Vacancy

“Vacancy” might be OK for Luke Wilson, he’s never got much on, but Kate Beckinsale? She deserves much better than this.

Luke Wilson, Kate Beckinsale, Frank Whaley, Ethan Embry

In “Vacancy”, Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson play a couple that get off the beaten track and can’t seem to work out where they are. I’ll tell ya where they are – they’re in the town of meh, the place all good actors sometimes drop into from time to time whilst on their way to something better.

The first thing we notice about Beckinsale (“Underworld”, “The Aviator”) and Wilson’s (“Legally Blonde”, “Charlie’s Angels”) characters in this new popcorn horror-thriller is that they’re totally unhappy – the love seems to have dissolved from their marriage, and they’re left with nothing but despise for each other. To make matters worse, they’ve gotten lost. No worries, they’ll just grab a motel room and get going again in the morning. Right?

Totally. Doesn’t mean that motel room’s not going to be equipped with video cameras – all capturing the juicy moments for what someone hopes will be a top-selling snuff film.

“Vacancy” might be OK for Luke Wilson, he’s never got much on, but Kate Beckinsale? She deserves much better than this. Obviously she had a three film pact with Screen Gems, and after “Underworld” and its sequel, had one more to do for them. Hopefully she’s free of them after this, because it doesn’t really offer her much of a chance to act.

Still, show reel stuff or not, it’s not a bad movie. It’s stylish, reasonably gripping – regardless of whether it’s got an ounce of originality in it – and has a crackling pace. Enough vital ingredients to keep any fan of the scarefest satisfied… for a while.

Not quite Hitchcock, but director Nimrod Antral (“Kontroll”) gives it a good stab.

Rating :
Reviewer : Clint Morris