the feature directing debut by Dave Franco, starts out in a strikingly similar vein to “You Should Have Left”: Affluent Californians look online, experience real-estate porn, book relaxing getaway.

But where the earlier film sputtered just when we expected a good payoff for all that tension, “The Rental” knows how to stick its landing. If such horror films can be split into three parts — dreamy setup, scary stuff happens, all-hell-breaks loose ending — what makes “The Rental” a more satisfying experience is that the ending actually IS scary and suspenseful, even surprising.

Not that Franco’s story, written with Joe Swanberg, breaks any ground; the surprise is mild, rather than revelatory (“Get Out,” it is not.) But it earns our attention because, unlike many horror films, Franco has taken the time to make his characters somewhat interesting, with nice casting (especially the reliably excellent Dan Stevens), a subplot about infidelity, and another about racial profiling.