Posted on April 23, 2007
Fans of “Psycho,” rejoice. You now have another creepy movie that involves a shady motel that is actually worth seeing.
In “Vacancy,” Luke Wilson (“Old School”) and Kate Beckinsale (“Underworld”) star as Tom and Amy Fox, a couple whose marriage is falling apart after the death of their young son. While driving home from a road trip, they get lost and their car breaks down. Fortunately, it breaks down about a mile from the Pinewood Motel. Unfortunately, the Pinewood Motel makes the Bates Motel seem like a five-star resort. The motel is crawling with bugs, has brown water trickling from the faucet, and bed sheets covered with stains.
Before they go to bed, Tom pops one of the room’s dusty, unmarked movies into the VCR. The movie looks to be very low-budget and depicts a group of girls being murdered by two masked men. To Tom’s horror, he realizes that there is something familiar in the movie: it takes place in the very room they are staying in. Amy and he begin to panic when they see that every other tape in the room’s video library contains graphic footage of people being murdered and that there are hidden cameras placed all over the room. Someone begins banging on the door, as the power in their room starts flickering on and off. They must plot an escape from their room to avoid ending up like everyone else on those tapes. It becomes a twisted game of cat-and-mouse because they know their every move is being watched by whoever has set up the cameras.
With a clever and streamlined script, this movie moves fast and packs a punch. The viewer feels as though he or she is witnessing what a real couple would do if they were in that situation. Tom and Amy panic, but never stop trying to find a way out. They cover up the cameras and search for anything that could possibly be used as a weapon, while watching the tapes to see if they can learn something about the killers.
The audience becomes invested in the characters because they are both so well developed. The audience is on the edge of its seat waiting to see if Tom and Amy will make it out alive
Movies like “Vacancy” are hard to come by. It is unpredictable, yet not in a “big twist” at the end sort of way. It relies on being well-written, and is filled with psychological tension to deliver the scares. In the vein of Wes Craven’s “Red Eye,” this movie does a lot with a little. It takes a simple plotline and masterfully crafts a suspenseful thriller that leaves the viewer satisfied.
