Critic Reviews
Vacancy (2007) Rank 5 Reviews
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Cinema Blend
The big difference between Vacancy and all the torture-porn movies Hollywood has been flooding the horror market with lately is that this one doesn’t expect its audience to get off on violence. Where movies like Hostel are constructed to glorify the ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Cinema Blend
Film School Rejects (Kevin Carr)
Still, I went to see “Vacancy,” going in with low expectations. To my utter shock and surprise, I really liked the film.
“Vacancy” is a basic serial killer thriller. It’s not loaded with original content, and the subject matter is admittedly ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Film School Rejects (Kevin Carr)
Film School Rejects (Chris Beaumont)
I have seen this little movie described as Psycho meets Saw, and that description is rather fitting. It is not entirely appropriate, but effectively describes the movie in a form of cinematic shorthand. I went into the movie with lowered expectations, ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Film School Rejects (Chris Beaumont)
Filmjerk.com (Brian Orndorf)
There's something to be said about efficiency, especially in a spooky suspense picture. There's no berry sweeter than a chiller that doesn't allow itself to be swallowed by excess or indulgence. "Vacancy" is a furious get-in-and-get-out viewing ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Filmjerk.com (Brian Orndorf)
eFilmCritic.com (Brian Orndorf)
There’s something to be said about efficiency, especially in a spooky suspense picture. There’s no berry sweeter than a chiller that doesn’t allow itself to be swallowed by excess or indulgence. “Vacancy” is a furious get-in-and-get-out viewing ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at eFilmCritic.com (Brian Orndorf)
Los Angeles Times (Sam Adams)
The unhappy marrieds who stray off the interstate in "Vacancy" think that the most unpleasant thing awaiting them is a night in the same bed. But when their car breaks down on a quiet rural road, the only place to stay is a run-down motel with some ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Los Angeles Times (Sam Adams)
eFilmCritic.com (Scott Weinberg)
I see dozens of "suspense thrillers" that deliver (maybe) two or three half-hearted attempts at actual suspense, only to follow those moments up with 12-18 minutes of aimless plot-wanderings and general actor-babble. Kinda tough to keep an intense tone ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at eFilmCritic.com (Scott Weinberg)
The Trades (Scott Juba)
Chances are that almost everyone has at least one horror story of a lousy motel visit. After watching “Vacancy,” you likely won’t complain about yours any more. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at The Trades (Scott Juba)
eFilmCritic.com (Erik Childress)
Torture porn is the chic term thrown around these days to provide a subversively grotesque genre for films like the Saw and Hostel series. Men and women subjected to all sorts of horrific living-death type situations while the characters inflicting such ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at eFilmCritic.com (Erik Childress)
Arrow in the Head ("The Arrow")
Is it me or was VACANCY treated like an unwanted, one legged and red-headed stepwhore by the powers that be? The marketing campaign and the push behind the film were a lot like me in the sack after a face-off with a bottle of bourbon; limp and impotent. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Arrow in the Head ("The Arrow")
Movie Picture Film (Scott Hoffman)
Finally, a film labeled as scary movie that actually is scary! From director Nimrod Antal (the underrated "Kontroll") this highly original, moody, creepy scare-fest is one of the best suspense films I've seen in years. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Movie Picture Film (Scott Hoffman)
ReelTalk (Frank Wilkins)
We've all stayed in one before. The run-down, sleazy fleabag motel with so few cars in the parking lot we wonder how such a place could remain in business. As in Vacancy, perhaps these motels have an alternate source of income. The Pinewood Motel ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at ReelTalk (Frank Wilkins)
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
As far as hoteliers go, Mason, the night manager of the dilapidated Pinewood Motel, makes Norman Bates seem like a pussycat. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
La Presse, Montréal
C'est un couple fini, trop profondément blessé pour survivre. Avant de rompre définitivement et de signer les derniers papiers de divorce, David et Amy (Luke Wilson et Kate Beckinsale) entreprennent un ultime voyage de couple. Évidemment, rien ne se ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at La Presse, Montréal
ShowBIZ Data
Horror films rarely receive much praise from critics. Vacancy, starring Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson, is getting quite a lot of it. Gene Seymour in Newsday writes: "The movie executes its every borrowed, nerve-bruising plot twist with such gruesome ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at ShowBIZ Data
Reel Film Reviews (David Nusair)
While Vacancy certainly does an effective job of keeping he viewer thoroughly engaged throughout its refreshingly brisk running time, there's little doubt that the film starts to fall apart once one starts to really mull over its various plot twists in ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Reel Film Reviews (David Nusair)
Sun Newspapers of Cleveland
Director Nimrod Antal may not have mined new depths of horror/slasher moviemaking with "Vacancy," but he revives the genre with scary closeups and lighting tricks to fashion a nerve-wracking thriller. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Sun Newspapers of Cleveland
Washington Post (Desson Thomson)
"Vacancy" is another motel-hell horror flick in which an unfortunate, attractive couple (in this case, Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) discover that "room service" isn't about clean towels, champagne and oysters so much as getting stabbed and videotaped ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Washington Post (Desson Thomson)
Mark Reviews Movies (Mark Dujsik)
When it comes to thrillers, sometimes less is more, and Vacancy is further proof of that. The plot doesn't have an A to B succession. It stays at point A, and the only progression is the degree of danger in which the main characters find themselves. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Mark Reviews Movies (Mark Dujsik)
Moviepie.com
Directed by Nimród Antal, who also helmed the gloomy and atmospheric subterranean subway thriller Kontroll, Vacancy gets off to a decent start (the world’s worst chit-chat dialogue filler notwithstanding). Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson co-star as ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Moviepie.com
The Movie Boy (Dustin Putman)
"Vacancy" has a barebones plot, no major twists or revelations, and follows a point-A-to-point-B path with few detours. It's a study in narrative minimalism, really, slowly but surely escalating with a sense of dread that, once it gets going, never lets ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at The Movie Boy (Dustin Putman)
Fangoria
VACANCY is a movie in which people get away with murder, in more ways than one. Not only have its villains been brutally killing people in secret for some time as the story opens, but the filmmakers telling that tale weave a number of credibility ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Fangoria
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!" So sayeth the Eagles' "Hotel California." Thirty years later, the diabolical place with no exit is a multiplex full of horror movies. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Vacancy" is your typical slasher horror flick; first of all it's
predictable. However, director Nimrod Antul leaves the viewer with
some goodies, and entertainment that horror fans will find enjoyable,
and eye dropping. "Vacancy" also attracts the ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at
Boxoffice Magazine
Regurgitating Psycho and Peeping Tom for the YouTube generation, Vacancy posits that the best marriage therapy involves trying to escape a fleabag motel room before snuff filmmakers videotape your murder. But its aspirations for torture-porn hall-of-fame ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Boxoffice Magazine
Reeling Reviews (Robin and Laura Clifford)
When their car breaks down on a deserted road, David and Amy Fox (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) have little choice but to make the best of it and spend the night at a shabby motel. With a beat up TV set and VCR their only entertainment, the watch a ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Reeling Reviews (Robin and Laura Clifford)
The New York Times (Manohla Dargis)
This banal horror retread involves a couple of critters flailing inside a sticky trap for what is, in effect, the big-screen equivalent of a roach motel. Luke Wilson, who could stand a career intervention, and Kate Beckinsale, the reigning queen of the ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at The New York Times (Manohla Dargis)
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
Vacancy is a nicely compact, tense thriller that loses a little of its punch as a result of a rushed, generic ending. For the most part, the English-language debut of Nimrod Atal (Kontroll) offers a strong sense of atmosphere and escalating suspense. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
San Francisco Chronicle
"Vacancy" is another motel-hell horror flick in which an unfortunate, attractive couple (in this case, Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) discover that "room service" isn't about clean towels, champagne and oysters so much as getting stabbed and videotaped ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at San Francisco Chronicle
The Land of Eric (Eric D. Snider)
It is not wise to expect much from a film about a married couple who are forced to stay in a creepy, dilapidated motel after their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. That sparse set-up is as old as time, the subject of campfire stories for as long ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at The Land of Eric (Eric D. Snider)
KYW Newsradio (Bill Wine)
It's the modest but effective setting of Vacancy, a generic but effectively nerve-wracking horror thriller that replaces room service with doom service. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at KYW Newsradio (Bill Wine)
Toronto Star (Peter Howell)
And that's a very good thing, for once. Because in seeking to simply goose our pulse rate rather than provoke our gag reflex, director Nimród Antal helps revive the art of old-school shocks. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Toronto Star (Peter Howell)
The Arizona Republic
In Vacancy, the filmmakers take lots of familiar elements from other movies, then twist them around in ways that are quite unpredictable. Watching the film, in fact, a viewer is surprised at just how good it is and how it makes the routine seem startling ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at The Arizona Republic
RopeofSilicon (Laremy Legel)
There are a few problems with Vacancy, but warning, they’re strange ones, not typical of the genre. It’s a thriller that’s legitimately scary at times, but for the wrong reasons. It’s a horror that’s cast big name stars, but that both helps and ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at RopeofSilicon (Laremy Legel)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While stranded at a remote motel, a couple discover hidden cameras in their room and learn they are to be the stars of a snuff film. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Variety
Dubious ethical aspects aside, Nimrod Antal proves himself an able director who has made a highly cinematic movie. Shooter Andrzej Sekula's compositionsare startling for a film of this ilk, the pace is appropriately brisk and everything clicks, at least ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Variety
filmcritic.com (Chris Cabin)
Two weeks after we were spoiled by the sludgy monument of Grindhouse, a whole other low-budget thrill ride from the annals of our sticky-floor, damp-seat, scratched-print celluloid history is deployed with full-force. Following his promising debut, ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at filmcritic.com (Chris Cabin)
The Cinema Source (Benjamin Lee)
The reason is simple. Film critics, by and large, hate horror movies. Especially when they’re as formulaic and brainless as 99% of them have been over the past few years. So as a sort of pre-emptive strike, the studios try their darndest to prevent any ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at The Cinema Source (Benjamin Lee)
The Onion A.V. Club
There's no small amount of irony in a movie that unmistakably references Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, yet lacks any interest in human psychology. The ruthlessly streamlined thriller Vacancy has a perfectly twisted villain in Frank Whaley, the bespectacled ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at The Onion A.V. Club
The Baltimore Sun
Vacancy is a mangy-looking mongrel with a lot of familiar markings and a little more on the ball than you'd expect at first glance. Can a horror movie really get away with having so many familiar motifs such as its Motel in the Middle of Nowhere complete ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at The Baltimore Sun
The Cinema Source (Benjamin Lee)
RopeofSilicon (Laremy Legel)
There are a few problems with Vacancy, but warning, they’re strange ones, not typical of the genre. It’s a thriller that’s legitimately scary at times, but for the wrong reasons. It’s a horror that’s cast big name stars, but that both helps and ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at RopeofSilicon (Laremy Legel)
Comingsoon.net
Screen Gems and every director they've hired who's made a bad horror film needs to line-up right now and kiss Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez on the lips for reviving the term "grindhouse" as a euphemism for any poorly-made schlock horror film. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Comingsoon.net
ReelTalk (Adam J. Hakari)
Because of their foreboding motel-based settings, comparisons will abound between Psycho and the new Screen Gems thriller Vacancy. But aside from locations, the similarity stops there. Stylistically, Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece was a slow and ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at ReelTalk (Adam J. Hakari)
PopMatters
"I dreamed you were trying to kill me.” When Amy (Kate Beckinsale) wakes, her husband David (Luke Wilson) is driving. They’re on a dark road in the proverbial middle of nowhere, as he’s taken a turn off the interstate while she was asleep. She ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at PopMatters
Film Journal International (Doris Toumarkine)
Vacancy, the second feature from Nimrod Antal, who debuted with the well-regarded but under-attended Kontroll, will not stall but may not necessarily propel the director's career. For very easy-to-please horror/thriller fans, the film delivers a few ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Film Journal International (Doris Toumarkine)
Frank's Reel Reviews
We've all stayed in one before. The run-down, sleazy fleabag motel with more roaches than a Cheech and Chong movie but with so few cars in the parking lot, we wonder how such a place could possibly stay in business. Perhaps these motels have an alternate ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Frank's Reel Reviews
efilmcritic.com (Peter Sobczynski)
After all the hoopla and hype surrounding the release of “Grindhouse,” it is ironic to discover that the makers of the new thriller “Vacancy” actually do a better job of recreating the kind of low-budget junk-film fodder celebrated so ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at efilmcritic.com (Peter Sobczynski)
Slant Magazine
In the swift, vicious Vacancy, soon-to-be-divorced spouses David (Luke Wilson) and Amy (Kate Beckinsale) take a detour off the interstate highway that, after their car breaks down, leads them to a mountainside motel whose primary revenue comes from the ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Slant Magazine
KSL Radio (Steve)
A late night detour leads to an unimaginable nightmare when an estranged
couple’s car breaks down on a remote country road. Finding themselves stranded on a
dark and deserted two-lane highway, David Fox (Luke Wilson) and his soon-to-be exwife
Amy ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at KSL Radio (Steve)
Film Threat, Hollywood's Indie Voice
Cinema has certainly done a fantastic job demonstrating what not to do when you find yourself on a road trip. Never leave the main highway, no matter how fast you think that shortcut you found on a map will take you. David and Amy Fox (Luke Wilson and ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Film Threat, Hollywood's Indie Voice
Empire Movies (Brendan Cullin)
In "Vacancy", Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale star as a soon-to-be-divorced couple who are driving along a highway when they are forced to take an alternate route that takes them to an isolated road and an isolated motel where they decide to spend a ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Empire Movies (Brendan Cullin)
Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)
David (Wilson, Idiocracy) and Amy (Beckinsale, Click) are a bitterly bickering couple whose marriage is on the skids, detouring down a windy rural road for hours, completely lost. When car troubles force them off the road, they have little choice but to ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)
Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)
Vacancy is a nastily effective, rough-edged gem of a horror-thriller. Like the sputtering neon sign evoked in its advertising campaign, you keep expecting that it will peter out, but somehow it stays burning right up until the unexpectedly abrupt, yet ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)
Bloody-Disgusting
When it comes to horror Sony Screen Gems has sort of become a laughing stock amongst the horror community. Sure their movies make tons of money, but they’re all made for teenagers and their girlfriends. The laundry is dirty as over the past years ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Bloody-Disgusting
Shadows on the Wall (Rich Cline)
Kicking off with a terrific Hitchcock-like vibe and a playful use of horror cliches ("We should have never left the interstate"), this thriller starts well but never goes anywhere with its grisly set-up.
Amy and David (Beckinsale and Wilson) are a ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Shadows on the Wall (Rich Cline)
Time Out New York
How fortuitous that while a debate about B movies rages on, something close to the genuine article slinks into theaters. Even though this thriller from Nimród Antal (Kontroll) is a little ho-hum, it does boast some classic grind-genre ingredients: a ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Time Out New York
The Hollywood Reporter
A couple checking into a desolate motel when their car breaks down is to horror filmmakers what a priest and a rabbi walking into a bar is to stand-up comics: a timeworn setup that must have a terrific punch line to overcome its antiquity. "Vacancy" ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at The Hollywood Reporter
One Guy's Opinion (Frank Swietek)
The use of motels as a locale for terror has a long, and sometimes distinguished, cinematic history. The classic example, of course, is “Psycho,” but one but one can go back further to Orson Welles’ “Touch of Evil” and its marvelous scenes ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at One Guy's Opinion (Frank Swietek)
Boston Globe
The ads are making "Vacancy " look like the latest meat-grinding horror special to come down the chute in the wake of "Saw " and "The Hills Have Eyes ." It's not. It's an entrance exam. And a pretty good one at that. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Boston Globe
L.A. Daily News
I had moderate hopes for "Vacancy." Its director, Nimrod Antal, made "Kontroll," a stylish and bleakly humorous thriller about the Budapest subway police. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at L.A. Daily News
Reel.com
Vacancy is a stylish, scary, ambitious thriller that recalls not only the original The Hitcher but also some of Hitchcock's work. That's for the first 45 minutes. The second 45 minutes is so routine and disappointing that it's hard to believe it was made ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Reel.com
Boxoffice Magazine
Regurgitating Psycho and Peeping Tom for the YouTube generation, Vacancy posits that the best marriage therapy involves trying to escape a fleabag motel room before snuff filmmakers videotape your murder. But its aspirations for torture-porn hall-of-fame ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Boxoffice Magazine
Tiscali UK
Given the litany of horrors that have transpired in motels during the course of movie history, it's a wonder anyone ever stays in one. Vacancy provides yet further evidence why these roadside rest stops, along with cigarettes, should post a warning that ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Tiscali UK
New York Daily News (Elizabeth Weitzman)
Short, sharp and to the point, "Vacancy" has a single goal, and that is to scare the hell out of you. It's not as gleefully sadistic as, say, "Hostel," but it will give you one very rough night's sleep. Naturally, I mean that as a compliment. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at New York Daily News (Elizabeth Weitzman)
Plugged In
Amy and David Fox are crumbling after recently losing their young son in a tragic accident. So, driving back from a family reunion in another state, the two find themselves lost on a dark country road and nearing a meltdown point in their relationship. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Plugged In
Three Movie Buffs (Eric Nash)
Vacancy has a small cast and very limited location shots, and even fewer sets. No doubt the fact that this movie could be made very cheaply was one of the reasons it was. There can be no other reason why anyone would have felt compelled to film this. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Three Movie Buffs (Eric Nash)
Reel Movie Critic
A late night detour leads to an unimaginable nightmare when an estranged couple’s car breaks down on a remote country road.
Finding themselves stranded on a dark and deserted two-lane highway, David Fox (Luke Wilson) and his soon-to-be ex-wife Amy ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Reel Movie Critic
Christian Science Monitor
Carter Webb (Adam Brody) has recently been dumped by his fashion-model girlfriend and flees Los Angeles for suburban Michigan to care for his ailing grandmother (Olympia Dukakis). He wants to get away from it all, but living across the street is needy, ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Christian Science Monitor
Austin Chronicle (Marc Savlov)
I recently drove from Austin to Reno and back via old Route 66, and I am here to tell you that the darker the night, the lonelier the road, the more inviting those quaint, Fifties-era roadside travel courts and motor lodges appear. But – and this is ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Austin Chronicle (Marc Savlov)
Chart Magazine
Tinseltown has been riding the horror movie bandwagon pretty consistently since the release of Scream. Expect this trend to continue a little longer due to lower-than-average budgets and lowered expectations. Plus, these films are killing in the DVD ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Chart Magazine
Christian Spotlight on the Movies
Let me begin by saying that this review will be brief, as Vacancy contains little to no plot and has nothing of value to discuss.
The plot revolves around a couple experiencing severe marital problems. They have recently lost their only child, and are ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Christian Spotlight on the Movies
Entertainment Insiders (Eric Lurio)
Don't get me wrong. I LIKE horror films. I've seen some extremely good ones over the years, and I even enjoy mediocre to bad ones. I'm really ticked off when decent horror film comes out and they don't have any press screenings. This means I miss some ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Entertainment Insiders (Eric Lurio)
FirstShowing.net (Barry Wurst)
Here is yet another Franken-movie, a film made up of parts of other, better films. To name them all would not only make this a top 100 list but also ruin the plot twists for those who may actually want to see this. Both unoriginal and unpleasant, Vacancy ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at FirstShowing.net (Barry Wurst)
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
"Vacancy" is, as its title suggests, pretty empty. Worse, it's an insufferable, poor-taste thriller devoid of substance and almost completely free of scares, not to mention original ideas. ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
This is the kind of movie that leaves you feeling icky all over afterward -- grimy and sickened and desperately in need of a shower. Yes, it is a horror flick and so, of course, it's supposed to be violent. But the way in which it gets off on the ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Preview Family Movie Review
It’s a good premise. You’re at a generic motel surrounded by a serene setting. You turn on the TV and here’s this horrific murder scene. Then you notice it. What’s happening on the screen took place in your room. Great premise. And that’s about ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Preview Family Movie Review
Deseret News
"Vacancy" is, as its title suggests, pretty empty. Worse, it's an insufferable, poor-taste thriller devoid of substance and almost completely free of scares, not to mention original ideas. It's also surprisingly dull and listless for a film that clocks ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Deseret News
Film Finder
Luridly awful and unintentionally comical, this mucky little thriller could be the missing third half of “Grindhouse” if it didn't take itself so seriously. Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale star as a sniping married couple who end up in a seedy motel ...read the complete Vacancy movie review at Film Finder
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