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Vacancy [2007]


RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £1.93 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk

A confined setting is a useful tool for thriller-makers, and Vacancy is definitely boxed in: a run-down motel way, way off the Interstate, the kind of place where unsuspecting movie characters go to get stabbed to death in the shower. If Vacancy doesn't quite live up to its Hitchcockian forbears, at least it provides 80 minutes of well-designed mayhem. You know somebody's paying attention just from the opening credits, a clever vortex with pounding music by Paul Haslinger. Then we meet unhappy couple Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale, driving along in the dark and forced to stay at the Pinewood Motel after a car breakdown. There's a night man (Frank Whaley, World Trade Center) in the tradition of Dennis Weaver's Touch of Evil gargoyle, but the real mess of trouble is waiting in room number 4.

Director Nimrod Antal, who scored a stylish international hit with the Hungarian thriller Kontroll, squeezes maximum juice out of the Route 66 atmosphere of the motel, although the movie doesn't get under your skin the way Kontroll did. Wilson and Beckinsale are a little too marquee-namish for this kind of heavy-breathing work, and the script doesn't give them much to play with. But hey, it's not that kind of movie. Where it really belongs is on the top half of a drive-in double bill, or maybe as a nightmare-scenario TV movie from the Seventies. Either way, it works. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com



COOL
Review date: 2008-12-01 Rating: 10 out of 10

this film is one of the best horror movies of the last 10 years it keeps you on the edge of your seat for the hole film BUY IT NOW !!!!!!!

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Reviews


One of the worst horror films since 'Hostel;
Review date: 2008-11-25 Rating: 2 out of 10

This film is complete rubbish and I thought hostel was bad.
If you are a true horror fan, dont bother buying it.

Very positive
Review date: 2008-10-24 Rating: 8 out of 10


I liked Antal's "Kontroll" when I saw it on the TIFF festival a few years ago, and this one is another positive experience.

The most common letdown with films like these are the too-stupid-to-live 'heroes' and 'heroines' that the film demands a continuous string of idiotic decisions from, since there could not conceivably be any other way of pushing the plot forward and/or create suspense.

Not so here - the main characters are surprisingly (but still within the believable range) resourceful in the face of danger, and thus you are actually able to give a damn if they die or not. The flick is suspenseful and spooky enough to leave your hunger for such suitably satisfied.

Minor inconsistencies like having wall-to-wall carpets in your kill-otel snuff suite (the blood's gonna be a bitch to get out!) and not exactly super-original setting (but what is original *and* good these days? Not a lot!) fails the film from reaching the full five stars...but still all in all a very positive experience after what I expected to be a rather so-so flick.

Great Thriller starring Kate Beckinsale
Review date: 2008-09-03 Rating: 8 out of 10

Vacancy is a really good film. The plot is simple, a couple (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) who are on the verge of divorce, their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, they then check in to a run down motel and they realise that the films they are watching in their room were filmed in the very room that they are sat in. The film then consists of a battle between the couple and the killers. There are great extras on the DVD too including documentaries and trailers. Great film at good value for money.

Enjoyable - but don't expect too much
Review date: 2008-07-06 Rating: 6 out of 10

I didn't think i'd enjoy this film as i thought it would be a case of 'all been done before'... & it has all been done before but if you allow for the fact that there won't be any real surprises then the film itself is actually quite entertaining.

My only real negative criticism is that, right from the start, you know exactly where the film's going... that didn't really bother me but may annoy/disappoint some people. You know the 2 leads are going to end up at 'The Motel', you know some nasty guys are going to try to kill them, you know they'll nearly escape, not escape, nearly escape again etc etc... everything that happens you see coming as clearly as if you had the screenplay in front of you.

That said it is a fast paced film which really works in it's favour... too many films in this genre move way too slowly which just adds a boredom factor. At least in Vacancy, though you may know what's going to happen next it happens fast enough for you not start shouting & throwing crisps at the TV.

I reviewed this film on another site & totally agree with another reviewer there who said about the abrupt ending, it does all come to an end at the same fast pace as the entire film moves at - it left me feeling almost like the cast & crew were in a hurry to leave the set?

At just under 80 mins long it is a short film anyway, that may explain the hasty ending & the odd loose end.

If it wasn't for the acting abilities of Kate Beckinsale & Luke Wilson this film probably wouldn't even be worth a review but their talent saves what could be a total car crash & turns it into something that, although not without it's faults, is actually worth watching.

If you want to enjoy this film then don't expect too much from it & you'll be ok!

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Ethan Embry
Luke Wilson
Kate Beckinsale
Frank Whaley

Creators:
Luke Wilson (Primary Contributor)
Ethan Embry (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
EAN: 5035822129139
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, Colour, Dolby, PAL,
Release date: 2007-10-15
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 82 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2007
Language: English (Original Language)

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