By Geno McGahee
I always get creeped out when I see those specials when they go to motel rooms and run that blue light over the sheets and walls and floor and detect gallons of bodily fluids. They should have a disclaimer that the rooms may or may not have had a bukkake take place. In 2007, VACANCY was released and the motel featured in this one was about as gross and dirty as can be, which sets the tone for the film. The setting is fantastic.
We begin with David Fox (Luke Wilson) and Amy Fox (Kate Beckinsale) driving home from a meeting with the in-laws. They’ve kept the fact that they are getting divorced secret. The couple was forever damaged after the death of their son and now resentment and guilt has destroyed them. During the trip home, David gets off the highway and is taking the back roads home, which is met with anger from his wife. Amy is just miserable and won’t cut him a break and every time that he brings up their deceased son, she goes on the attack.
On the way home, the car begins to have some trouble. They pull into a gas station where the attendant tells them that the fan is damaged but they’ll be fine to drive on. The car breaks down shortly after and now the two are on foot and fighting. They end up at the Pinewood Motel and meet the manager, Mason (Frank Whaley). He informs them that the mechanics won’t be around until the morning and offers the two a room. They reluctantly agree.
The room has roaches and is grimy, but the two elect to make the best of it and begin to reconnect a little. That’s when it begins to get strange. People begin banging on the walls, on the door, and the phone begins to ring continuously. This movie becomes incredibly intense quickly.
David storms over to the manager’s office and Mason informs him that college kids and homeless people tend to crash in the rooms and that must be what he was dealing with. He returns and tries to relax by watching TV. There is no cable but there are a stack of VHS tapes. He begins watching them and they are snuff films. Two masked men are killing people violently. It is terrifying and what makes it more terrifying is when David realizes that the deaths are taking place in the very motel room that he and Amy are staying in. Now it’s obvious what is going on. They are going to be killed.
It becomes a battle for survival and the couple is so likable and the villains so unlikable that you are sincerely rooting for them to get away. It’s very easy for the viewer to put themselves into the position of David and Amy, which makes it scarier. This film is very intense.
VACANCY is a wonderful film. It is a legitimate thriller with a great story and I especially like the fact that this situation cured the broken relationship between David and Amy. Watching them reconnect and return to a team as they dealt with these terrible people made it really interesting. I can’t recommend this enough. I love this film.
Rating: 8.5/10