VACANCY

Year: 2007
USA & UK: Sony Pictures Releasing
Cast: Luke Wilson, Kate Beckinsale, Frank Whaley, Ethan Embry, Scott G Anderson, Mark Casella, David Doty, Norm Compton, Caryn Mower, Meegan Godfrey, Kym Stys, Andrew Fiscella, Dale Waddington Horowitz, Ernest Misko, Bryan Ross, Chevon Hicks
Director: Nimrod Antal
Country: USA
USA: 80 mins
UK: 85 mins
USA Rated: R for brutal violence and terror, brief nudity and language
UK Certificate: 15 Contains sustained terrorisation and strong violence
USA Release Date: 20 April 2007
UK Release Date: 15 June 2007


Synopsis

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 (Kate Beckinsale) are forced to spend the night at a seedy motel run by an odd but seemingly harmless proprietor (Frank Whaley). In their filthy, threadbare room, the bickering couple finds a cache of homemade slasher films that look disturbingly real. Once they realize the blood-soaked videos were shot in the very room in which they're staying, David and Amy know they will be the sadistic filmmakers' next victims unless they put aside their differences and work together to escape.

After the accidental death of their young son, David (Luke Wilson) and Amy Fox's (Kate Beckinsale) marriage is in tatters. Returning from their last trip together before finalizing their divorce, David decides to take an unfamiliar short cut down a desolate back road. When their car breaks down they find they have no choice but to stay at a nearby motel where the distracted night manager, Mason (Frank Whaley), seems more interested in watching lurid horror films than helping them with their engine troubles.

The couple resign themselves to a tense and uncomfortable night together in the rundown room, but no sooner do they turn down the ratty bed covers than they begin to hear frantic banging from the room next door. When they complain about the noise, Mason informs the Fox's they are the motels only guests, and suggests a vagrant may have broken in and taken up temporary residence next door.

Jittery and desperate to unwind, David tries watching some unmarked videos he finds in the room which turn out to be graphic, low-budget slasher films like the ones Mason was watching when they checked in. After a few minutes, David realizes with growing horror that the brutal violence in the videos isn't make-believe. Fitted with multiple hidden cameras, the motel's "honeymoon suite" is the arena for a sickening and deadly game of cat and mouse.

The couple soon figures out that the bloodthirsty killers intend to make David and Amy the stars of their next snuff film. As they begin their frantic effort to escape, they find their captors are filming their every move, toying with them to increase the sadistic appeal of the production. With their tormentors closing in fast, David and Amy must learn to depend on each other again if they are to have any chance of surviving the longest night of their lives.

A deft blend of blood-curdling horror film and taut psychological thriller, VACANCY transcends both genres with its compelling storyline of loss, love and redemption.

DVD EXTRAS

Alternate Opening Sequence
The Cast and Crew of Vacancy
Extended Snuff Films
Deleted Scenes