"Vacancy" is a suspenseful horror shocker that follows a young disputing couple on their way home from an anniversary party, Amy and David Fox (Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson),who have just recently lost a child and are about to enter a divorce. The bickering couple end up stranded outside a small service station in the middle of nowhere, and decide to to check into the Pinewood motel, a cheap little place for them to spend the night until they can get help the next morning. The quirky desk clerk gives them their room, and they find it to be a complete dump. But their dingy motel room is the least of their problems, when they find videotapes of homemade snuff movies where previous guests were filmed as they were brutally murdered. With a team of masked killers surrounding the entire motel, and every area under surveillance, Amy and David find themselves in a life-or-death struggle as they try and survive through the night.

If the plot summary for this movie sounds like something that interests you, you will more than likely enjoy this suspenseful horror flick. I went into "Vacancy" with pretty average expectations - I wasn't that wild about this movie when I'd first heard about it, but it sounded interesting enough so I decided to give it a try, and I'm glad I did. Unlike the vast majority of the horror junk that gets released lately, this film actually boasts an original and solidly-constructed premise. Take some elements from Hitchock's "Psycho" (was it just me, or were those opening credits played over with the Bernard Herrman-like score a direct reference to Hitchcock?),throw in some aspects from the "Saw" series, and tie things together in a tense little package, and you get "Vacancy". I was literally on the edge of my seat throughout almost the entire film, and found not one dull moment. Suspense and tension are the real kickers in this movie, and it is done very well. Lots of moody camera angles and some genuinely frightening sequences (take the underground cave scenes for example) add to the tense nature.

Our lead performers are Beckinsale and Wilson, both of whom turn in some great performances. Wilson plays the "husband hero" and Beckinsale is the "damsel in distress-gone fighting machine", and both capture this effectively. Their acting is believable, and I think that the writing has something to do with it as well, because their characters are written really well. They're not your typical genre morons who drop to the floor when the killer approaches, they are much more real. They make good decisions and the right moves, which makes them much more credible and realistic, winning over the audiences sympathy rather easily. There were some heart-pumping fight sequences as well between the heroes and the villains, which were well executed and had you rooting for Beckinsale and Wilson. The ending was a little uneven I have to admit, but compared to the tense hour and twenty-five minutes before it, it doesn't come close to bringing the movie down.

Overall, "Vacancy" is an original horror flick that is heavy on suspense, while not so heavy on bloodshed. The claustrophobic atmosphere and the tense build up in this movie is it's real charm, and it will have you on the edge of your seat, anxious to see what will happen next. It's the way a thriller should be done, and makes for an enjoyable late-night fright fest. Exceeded my expectations and went beyond. 9/10.

While driving during the night, David Fox (Luke Wilson) leaves the interstate and takes a shortcut through a lonely road. He is in a divorce process with his wife Amy (Kate Beckinsale),who is sleeping in the car, after the loss of their son Charlie. In order to avoid hitting a raccoon, David breaks down the fan of his car and the couple finds stranded in the road. Without any other alternative, they decide to spend the night in a nasty low budget motel in the middle of nowhere. While watching some amateurish slash movies in the VCR, David realizes that they have been shot in their room. Sooner they discover that they are trapped in the place and surrounded by sadistic filmmakers of snuff movies.

"Vacancy" has a promising and claustrophobic beginning, with the scared couple stranded in a lonely place with a weird manager of an awful motel and listening to aggressive beats in the doors of their room. The development is also tense and good. However, the corny and commercial conclusion like in a television film spoils the story. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Temos Vaga" ("Vacancy")

I'm convinced that players like Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson take roles in films like Vacancy because they get a chance to overact outrageously and no one notices. That and the fact that slasher films do make a lot of money no matter how good or bad they are.

Two newly marrieds, our lead players, get lost on a highway and arrive at an out of the way motel with a car that's broken down. The decor is right out of pest control, but it's better than sleeping in the vehicle so they think.

To their horror they discover the place is a trap used for the making of snuff films and the manager who runs it has quite a collection. He's quite the little organizer the manager and Beckinsale and Wilson spend the rest of the film avoiding what they have in store. It doesn't help that the entire place has both cameras and listening devices all over. I would have said bugs, but there are plenty of those too.

Acting honors in this epic go to Frank Whaley as the manager, in his performance, he makes Beckinsale and Wilson look like a pair of lawn ornaments.

It looks like everybody had a great old time making this, so if you like slasher flicks you'll enjoy this.