Although this movie never looked too appealing in the previews, I decided to see it nonetheless; it's that fatal attraction to bad horror movies which somehow imbedded itself deep within my movie choosing glands at a young age. Those of you who haven't seen a horror film so bad it's laughable and enjoyed it, wont know what I'm talking about. But the rest of you get it, and understand my fatal attraction to horror movies. Yeah, well, that sense made a bad choice this time. I think it was the other sense which is deeply embedded in me that drew me towards Vacancy, and that is what I call the "Kate Beckinsale Attraction." It is just as powerful as the "Horror Movie Bug," but it's more difficult to resist.
The movie is about a young couple (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) on the verge of divorce, who are driving across the country to her parents place for the weekend. Because of a car accident, they take a detour and get lost in the backwoods of Hickville, USA. When their car breaks down, they walk back to a motel where they decide to stay the night (its either stay the cheap, crappy motel or sleep in the car). And this is when they find the snuff films, which are made at the hotel, using its guests. At that point, weird stuff starts happening and it leads to them being chased around by masked people with weapons, crawling through rat-ridden tunnels underneath the motel, and a lot of scenes meant to build suspense.
From the start, Vacancy looked to be promising, but instead it just becomes a cheesy suspense film which didn't even pull me to the edge of my seat. There are few encounters with the killers, there are relatively no fight scenes, and the scenes which could build suspense fail at following through on it. Halfway through the movie, I found myself screaming at the screen [figuratively] because of the stupid decisions they were making and how loud Kate Beckinsale was crying.
There is a lot of potential behind this movie; the actors are great (and sexy), the set is creepy, and the idea is cool, but Vacancy just doesn't deliver the suspense, thrill, horror experience which it could have.