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Vacancy by Nimr?d Antal
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DVD Cover InformationActor: Ethan Embry, Frank Whaley, Kate Beckinsale, Luke Wilson, Scott G. Anderson Director: Nimr?d Antal Brand: Sony DVD: Region Code 99 Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed) Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen Picture Format: 2.35:1 Running Time: 85 minutes DVD Release Date: 2007-08-14 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of VacancyMovie Review: Classic themes combine to make a great thriller! Summary: 5 StarsA dark, deserted highway, a lost couple in a broken down car, and a handful of surreal characters that lure them into their horrific, twisted world - these are all classic themes that have worked brilliantly in horror stories from radio, television and the silver screen. They are woven together with brilliance in this fantastic movie.
What is great about it is not only the plot devices that were used, but also the ones that were left out. This is no bloody slasher gorefest. It doesn't insult you with the worn out, formulaic gimmicks reminiscent of the Freddy Krueger or Friday the 13th dreck.
The scares come more from what you don't see: the face of the guy wearing the mask, the driver of the car that wants to run you down, the source of the screams coming from the motel office, the unseen person pounding on the door in the middle of the night.
The atmosphere is chilling. Most of the story takes place in a fleabag lodge in the middle of God knows where. If you've ever stayed in a disgusting hotel, as I have, you'll have a special appreciation for the roach-infested room that the main characters find themselves in. Along the way to the final scene there are eerie figures stalking the woods, a mad innkeeper with a treasure trove of dark secrets, and ghastly wraiths that seem to appear out of nowhere. This is back to basics, ghost stories around the campfire stuff, but remade for an adult audience.
You will read complaints in negative reviews about the "implausible" ending. Don't believe them. Any seasoned paramedic or emergency room worker can tell you that the scene they are referring to is well within the realm of possibility - unlikely, but certainly not unheard of.
I loved this film and it gets my very highest recommendation.
SPOILER AHEAD, FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW IF THE HEROES/VICTIMS SURVIVE:
They do - barely. The ending isn't exactly "happy," but it's not going to throw you into existential despair either.
Summary of VacancyA suspenseful classic thriller in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock starring Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale that will keep you on the edge of your seat and your heart pounding! When David (Luke Wilson) and Amy Fox's (Kate Beckinsale) car breaks down in the middle of nowhere they are forced to spend the night at the only motel around with only the TV to entertain them... until they discover that the low-budget slasher videos they find in their room were all filmed in the very room they're sitting in. With hidden cameras now aimed at them... trapping them in rooms crawlspaces underground tunnels... and filming their every move David and Amy must struggle to get out alive before whomever is watching them can finish their latest masterpiece.System Requirements:Running Time: 85 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R UPC: 043396182882 Manufacturer No: 18288  |
A confined setting is a useful tool for thriller-makers, and Vacancy is definitely boxed in: a rundown motel way, way off the Interstate, the kind of place where unsuspecting movie characters go to get stabbed to death in the shower. If Vacancy doesn't quite live up to its Hitchcockian forbears, at least it provides 80 minutes of well-designed mayhem. You know somebody's paying attention just from the opening credits, a clever vortex with pounding music by Paul Haslinger. Then we meet unhappy couple Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale, driving along in the dark and forced to stay at the Pinewood Motel after a car breakdown. There's a night man (Frank Whaley, decadent) in the tradition of Dennis Weaver's Touch of Evil gargoyle, but the real mess of trouble is waiting in room number 4. Director Nimrod Antal, who scored a stylish international hit with the Hungarian thriller Kontroll, squeezes maximum juice out of the Route 66 atmosphere of the motel, although the movie doesn't get under your skin the way Kontroll did. Wilson and Beckinsale are a little too marquee-namish for this kind of heavy-breathing work, and the script doesn't give them much to play with. But hey, it's not that kind of movie. Where it really belongs is on the top half of a drive-in double bill, or maybe as a nightmare-scenario TV movie from the Seventies. Either way, it works. --Robert Horton Stills from Vacancy (click for larger image) More Vacancy on Amazon.com  Vacancy on Blu-ray |  Avoid Travel Disasters |  By the Director |
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