Film Review: "Vacancy" (C)

I'm not sure what it is about this movie that just didn't make me like it, but I was not impressed in the slightest.

To me, this movie just didn't make the cut. First off, I didn't think Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale had any real chemistry. Even when they were fighting, I was bored. I just didn't believe it - I didn't really believe anything about this movie. It all seemed too predictable and staged. I had pretty high hopes for this movie (I like both actors), but I was disappointed.

Another big point of contention for me was the actor who played the manager of the hotel. I spend most of the movie annoyed at him, rather than genuinely disturbed. I didn't find him scary at all. Now, you put someone like Sid Haig in that role ... maybe I would feel differently. And the masked killers were lame. Scary? I think not. Laughable? Damn straight.

My main reason for disliking this movie is that it isn't horror. It's marketed as such, but there is no gore and the snuff films aren't that disturbing. Perhaps that's because I'm seriously fucked up, but I really didn't see how they were that creepy. There were a couple moments where one of the bad guys was in the shadow and I thought "well, that's a good shot," but that's pretty much the only reaction I had. Oh, I thought it was entertaining enough - especially if this had been marketed as a thriller - but I was expecting something else. For fuck's sake, it's RATED R and there's NO gore? It isn't even that bloody! You have got to be kidding me.

Then there's the ending. The ending sucked. It was just fucking awful. It was too unrealistic and then it fell into utter stupidity at a certain point. I'd say where, but I don't like giving out major spoilers on here in case someone does happen to read this.

I'd really only recommend this movie to people who aren't hardcore horror fans and want something to entertain them. The fact that it's halfway entertaining is the only reason I gave it a C. Who knows - it might even be truly scary to some of the people who do watch it.

I did like the poster, though. Kudos to the studios for coming up with a fucking awesome poster.