Cinema review
Directed by Nimrod Antal
Starring Luke Wilson, Kate Beckinsale, Frank Whaley
Release date 15 June 2007

A married couple take a wrong turn off the highway and wind up in an isolated motel. After discovering a stack of snuff films and hidden cameras in their seedy room, they realise they are destined to be the next feature attraction…

Director Nimrod Antal is obviously a keen Hitchcock fan. Vacancy’s opening credits recall those of Vertigo and North by Northwest (especially with its Herrmann-esque score), while the creepy motel setting has more than a passing resemblance to Psycho. Unfortunately, the similarities end there. While it tries to follow the master’s cue of generating terror through heightened suspense, Vacancy is let down by predictability and monotony.

A film set almost entirely in one location (in this case, the motel grounds) requires a high level of inventiveness to sustain it. But, though the initial revelation is well handled, the subsequent action descends into repetitive spectacle, as Beckinsale and Wilson try to outwit the bad guys and make haphazard attempts to flee. The telegraphed shocks arrive with typically crashing sound effects, and, once we switch to the killers’ point of view, the tension largely evaporates.

Early on, we learn that the couple’s relationship is on its last legs, probably due to the loss of their son. But the theme of a marriage in crisis feels pointlessly tacked on, and has no relevance to the rest of the film. Similarly, the killers’ motivation is never explored. At times, they appear to be psychotic forces of nature, like Halloween’s Michael Myers. At others, they are simply bog-standard murderers trying to get the job done. The result of this uneasy mix is a failure to achieve either the inhuman dread inspired by Myers, or anything approaching the psychological complexity of Norman Bates.

Even the most forgiving cinemagoer will feel short-changed by the truly abysmal ending and, though the 80-minute runtime keeps things mercifully short, similar material has been attempted far more successfully elsewhere, such as in the excellent French horror Them. Instantly forgettable. Joe Green

VERDICT: 4/10
As befitting its title, Vacancy is a fundamentally empty experience.