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Vacancy
Sony Pictures


8.4

based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 74 votes
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FILM:

Kontroll

MPAA RATING: R for brutal violence and terror, brief nudity and language

Starring Kate Beckinsale, Luke Wilson, Frank Whaley, Ethan Embry, Scott G. Anderson, Mark Casella, David Doty, and Norm Compton

When David (Wilson) and Amy Fox's (Beckinsale) car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, they are forced to spend the night at the only motel around, with only the TV to entertain them... until they discover that the low-budget slasher movies they're watching were all filmed in the very room they're sitting in. With hidden cameras now aimed at them... trapping them in rooms, crawlspaces, underground tunnels... and filming their every move, David and Amy must struggle to get out alive before whomever is watching them can finish their latest masterpiece. (Sony)

GENRE(S):	Horror \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Mark L. Smith
DIRECTED BY:	Nimród Antal
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 14, 2007 Theatrical: April 20, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	80 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Vacancy is a schlock surprise: a no-frills motel-hell slasher film -- with a bit of soul.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

For the most part, this movie hits the right notes and gives its audience a dose of white-knuckle tension.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's a sordid but expert shocker.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Stylish and surprisingly effective thriller.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The acting is solid, especially Whaley, whose nasty variation on Norman Bates is his showiest role since he memorably played Kevin Bacon's assistant in "Swimming With Sharks."

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Succeeds where so many other recent horror pictures have failed: It consistently scares you silly.

Los Angeles Times Sam Adams

A ruthlessly efficient stalk-and-slash machine.

Village Voice Tim Grierson

Antal smartly adheres to the no-frills demands of B-movie horror, eliciting impressive chills from old-fashioned suffocating dread rather than the now usual gore. And Wilson and Beckinsale superbly execute everything that's required of their characters--namely, yelling and running.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Making an assured transition to Hollywood after his Hungarian cult sensation "Kontroll," director Nimród Antal gets his business done with an efficiency that recalls "Red Eye," another thriller that clocks in under 90 minutes. But efficiency isn't everything, and Antal sacrifices too much in order to sustain tension.

Baltimore Sun Gene Seymour

A mangy-looking mongrel with a lot of familiar markings and a little more on the ball than you'd expect at first glance.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

At its worst, Vacancy is merely the kind of taut B-chiller they don't make any more, other than to riff on them in "Grindhouse."

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Vacancy could have been some sort of satirical masterpiece had this whole scenario been finally revealed as an extreme form of couple's therapy designed to get Beckinsale and Wilson back together.

USA Today Scott Bowles

It isn't the Bates Motel, but the Pinewood Motel has enough creepy visitors and creaky floors to make Vacancy worth checking into for 90 minutes.

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.

Film Threat Michael Ferraro

It's rare to see Luke Wilson in such a serious role. He does an admirable job of ignoring his mostly comedic background but the real scene-stealer is Frank Whaley.

Empire Nick de Semlyen

This stripped-down chiller has some decent jump-frights, but a dearth of memorable moments.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Vacancy, in the end, simply offers a particularly aggressive brand of couples counseling.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Wilson and Beckinsale, as the couple on the rocks, do their damnedest to go along for the creepfest, but nothing in Vacancy manages to come anywhere close to the quiet and steadily mounting dread of the real thing, much less the purview of Norman Bates or his beloved mother.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

If "Psycho" and "Peeping Tom" are the seminal killer-as-voyeur movies, Vacancy is the nasty little runt offspring with no other purpose in life but to gnaw on you.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

While the sadism doesn't stoop -- rise? -- to the level of the "Saw" horror-thrillers, Vacancy does have a name cast.

Variety John Anderson

At the risk of spoiling anything, Vacancy, is one strange movie. It ends so precipitously, one can only assume it's a setup for the sequel (which, given all that happens, seems a mite unlikely).

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

This ghastly swatch of pulp horror is compelling at the most basic level, but so little is going on in it that you might as well be watching a sadistic lab experiment performed on mice.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It is a fairly routine exercise in New Millennium movie mayhem.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

For horror fans who appreciate a bit of craft with their second-rate experiences -- Paul Haslinger's fear-mongering score is terrific for what it's worth -- this might merit a future late-night rental.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

80 minutes of formulaic unpleasantness isn't even close to my idea of a good time, and I doubt that Hitchcock himself could have done very much with Mark L. Smith's script.

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.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

This is a no-cable, no-wake-up-call, cash-only dump of a film, where you breathe through a hankie and bring your own Lysol.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 74 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Kevin L. gave it a5:
Vacancy wasn't the best horror movie I've seen and its not the worst. Its unoriginal plotline and its predictable events rarely keep me in tact.

Chris V gave it a3:
No way, this movie really sucked!!! its boring and not entertaining at all, no way, cant believe that this kind of movies are still going out in theaters, these ones should be directly to dvd!!!! Worst Movie Ever!!!!

Marie M gave it an8:
Hitchcock would be proud. All the other reviews talk about how little gore there is and they're right and that's SO refreshing. The only thing I'll add is that Luke Wilson's a wonderful actor and I wish he were in more movies. He's completely natural and sympathetic yet strong here.

Robert I. gave it a7:
Good scary flick, at a time when too much that passes for a nail-biter acts more like a manicure. Hold somebody's hand.

kamil gave it a9:
Great horror. Sometimes little B-movie miracle happens. Just don't take it seriously and enjoy beautiful beckinsale and surprisingly good wilson in this frightening and entertaining flick. More quality horrors please.

Fred G. gave it an8:
Kept me on the edge of my seat....very entertaining.

Steve S. gave it a10:
My wife and I loved it! And no gore to boot. Great acting, and very relatable characters. Unmarried twenty somethings might hate this film, though.

Vacancy Sony Pictures

Vacancy
Sony Pictures