This is me, reviewing horror movies that I recently watched or already watched a couple of times. I am a horror movie addict, and sometimes, I really love a specific movie that I can't get enough of it, so here I am writing about it. Thanks for stop...
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Vacancy is a 2007 American horror film directed by Nimród Antal and starring Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson. It was released April 20, 2007, by the distributor Screen Gems. - Wikipedia
****** This movie is very disturbing, to say the least. It is about a sadistic manager and his minions who lure motorists to their motel and kill them simply for snuff films. Apparently, the manager is selling the films to those people who share the same depraved interest like him. How awful is that? They kill for money and fun. This is a crazy planet.
David and Amy are having a marital problem. I like the exchange of words between them, or the retortions, I should say. Amy looks really pissed at David the way she makes a "straight" face whenever they are talking to each other. She wants to make David feel stupid and wrong. David is also kind of spiteful towards Amy, and a bit sarcastic, too. Honestly, I couldn't agree more on their decision to have a divorce and tell Amy's parents about it weeks after attending the old couple's anniversary party (that is where they are going in this story.) They also had a child named Charlie who sadly died in some kind of accident years prior, and Amy seems to blame David and herself, too. Now that's a "good" recipe for a divorce.
In the opening scene, we see David driving the car, and Amy sleeping peacefully in the shotgun seat. All of a sudden, a squirrel runs in the middle of the road, begging to be killed, but David decides to spare it's life by stopping the car and swerving it onto the roadside, too, almost killing them in the process. I like Amy's retortion to him afterwards. "Better to have us killed than have a roadkill, right?" I couldn't agree more. By the way, the scene just shows how compassionate David is even to small "less intelligent" animals. And I instantly like him for that.
Then their car stalls. But conveniently enough, there is a gas station nearby. And a motel, too, of course. A creepy guy, a mechanic of the gas station, entertains them and somehow fixes the car, and also gives Amy a sparkle, while also commenting how he (the mechanic) would like to pay them (David and Amy) instead for giving him something to do. In that very instance, I already know there is something off about this guy. I mean, who would say a thing like that?
After driving away a couple of miles, the car stalls again, thanks to that creepy mechanic who "fixed" it. Soon enough, David and Amy find themselves having another sweet conversation of their married lives, both too proud to know any better than to quarrel and play the blame game.
Finally, David and Amy decide to walk their way back to the gas station to seek help. But unfortunately, it is already closed for the night (or midnight since it is already pass one in the morning.) Luckily (or unluckily) for them, the nearby motel is still open. When they get in the main lobby, they suddenly hear a terrifying scream of a woman coming from the inside of the main desk's office. Then the bespectacled manager with a bushy mustache appears, emerging from the door, and calmly assures them that the scream they heard is coming from his smartphone. "It's getting a little bit boring in here sometimes," the manager says, smiling widely while holding up his phone. What he says is not all together untrue. He really is watching a movie. A snuff film of a woman being molested and murdered. I just find it funny, though, that the manager would be stupid enough to watch the film in full volume, in the dead of the night, while the motel is still open for any incoming guests to walk right in and hear it. Not that smart for a serial killer.
But, of course, David and Amy unwittingly buy the manager's explanation, and so they proceed to their business. The couple decide to stay in for the night, much to the manager's delight.
I like the actor who plays as the manager. He sure is terrifying in this movie. He really looks and acts like a serial killer with a volatile temper. He kind of reminds me of the Zodiac Killer.
When they enter their rented room, Amy turns on the bathroom light, and how horrible it is to see a cockroach crawling near the switch and without her knowing it. Disgusting place. And also creepy to think that many people have been murdered in there for God knows how many years. It is almost as if David and Amy just sign their own death certificate when they check in. That room is a tomb.
Then all hell break loose. There are bangings on the wall, seemingly coming from the adjoining room, and also outside the front door. They also receive a mysterious call from someone who is not speaking at all but only listening to Amy. David confronts the manager, who finds it weird because there is no occupants in that room next to them (room 3).
At first, I thought they are dealing with some kind of poltergeists or vengeful ghosts, because who could knock several times on the door and seems to magically vanish into thin air the moment David opens it? I did not know the plot of this movie before watching it so I was unaware of what I was actually watching and where it would go. And sometimes, not knowing the blurb of a movie beforehand is much better than knowing it, because some blurb has spoilers in them, ruining the surprises and twists hidden in the movie. And I hate being spoiled, so do you.
When David returns, the bangings stop. Relieved, he decides to watch tv, but the reception is bad. He sees a couple of VHS tapes lying beneath the tv set, and inserts one of them in the VHS player, hoping they are sexy movies. But to his surprise, those "movies" turn out to be snuff films. And to their complete horror, they realize those murders committed by the two masked guys in the snuff films happened in the same room they are in right that moment. They are being filmed from the very moment they step in their room.
For the second time, all hell break loose. Two guys wearing scary masks, the same guys in the snuff films, are trying to break there way in, but David and Amy are fast enough to lock and barricade the door.
The acting of both Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson are phenomenal. When David is stabbed in the chest, I could feel his pain just by looking at his eyes.
This movie is so intense and full of jump scares. I almost shout when one of the masked men peers in the bathroom window. But seriously, at first I thought it is Michael Myers of Halloween because of the mask, but way creepier.
When Amy unintentionally kills the two masked killers, it is so satisfying to watch the other one pinned on the hood of the car slowly dies from its wounds. That is how it is like to die, you moron. The second one is lucky enough to die instantly. He deserves to die painfully.
I was so glad that David seemingly survives his stab wound, or so I would like to think since the movie ends up in a very frustrating kind of cliffhanger and not truly clarifying David's ultimate fate. For all I know, he might eventually have died there in the spot before helps arrive or be dead on arrival in the hospital, and many worst case scenarios I could think of. But like I said, I'd love to stick with what I think best suited the ending of the movie: David survives.
Overall, this movie is a great watch to spend the weekends. Fast-paced and has a very satisfying ending. I could watch this over and over again, knowing David and Amy not only survive the serial killers' grasps, but also the grasp of divorce as well.
MORAL LESSONS OF THE STORY: 1) Sometimes, it's better to spend the night in the car than in an isolated motel in the middle of nowhere. 2) Keep the motel room clean. Use insecticide to kill cockroaches. 3) Always check your rented room for any hidden camera. Also check the bathroom for a trap door.
