Vacancy

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Horrorphile - January 2008

Vacancy

January 7th 2008 05:07

There’s nothing new in Vacancy (2007), but it’s well made nevertheless. It’s very Hitchcock with lashings of Psycho-esque scenarios, yet it manages to look and feel remarkably fresh and compelling. Director Nimród Antal (yeah, I know, what kind of name is that?!), is a young American of Hungarian descent who began his career several years ago with the highly stylised romantic thriller Kontroll, which was set in the Budapest subway system.

Vacancy takes place on a dark highway where a disgruntled couple, David (Luke Wilson) and Amy (Kate Beckinsale) Fox appear to be at the tail end of their marriage. She’s on medication to curb her depression following the death of their child, and he’s desperate to try and save the shreds of their marriage. But he left the interstate and took a short cut and swerved to avoid a raccoon. Now the car’s in bad shape, so it looks like they’ll be staying over night in that dilapidated motel.

It looks harmless enough

The motel looks like it hasn’t had any guests since 1957. The manager Mason (Frank Whaley) looks like he probably hasn’t been laid in years. He’s keen to give the Fox’s the honeymoon suite, much to their chagrin. Hey, there’s a few percs in it, so why not? While Amy cringes at the state of the bed sheets and announces she’ll be sleeping in her clothes, David guns the VCR sliding in an unlabelled video cassette. It depicts a scene of torture and murder. How charming. David tries another. More of the same, although David notices something odd, and rather unnerving: the room in the video where two masked killers are brutally killing helpless victims is identical to the one they’re in!

David discovers hidden cameras in the room. Uh-oh. Amy starts to panic. David suggests they get the hell out of there … but it’s too late. The masked killers have already surrounded them. Now it’s up to David and Amy to try and elude the killers. Mason leaves his control room where he can watch all the hidden camera action and joins in on the deadly cat and mouse game. Are David and Amy smart enough, and strong enough, to last the distance?

Kate Beckinsale as Amy and Luke Wilson as David

Vacancy has several things going for it that other movies of this kind simply can’t compete with; excellent casting and performances; I’m not a huge fan of Luke Wilson (I prefer his bung-nosed brother Owen), but he commands the role of intuitive David very well. I’m a huge fan of Kate Beckinsale, she always exudes intelligence and conviction; I just love watching her act. She’s damn sexy too, in that bookish kind of way.

Frank Whaley as Mason

But honours go to Frank Whaley as the bespectacled motelier. What a damn creepy guy indeed! Whaley adds some great physical nuances to his performance which up the eccentricity of his character and add more weight to the movie’s dark core (snuff moviemaking).

David is unnerved by the in-house movie selection

The movie also boasts superb lighting and camera work from Andrzej Sekula (who shot Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction). Learning from the behind the scenes featurette on the DVD that the motel setting was, in fact, two large sets: interiors on a sound stage and exteriors built on location; it amazes me where Hollywood spends its money on movies. No wonder their movies cost so damn much!

David and Amy try to stay calm as the terror around them escalates

Eschewing any overt blood and gore, but maintaining a genuinely creepy atmosphere, Vacancy is a nice little surprise. Man, it could’ve been so much worse. Despite the snuff edge aspect, the movie isn’t as intensely disturbing as it possibly could’ve been, but it’s well-paced and very economical in its narrative (it runs only 80-odd mins). For a derivative and, let’s face it, predictable screenplay, Vacancy is imminently hospitable.

Here's the theatrical trailer:

And here's David and Amy discovering the snuff movies:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

6 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Damo

January 7th 2008 08:28

For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics

What is not to love.
It hits all my primal fears.
Gotta see this one.

Comment by D. Armenta

January 7th 2008 17:42

The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan
L.A.M.P.

Definitely going to see this one. Haven't seen a good modern horror movie in ages!

Especially by a guy named Nimrod--that had me at the start.

Comment by KylieW

January 8th 2008 02:15

Celebrity Obsession

I'll probably check this one out too. Despite the fact that I much prefer Owen to Luke. Other's I know who saw the movie really liked it too.

Nimrod.......what were his parents thinking?

Comment by Michaelie

January 8th 2008 03:16

Flick Wit

I read a little bit about this somewhere else, but stopped very soon in, thinking it was just a Psycho wanna-be. Glad you spelled things out in your intro - now really want to see this, though unlike you, I really do not like Kate Beckinsale. Frank Whaley is the one that really convinced me! Love him.

Michaelie

Comment by Bryn

January 8th 2008 05:11

Horrorphile

Hi guys,
cheers for the comments ...
Yes, I'm back and ready to roar!
It's gonna be a year of deep, dark, hot-cold, killin' Darkness.

Comment by Cibbuano

January 8th 2008 05:27

20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

looks intriguing... at least it sounds like it tries to build a little atmosphere...

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