Vacancy

Vacancy is a run-of-the-mill movie, with nothing much to get excited about. The storyline's laughably simple. Married - but Soon To Be Divorced™ - couple Amy (Kate Beckinsale) and David (Luke Wilson) are on their way home from a "keeping up appearances" visit to Amy's parents, when David decides to take A Shortcut™, and their car experiences A Mechanical Problem™, forcing them to spend the night at A Remote Motel™ run by A Creepy Bloke™. The motel is Not What It Seems™, and the creepy manager, aided and abetted by two Locals™ is actually murdering people in their rooms, whilst filming it.

Yes, that's right. This movie should have been called "Slasher Flick Clichés By The Tonne."

We even get a visit from A Large Number Of Rats™, The Sporadically Working Flashlight™, The Recently Deceased Offspring™, and Fat Sheriff Who Is Going To Die After Giving Our Hero And Heroine A Brief Period Of Hope™.

If you're a fan of Kate Beckinsale, go see it. She's as hot as ever. But on almost all other points, this movie falls flat.

Quite why it rated an "R17" is beyond me. Maybe it's the brief shot of a murdered woman's breasts that did it, as Americans are very prudish about these things. Certainly there's not enough graphic violence, blood nor gore to justify it, especially considering that Canada only rated it 13+.

Humdrum stuff. Not going to make anyone's top 10 list. Not terrible, just not great.

Doombreed Rating: * 1/2