| "Vacancy" is the
definitive bare bones thriller. At a mere 80-minutes, the film
doesn't waste a second with anything other than the basics -- Set up
-- Action -- Ending. It is all very efficient and abrupt.
My review will be along those lines. Kate Beckinsale and Luke
Wilson are a couple who have recently lost their son. They are
not getting along at all -- perhaps on the verge of a bitter
break-up. One night, on a car trip, they take an unknown
shortcut, leaving the safe confines of the interstate. In the
middle of nowhere, their car breaks down and they are forced to hole
up in a deserted motel -- a real dump.
Inside the filthy room, they find a collection of video tapes --
each one showing the graphic and brutal murders of those who
occupied that room before them. The killers toy with the
couple as the hidden cameras roll. Their deaths are imminent
and they must find a way to avoid the fate bestowed on the previous
victims.
Beckinsale and Wilson are not given a lot to do. It is a
rather simple horror film premise. However, what they do, they
do well. I believed their terror and felt their desperation.
You can't ask for more in a film like this. Frank Whaley also
delivers a creepy turn as the manager.
The thing I most appreciated from "Vacancy" was the reliance on
mood and tension, as opposed to the cheap horror tactic of gore and
violence. This genre is not generally after any lofty goals,
but it is nice to see an example avoid the boring clichés.
"Vacancy" doesn't strive to be much of anything. However,
it accomplishes what it sets out to do -- It serves up a healthy
dose of creepy and a side order of thrills. Nine out of ten
films like this are utter crap. This is the tenth out of ten. |
