Destination: Home after an uncomfortable visit to the in-laws for an anniversary party.Disaster: Snuff film producer, Frank Whaley, and his creepy buddies.
Let's just leave the snark by the wayside on this one, folks. Vacancy is a taut thriller, a sleek, no frills horror film set in a creepy old hotel that makes the Bates Motel look like the Ritz-Carlton. Vacancy doesn't break any new ground, but it doesn't need to. It's a well-crafted piece of cinema and everyone involved is on point.
First of all, I want to see Luke Wilson in more horror films. I mean, he doesn't have to make a career of it--I know he likes to appear in half-baked indie comedies and laughless Hollywood tripe (he's also been a Wes Anderson player, so he's got cred), but I found him refreshing in the role of the put-upon Everyman who has to put up with his soon to be ex-wife (an excellent Kate Beckinsale) and figure out a way to elude the three psychopaths who have made the couple the stars of their latest snuff production. Frank Whaley (where the hell has he been?) plays a super-creepy hotel manager/film producer who watches the couple from his control room and Ethan Embry (ok, seriously, where the hell has he been???) plays the friendly mechanic/diabolical killer fiend who sets the whole sequence of events into motion.
At 85 minutes, Vacancy is short, tense, and brutal, like any film of the "Couple in a Seemingly Hopeless Predicament With No Means of Escape" variety ought to be. Director Nimrod Antal cuts out the bullshit and delivers a endlessly satisfying film for horror pros and novices alike.
I was going to write something like "check in as soon as you can" or "have no reservations, rent this one today," but I decided that would probably be kind of dumb, so I won't.
