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| “ | I have the right to know what goes on in my house. | „ |
| ~ Joyce to Rob. |
| “ | Oh my goodness. You're not a boy, you are my tall, dark, handsome man. You will wrap your arms around me, and never let me go. I deserve a man like you. | „ |
| ~ Joyce to Rob's unconscious body. |
Joyce Smith is the main antagonist of the 2019 live-action Netflix horror film, Room for Rent. After her husband Fred passed, she learned that she was left with virtually nothing, and so she turned her home into a bed and breakfast. Joyce falls in love with a young man named Rob who was staying with her at the time, but she becomes filled with jealousy after learning that he has feelings for another guest named Sarah.
She is portrayed by Lin Shaye.
Personality[]
| “ | Oh, look at you! Little Orphan Annie, sacrificing herself for the old lady, who throws herself at every man she sees because she can't face the fact she has no one! | „ |
| ~ Joyce to Sarah |
One of the film's central themes is Joyce's desire to be loved by a "tall, dark, and handsome" man, much like the ones she reads about in her books. Joyce was left very love-sick after her abusive relationship with her former husband. Throughout the duration of the film, she had read passages from her book that seemed to convey her current mindset, and one of the first passages she read was about her during desire to still be loved. After she offered to refill Rob's coffee, she stirred the cup that he was previously sipping and then put the spoon in her mouth when he wasn't looking. She also used his toothbrush while he was away, and sniffed his bedsheets. When she found out he liked sports, she went out and bought him sports channels to watch. Later on, the guest beat up some of the boys who had been harassing her, and after he had defended her, she read a passage about a protecter that saved a woman from her demons, implying that she was falling in love with him. She later had a dream about cleaning out her husbands old room so that Rob could move in there. From then on, she continued to stalk and fantasize over him and dressing in a youthful way. This all began to change when she found out that he was a ladies-man at a bar he loved to go to. After Rob catches feelings for Joyce, she becomes bitter and resentful towards her.
At the beginning of the film, Joyce appeared to be a very quiet woman, not talking to anyone after her husband had passed. Later in the film, it was revealed that her husband was difficult and they never got along. She also mentioned that he was even abusive. The only person she seemed to have any joy for was her cat, Boodles, whom she was seeing talking to in a cheery voice through the movie. After deciding to rent out her house, her mood completely changed and she became a vibrant spirit who was happy to please her guests.
Joyce began to pick up a tendency to lie, beginning after she tore up an advertisement for another B&B establishment that she saw one of her potential guests going through, telling him that they were sold out and they just forgot to tear it down. Later on, after going through his things, she lied and told him that she was just checking his sheets when he caught her in his room. When going to buy sports channels for a TV, she lied to the sales person and said it was for her son. She also lied about having her supposed son to be expecting a baby with his imaginary wife. She began to become delusional with her lies, saying she road on his motorcycle when she really didn't, and describing how amazing it felt. She also lied after murdering her neighbor, faking the tears so that Rob would comfort her.
Joyce has an odd mentality about her home, and that is because it is hers, she has the right to do whatever she wants in it, even if it intrudes on her guests. She demonstrates this when she snuck into one of her guests rooms, used their deodorant, cologne, and toothbrush. She also opened Rob's package without him knowing.
Biography[]
Past[]
It is unknown where and when Joyce was born, but in her adult years she married a man named Fred. They moved into their home on an unknown date, and Joyce had become very good friends with her neighbor Gladice. Sometime while they were staying in their home Joyce became pregnant with a child, but when Fred found out she was forced to get rid of it because he did not want children. After this she isolated herself, and stayed in an abusive relationship with Fred.
Room for Rent[]
The movie opens with a police officer consoling Joyce on a bench outside of her house, asking her if she has any family close-by. She doesn't respond, and the scene switches to a funeral. The ceremony starts with very few guests, and after the funeral Joyce places her husband's urn inside of a drawer at her home, which she locks.
She is later seen at a bank, telling one of the employees that she needs some money. The employee tells her that her husband had taken out a loan for some repairs, which she knew nothing about. They were three months past due, and so she became liable for the payment. She was informed that she had only twenty-two hundred dollars in her checking account and an empty savings account. The next day, she makes her way to a library, stopping to check out a skate park where some boys antagonized her, causing her to throw one of their skate boards in the trash. After checking out a book from the library, she spots a magazine about making "easy-money", that being home rentals.
She decided that she would create "Joyce and Boodle's Bead and Breakfast", and right away she found some patrons. When they arrived they introduced themselves as Sarah and Edward. After bringing them to her rooms she made them cookies, Edward being rude all the while. She gave them the whole plate but said that Edward could only have one, because "he was fat". The next morning Joyce serves Sarah breakfast and they talk about Joyce's passed husband. Sarah then invites Joyce on a walk, where they continue to talk about Joyce's personal life and what brings Sarah there. They continue to talk until Sarah thanks her and the scene switches to Joyce giving Sarah a glass of tea back home. Edward comes back and tells Sarah that they found a new place, and so they leave. After they left, she was alone for sometime, and during this time she read and went out to by cat food. At the pet store, her card didn't go through, and so she had to pay with change. While walking home, she ran into a group of young boys who antagonized her and backed her into a corner. He grabbed her and looked at her underskirt. She kissed him, so he slapped her, and she slapped back. She picked him up and pinned him against a wall, screaming at him to leave her alone until a man came along and broke them up.
After arriving home she found a letter from Sarah that said she broke-up with Edward. She wrote back telling her she was making her home into a hotel. Later on she spotted a man and convinced him to come stay at her home instead of one on a flier that he had found. His name turned out to be Rob, which Joyce mistook for Bob. When she arrived home she did her best to make herself look presentable. The next day she served him breakfast, and later on snooped through his things while he was away. She used everything in his bags on herself, including his toothbrush. After he caught her, she lied and said she was changing the sheets. After finding out that he was a sports fan, she went out and bought sports channels for him, lying to the salesperson about the details. When he arrived home, she informed him of the new channels, and after a while she went in to join him. She tried to keep up with what was going on, but she struggled to do so. After she offered to get him some more beer, boys started throwing eggs at her house, and so Rob went out and beat them for it. She then read a passage from her book that implied that she was falling in love with her. She then had a dream about her husband, and when she woke up she went to his old room and put his urn in a trash bag and threw it out. Then she noticed Rob returning and hid so she could spy on him. After he left she opened the trashcan to find a recipe that he had thrown out, which she used as a bookmark.
When she got back to bed, she began to write back to Sarah again about Rob, and the scenes changed as she did so. She mentions that she liked to be pampered, and the scene switched to her in a backtab asking Rob for help. The next day she dressed up in one of her more youthful dresses, and asked Rob to drive her to the library on his motorcycle. He said he didn't want to get hurt, and so she said she would walk. After this, she wrote one final message to Sarah about how great Rob was, and the montage ended. The next morning Sarah was serving Rob breakfast when she got a call from Sarah. Sarah talked about coming to visit, and so Joyce said she could stay with them. She knew this was bad because Sarah thought that Joyce was dating Rob. They went out to eat and Joyce talked more about Fred. When Sarah got back she met Rob and discovered he was way younger than Joyce. Sarah suggested that she and Joyce should go out to eat just by themselves. Joyce brought them to a restaurant where Rob apparently loved to eat. Here she learned that his name was not Bob but Rob, and he was quite the ladies man. After they got Joyce's mood had changed, when Sarah noticed this Joyce tried to shrug it off as nothing. She went upstairs and then to bed, but not after telling Rob that she was home.
The next day Joyce came into Sarah's room to find that Sarah had been writing about her in her new book. When Sarah walked in she pretended like she was just making-up her bed. Joyce isn't seen for a while after this, but around this time Sarah and Rob began to fall in love with each other. Joyce found out by spying on the both of them one night while they had intimacy. The next morning her mood deteriorated, she she began bitter towards Joyce. Joyce has an outburst with Sarah after Sarah approached her noticing her change in mood. Joyce tells her that she has some disinfecting to do and so Sarah leaves. Sarah left to visit Joyce's neighbor who informed her of Joyce's past and a terminated pregnancy. Joyce notices this and calls her back into the house. Sarah then leaves the home noticing tensions rising. Joyce then went to visit her neighbor and lied to her about Sarah. She then asked what the two had talked about, but she incited it was nothing. Joyce offered to make her comfortable, but after lying down on the couch, Joyce suffocated her with a pillow until she passed out and died.
Rob arrived to see a sobbing Joyce standing in the yard of her neighbors house with her neighbors old nurse. After he arrived inside, she walked around the back and then began crying once she opened the door. She lied to Rob about Sarah's departure, and old him she went to patch things up with her husband. The next day Joyce received a package for Rob, and then brought it to his room, snooping around it after. He arrived to find her looking under his bed, but she insisted she was looking for fur balls. Rob suspects something is wrong, and so the two break out into an argument. She then left the room with her cat. The scene switched to her at the doctors office, insisting that she was having trouble sleeping. She got a prescription for sleeping medication from the doctor, and later that day when Rob arrived home she desperately tried to apologize. She told him that she used to have a son named Tommy that had died. After he falls for her lie, she tells him to join her for dinner.
Without his knowing, Joyce had slipped her earlier-prescribed sleeping pills into his beer. They began talking about Rob's family while he drank. She tells him that they needed a special toast and so she poured them both shots. He began to feel sick, and then he passed out at the table. She then took his keys and opened his locked drawer. In it she found cocaine, not knowing what it was she tried tasting it and then sniffing it. She then dragged his body to his room and undressed him. She then played with his unconscious body, wrapping his arms around her and kissing him. The next morning she dragged his body to the living room and made it look as though be passed out on the floor in front of the couch. She told him that he had a lot to drink, but he didn't remember being hung-over. She then began talking to him about a lot of philosophical ideas as she sat at her dining table. She told him that there was no breakfast. The next morning he got a letter in the mail that Joyce tried to sign for. When she asked him what it was, he closed the door on her and went to read it in the backyard. She spied on him as he did. When he came back inside he said he was leaving, and that Sarah had wrote him everything that Joyce had been hiding. When he went to leave, Joyce told him that he forgot something. When he turned around, she hit him over the head and screamed that he was selfish and that she didn't like being lied to. She continued to beat him until blood came out of his head.
She then told Rob's unconscious body that all she wanted was an honest man, and then took Sarah's letter to read. She found out that Sarah was pregnant from Rob, and now the baby was going to grow up without a father. There was then a montage of Joyce's writing to Sarah while she dug a hole for Rob and collected what he had left behind. In the letter, she wrote to Sarah about coming to stay. Joyce then talked to her cat about having a new mommy for a while. Then when Sarah arrived, she lied to her about Rob. She then took her outback to see a tree she had planted a baby apple tree. After this, Joyce left on a trip and Sarah saw her goodbye. Sarah walked back into the house, and the movie ended with her finding a room decorated for a baby.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Joyce was shown to have an affinity for books, particularly Wild Rapture by Kay McMahon which she had checked out twice. Her reason for this was because it had a "happy ending".
- It's heavily implied that Joyce murdered her husband. This is seen through her murderous tendencies towards those she doesn't like, and the way she behaved when he died being similar to how she behaved when she killed her neighbor.
- Lin Shaye, who played Joyce, also co-produced the film.