Roommate Wanted (2020) is a horror movie with millennial sensibilities and comedy to boot. Unabashedly queer with a plethora of likable gay characters at differing stages of being “out,” Roommate Wanted gently explores queerness while the slasher rather bluntly knocks off its characters. Set around Halloween-time, Roommate Wanted is written and directed by Michael McCartney in his feature film debut.

Roommate Wanted follows Maria (Angelique Sabrina White), a struggling college student with no job, a secret girlfriend, and an even bigger problem, a vacant room in the house she manages with her obnoxiously carefree roommate, Ricky (Ricky Cruz). After finding a host of weirdos on “FriendsList”, finally, a normal guy named Dean (Jack Shulruff) answers both their ad and their prayers. Soon after moving in, Dean begins to show cracks in his seemingly wholesome personality, making Maria uncomfortable… and suspicious. As she begins to snoop through his things and run internet searches on their new roomie, she finds that he is an escaped mental hospital patient, one with a score to settle that puts herself and her friends in the crossfire.

In a movie that tended to force quirky and awkwardness into every scene, Roommate Wanted, at first, seemed hesitant to allow in the queerness, teasing sexuality until it gave in and nearly showed the full monty. This scene signaled a more thrilling pace for the movie, as before this change up at the midpoint, the movie somewhat dragged, despite its likable characters. What mostly seemed off was the direction, and specifically the framing, it wasn’t at all interesting, but rather, it seemed like the camera was merely set up and remained static throughout dialogue exchanges. The movie was visually a drag and only made up for it with its characters.

Roommate Wanted is set during Halloween time, however, this plot element was on the backburner and seemed pointless to mention — the film could have been set at any time. The horror elements came from the slayings, which were frequent, swift, and brutal — once the film hits its stride, there is really no stopping the onslaught. McCartney has an obvious love of slasher films but  Roommate Wanted was amateurishly executed, though I did quite enjoy the castings. Lead Angelique Sabrina White really stood out, she seemed to be the most comfortable, and her character Maria came off as real, vulnerable, but also after her journey, quite the badass. Also, Jack Shulruff as psychopath Dean was well measured, giving off just the right amounts of wholesomeness to trick the audience, and then turning on a dime to insane slasher whenever needed.

Roommate Wanted was a fun, young, horror flick that had great characters, a rocking soundtrack featuring scream-pop band GRLwood, and also addressed social issues of white male anger and LGBT identity. It is a suspense thriller marketed as a horror-comedy, and though there were some comedic characters, it is not laugh out loud funny, nor over-the-top in antics. The slashings do get down to the nitty-gritty, adding in some obviously CGI blood splatter for effect, but what might have been better is having more chase to the kills to actually build the suspense, instead of them being like lambs to slaughter. The film had some great acting performances though, and though not very original, the psychopathic slasher being the person you invited in yourself made for a great narrative that unfolded with some social issues thrown in for substance — overall, it made for an okay watch.

6 out of 10