I’ve only seen this movie once, and with my memory, well I don’t recall much about it. I am pretty sure I liked it though. It stars Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale as David and Amy Fox. We also have Frank Whaley as Mason. Frank is famous for his role in Pulp Fiction as Brett, the guy on the receiving end of Ezekiel 25:17. So there’s our cast.
I love the chemistry between Luke and Kate. they are a married couple who are clearly grating on one another’s last nerve. He took a detour thinking it would save time at night, she’s tired, bitchy, and kinda sick of his shit. He is sick of the nagging. I think this scenario is very relate-able. Poor Luke, he has gone 30 miles too far, and you know that is fueling her to be more of a bitch. His stubborn ass thought he knew where he was going. They get to a gas station and the guy guides him in the right directions. The guy seemed super helpful. This is a horror film, trust no one. The car is back to having problems as they dodged a raccoon in the opening. The fan is supposedly messed up and it has stopped working. They are really grating on each other due to the situation and he’s tired. She slept for 300 miles thanks to her zoloft and prozac cocktail. Well, they got a long walk, about a mile, in the middle of the night, trying to get back to the gas station. Of course, he has bounced, but looky here, a convenient motel next door. And henceforth the name, Vacancy.
They enter, and there is some female screaming, which is cause for concern, but it is apparently the guy is just watching a movie. The guy is quirky, reminds me of Ned Flanders. He says that nobody will be around til morning and nothing is local either, so they’re spending the night.
They try to make amends with one another, and suddenly there’s a knocking on the door, but nobody is there. Then the phone rings, and nobody. Then the door again. This time, there’s a door between 2 rooms and the knocking is coming from the next room. Problem is, there are no other vehicles in the parking, but somebody is clearly banging on the door. Now somebody at the front door again. Then the side door. Redundant, or just building up tension? The phone no longer works. Luke tries knocking on the other room, no response. So now he goes to the front desk to try to get some answers. Luke is complaining, but the manager says there shouldn’t be anybody else in the room, but he is gonna check it, see if it’s a bum or a college kid.
They turn on the TV, and there is what appears to be a horror film of guys attacking a screaming female. They realize the room looks just like theirs and there are cameras in the room. The lady gets stabbed in the room, and I think her man is dead too. These are VHS tapes it appears. They put in another, and the same type of attacks and the power now keeps coming on and off and the doors are banging. And there’s somebody there that we see for a brief moment while the light goes on and off.
The windows are nailed shut. Nothing is going right, but obviously whoever is doing this has done this before. In the bathroom, they find the apple that Kate accidentally cut her self on while cutting it in the car, so yeah, somebody has been to their car. Now it’s time for an escape plan, and it’s time for me to shut my filthy mouth and watch.
It’s over, and here are my final thoughts. What started off really great, gets duller and duller by the 30-minute mark or so. It didn’t keep me as captivated once they started moving around the premises. I understand why they went that direction, but I like the claustrophobia or staying in the same room honestly. Would it have worked any better? I don’t know, maybe not. But that’s the film I would like to see. It’s not that it gets bad really, it’s just that the beginning is a really good starting point, and there’s only so much that can be done to keep the tension. Very few films can keep that tension running high. I would give this a 6.0 and say I do enjoy it, but I can see why I kinda forgot it as well. I’d recommend it, but be prepared to maybe feel underwhelmed by the time you finish it. It’s like watching porn and jerking off. You get finished, but yet there’s still 10 minutes to go. Well do you really wanna watch those last 10 minutes, or are you satisfied with the beginning part? That analogy was awful.
Final Rating: 6.0
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