If Psycho didn’t put you off staying at out of the way motels then this film will surely put the kibosh on stopping at one of those out of the way dives during your next vacation.
David (Luke Wilson) and Amy (Kate Beckinsale) Fox is an unhappily married couple who are driving on the back roads one night when they find that they’re lost. They barely miss hitting a raccoon they pull into an isolated service station and have the mechanic (Ethan Embry) look their car over.
They continue on their way only to have the car break down. They hike back to the garage, but the mechanic has gone home for the evening. They check into the seedy hotel next door and are immediately wary of the guy running the place (Frank Whaley), but have no where else to go. They happen to watch some videotapes that are in the room and realize that the room services offered at this motel are the kind that will end with them being on the slab at the morgue.
Vacancy is another in a line of films that pay homage to the 70s. The run down hotel has a 70s feel and is probably one that hasn’t been redecorated since that particular decade. It’s also a film that starts with the thrills and doesn’t let up till the bitter end. It’s a creative use of the backwoods loonies that are after their victims.
Poor David and Amy are not exactly the best couple but you sure feel for them when they encounter the devilish denizens of the backwoods motel. Director Nimrod Antal crafts an action filled horror pursuit that starts rolling and doesn’t let you go till the last frame.
The only problem might be that the owner of the hotel is pretty obviously wacky and that maybe the bickering couple ought to have trusted their instincts and not stayed in the hotel of horrors in the first place (but then there would not have been a movie). Whatever the case, it’s a fun ride for fans of the genre and harkens back to some classic scares.
Vacancy is presented in both fullscreen and anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a 1-minute alternative opening that foreshadows the film’s ending. The 21-minute “Checking In” interviews director Nimrod Antal, Luke Wilson, Kate Beckinsale, Frank Whaley, writer Mark L. Smith, producer Hal Leiberman, executive producers Brian Paschal and Glenn Gainor, Ethan Embry, production designer Jon Gary Steele, director of photography Andrzej Sekula, and stunt coordinator Lance Gilbert.
The 8 minute “Mason’s Video Picks” are extended footage of the snuff films that the hapless couple sees on the videotapes. The 90-second “Raccoon Encounter” is a deleted scene about David coming upon the offending animal after the car breakdown. Finally there are previews for other Sony DVDs.
I thought that Vacancy turned out to be a good little thriller. The performances were rather good and the chase was suspenseful. It had a certain 70s feeling that didn’t take away from the proceedings but might bring some sort of nostalgia to those that are old pros at watching the slasher genre.
Vacancy is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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