Vacancy
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Movie Reviews of Vacancy
Movie Review: Horrifying premise
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked this film a great deal, but not so much because I felt it was an exceptional piece of film making; it's more than competent and there are some really spine-tingling scenes and ideas, but more than anything, the film's premise is what chilled me to the bone and made the lasting impression. It's a terrifying premise made even more so because it could very easily happen in a modern, frenetic and oftentimes, twisted society, where pedophiles prowl the internet hunting for children and teenage slaves are found hidden under the stairs in homes in suburban America. The idea that sexual deviants could set up a snuff-film factory in an out of the way motel, is really not in the least far fetched. Keep in mind that the idea behind Eli Roth's Hostel was an actual place in Thailand where for a fee, human's hunt other humans for sport. The mind of the sadist has no limits, as we've seen it time and again through the course of history, from Elizabeth Bathory, to Marquis de Sade, to Joseph Mengele and this film just sheds light on another aberration of the human psyche: Watching someone brutalized and murdered in order to incite sexual pleasure. A more than sub-genre of the pornography industry, snuff films do exist and there's no telling where one of its progenitor's may be hiding, just waiting for the right moment to create and capture death at its most violent and disturbing. It's this idea that disturbed me the most about "Vacancy;" they've managed to turn something as commonplace as a motel and make it a wholly terrifying place, completely vulnerable to the machinations of a sick mind. Over 40 years ago, Hitchcock served us our first motel shocker in his inimitable and brilliant "Psycho," but there was a method to Norman's madness. Here's its death for sex and profit, nothing more.Movie Review: Horror Dialed Up to True Terror
Summary: 4 Stars
This is no Kontroll (2004), Nimrod Antal's brilliant first film. Yet, what a movie. Antal excels in capturing honorable characters trapped in Limbo (with a capital L) who will soon experience something else (Hell) before finding, if they are fortunate, some semblance of redemption (secular r). If only the set-up for this horror trip, as edited, weren't so hoary, the villains so hapless, and twists so familiar: the movie feels inexplicably dumbed down. But once it gets going, Vacancy never stops. If you love movies, if you love homage, and if you love cinematic intelligence, you will delight in Antal's sheer film-making skill, even if the plot is nonsense. Watch how Antal's close-ups leave just enough wiggle room to the right of the frame to give you the creeps. The darkness around the edges is much a malevolent character as the snuff bandits - another noose that could any second rub out light (and lives). Wilson evokes Hitchcock most memorable heroes. This is a man fired up by his own fatigue - and one last push to redeem himself as a husband/protector. Antal's existential heroes excel in running brilliantly on empty. (Wilson's star turn makes up Beckinsale and Whaley's black holes.) Antal and Wilson keep it going, until very nearly the end. The movie comes with an alternate opening sequence. What it demands is an alternate ending - or a director's cut. Did Vacancy, Antal's first American feature, suffer the same unfortunate fate as David Fincher's Alien3 - another terrific movie re-cut on release to emphasize the cheap twists at the expense of character, mood and existential grandeur? Thankfully, we have Fincher's cut of Alien3 on DVD to admire. In a redeeming universe, we would get a Director's Cut for Vacancy, too.
Movie Review: Better than expected B-Movie that is actually engaging
Summary: 4 Stars
I didn't have anything to do one Wednesday evening so I went to the movie theater to see Vacancy. I fully expected this movie to be total cheese and derivative of every other horror/slasher/roadside motel movie ever made. I was completely right, it was cheesy, exploitative and derivative but... surprise, surprise! I was still entertained more than this seemingly bad movie had any right to entertain me!
Some of you might get discouraged because this film looks like another tasteless torture flick that we've been subjected to recently by many sleazy Hollywood producers and directors. But you'd be wrong. This is not a torture flick, the only really sleazy footage are the video tapes that are left behind in Luke Wilson's and Kate Beckinsale's motel room for them to watch. We don't get to see any hardcore violence, it's more of the psychological atmosphere that involves us. So, if you are a big baby and scared of gore or if you are a mature filmgoer who doesn't need to watch stupid exploitation like Hostel, don't worry. Vacancy is cut from a different cloth of filmmaking, evoking past themes from Psycho and classic horror films.
Both lead actors do admirable jobs in their roles and Frank Whaley ( yeah! ) plays the motel manager. This film is lean and effective. There is little padding, the set-up is classic horror stuff drawing in the viewer minute by minute and the movie is fairly short. Near the end, the film starts to stray from it's formula and starts to go over the top a bit, like most horror films of late, but I'll give it's deficiencies a pass. This movie is a fun rental for genre fans, but not a necessary purchase. Enjoy!
Movie Review: Lesson 231 Learned from horror movies: Travel with a Gun
Summary: 4 Stars
Today's horror follows the same script nearly every time. It's the torture genre of Hostel, Saw, and a few other smaller films. Luckily, Vacancy doesn't follow that mold.
Amy Fox (Beckinsale) and Dave (Wilson) are a couple struggling in their relationship. They end up having car problems, much like Breakdown, and are forced to stay the night at the only place available, a horrible looking motel that reminded me quite a bit of Psycho. That was the first clue they overlooked. The second clue was the manager, Mason, is about as disturbing as they come. I didn't know what to expect, but if there was ever a place that videotapes you in the bathroom, it's definitely this place.
The rest of the movie plays out very well, as the couple must deal with the psychological aspects of fear, and eventually with the realistic possibilities of death.
The movie really did creep me out quite a bit. It's borderline snuff in my opinion. There are scenes in which it felt a little too real, and the voyueristic nature of the filming techniques made it that much worse. I suppose that means major kudos for Director Nimrod Antal, because I can't remember a movie that evoked real pathos for characters like this one did for me.
The extras on the disc just made it a little more appealing to me, because they made the rest of the movie feel even more like I was watching realistic snuff purchased in a back alley. Major credit goes to the actors with bit parts of victims; their videotaped encounters with the killers were incredibly despicable, and difficult to watch.
Movie Review: a drive-in film in an iPod era.
Summary: 4 Stars
Vacancy is the kind of film you stumble upon at 3:00 AM on Cinemax, either restless or hungover, and nd up transixed with. Afterwards, you might even remember it being better than it really was simply due to the surprise involved in it's discovery.
This also means it's the kind of film studios don't really make anymore. The horror genre, i recent years, has been dominated with torture films and glossy J-horror remakes. A modestly budgeted grizzly piece of pulp horror, best suited for a drive-in or Grindhouse theater, usually doesn't have much room in modern multiplexes.
In fact, it follows all the staples expected in a grindhouse film of this kind. It begins on an isolated, country road,there's a seedy motel with a sinister night manager, a couple relentless killers... I don't need to expound. What is exceptional is that it succeeds with these conventions, without seeming tired or obnoxiously self-referential.
In a summer of bloated, overlong films filled with tiresome exposition (see the third Pirates entry and the fifth Harry Potter), it's a giddily concise, and tense, bit of escapism. The film clocks in under an hour-and-a-half without seeming truncated and never feeling excessive.
And it's not without it's faults: the ending lack the kick it desires, feeling a bit forced... and Kate Beckinsale's performance is unremarkable, even in a film that doesn't necessitate high-caliber acting. These are small quarrels, however, for a fine genre entry that will, presumably, only increase in collective appreciation over time.