Movie Review: Vacancy- 8/22/07

Synopsis: Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale are a husband and wife near divorce after losing their child. After a night out visiting Beckinsale's parents, Wilson takes a shortcut off the highway and end up on a lone road. After a near miss with a racoon, the couple end up at a deserted gas staion next to a motel and get help from the gas station attendant on their car and directions to the highway.

After driving for a mile at night, the car breaks down and the couple walk back to the motel. The sleazy hotel manager gets the couple a room and after seeing the filthy room they decide to wait until morning until they can call a mechanic from the next town to fix the car. Wilson pops a video into the VCR to watch t.v. and ends up realzing that the stact of videos are not fiction, but real life snuff films of people who've stayed in the same room and were attacked and brutally murdered by two masked people. They realize that the room is has hidden cameras and they are being recorded. They try and escape but the hotel manager and two killers trap them and try and attack them. The couple try various pleases to the police and escape with only one making it out alive.

Review: I was expecting better of this movie after reading decent reviews when this came out in the theatres. While the set-up of the movie (first 30 mins.) was fine, the cat-and-mouse chase scenes weren't that interesting or scary at all with the thrills able to be predicted before something happens. The killers also, though brutal, are kind of stupid and for some reason can't eliminate these two people when they have so many chances AND are able to watch them via close-circuit t.v. if you want a decent new thriller movie, watch this, but it's really not that scary or entertaining.

Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars.