| Vacancy | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Nimród Antal |
| Produced by | Hal Lieberman |
| Written by | Mark L. Smith |
| Starring | Luke Wilson Kate Beckinsale Frank Whaley |
| Music by | Paul Haslinger |
| Cinematography | Andrzej Sekuła |
| Editing by | Armen Minasian |
| Distributed by | Screen Gems |
| Release date(s) | April 20, 2007 |
| Running time | 85 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $19 million |
| Box office | $35,300,645 |
Vacancy is a 2007 American horror film, starring Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale. It was distributed by Screen Gems and was released on April 20, 2007. Production was scheduled to commence in August 2006 with Nimród Antal signing on to direct it.
Early in the film's development, it was thought that Sarah Jessica Parker was going to be in the film. A September 2006 article in The Hollywood Reporter announced that Kate Beckinsale had signed on to replace Parker.[1]
Contents |
A couple, David (Luke Wilson) and Amy Fox (Kate Beckinsale) take a wrong turn on a remote mountain road. When their car breaks down, they realize they are in a cell phone dead zone, with no reception. They then decide to check into a completely isolated motel in a rural area with a strangely off-putting manager called Mason (Frank Whaley).
While in their room, a bored David takes a peek at the video tapes left on top of the television. As he watches the tapes, he realizes they are snuff films, taken in the very room in which they are staying. The couple are alarmed by this as well as loud, insistent banging coming from the door to the adjacent room, and try to run away. Men dressed in blue and wearing masks stop them, and they return to their room. David makes a run to the motel's payphone booth to no avail, escaping it just before a car crashes into it. The couple decides to lock themselves in the room when they notice a truck pull in. They try to warn the truck driver only to find out that he's actually there to buy a box of tapes of the snuff films.
David and Amy escape into a tunnel that they discover in the bathroom of their room. Two of the masked people chase them inside the tunnel, but the couple evade them. David and Amy end up inside the manager's lair, where they find video monitors taping the entire hotel. Amy tries to make a call to 911 but is interrupted before she can give the operator any useful information. The couple sneak back into the tunnel, making their way into the auto garage across the lot from the motel. Meanwhile, the police unit responding to Amy's call arrives and David and Amy run to him as he checks the rooms. They all get inside the police car but it has been sabotaged and the killers murder the policeman while he looks under the hood.
The couple run into one of the other motel rooms. David hides Amy in a space inside the ceiling, whilst he ventures out. The killers catch and stab David and he ends up lying unconscious in the doorway. When morning comes, Amy comes down from the ceiling and finds where the killers hid their car. As Amy drives away, a killer breaks into the car from the sun roof, and in her effort to fend him off while driving, Amy crashes the car into the motel, killing her attacker as well as another one of the masked men, revealed to be the gas station attendant that earlier "helped" the couple with their car troubles, who is crushed against the front of the car. She runs into the reception area where she finds a revolver. In an effort in reaching the revolver, an apoplectic Mason strangles her with a telephone cord. As they fight, Mason beats Amy severely. But in his effort to get a good final shot with his hand-held digital video camera, Mason throws Amy within reach of a revolver she had dropped, and she shoots Mason three times. Amy immediately runs to David to find that he is still barely alive. She searches Mason's body carefully for the telephone cord he had pulled out of the wall and tried to use to strangle her, calls 911 again and returns to caress David, who is barely conscious but alive.
Vacancy opened at #4 in its first week at the box office grossing $7.6 million at 2,551 locations. In its second week, the film had a 45.9% drop-off, falling to a #8 position. The film has grossed a total of $28.4 million worldwide. The film received mixed reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes giving the film an average rating of 55%. "Vacancy's restraint with gore is commendable", said one critic. The Rotten Tomatoes "Cream of the Crop" raters scored it a "rotten," average of 58%.[2][3]
Vacancy was released on DVD on August 14, 2007 in both fullscreen and anamorphic widescreen, with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Special features include deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, the full versions of the snuff films, and a trailer gallery. It was also released on Blu-ray Disc and UMD for the PSP. Many versions shipped to Australia featured Sony DVD "anti-piracy" technology, which led to them being unreadable on most DVD players, including Sony DVD players. The DVD featured a commentary by Nimrod Antal, Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson, all of whom claimed they thought the film was a great addition to the horror genre and for not using gore for scares but using psychological horror.
The advertising strategy for the film has made use of the Internet as well as a toll-free phone number. In addition to the TV spots and trailers shown in theaters and on television, the toll free number is made to sound as if one is actually calling the motel in which the film is set. In the background, screaming can be heard accompanying the voice of the proprietor, who informs callers about "slashing" prices and the "killer" deals that the motel has—that is, if it is not vacant. The toll free phone number for the ad is 1-888-9-VACANCY (1-888-9-8222629). The voice of the proprietor is Frank Whaley who plays Mason in the film.
As of October 6, 2009, the toll-free phone number for the ad, 1-888-9-VACANCY (1-888-9-8222629) is still valid. Though instead of it starting off as it goes right to Mason, it says "Hello, thanks for calling. Please press 1 to make reservations at the Pine-Wood Motel, Press 2 to buy tickets for Vacancy off of Fandango, Press 3 for an operator." When the number was changed where pressing 2 would go to buying tickets to Vacancy off of Fandango the film was already gone from the theaters for almost a year and a half.
Since Vacancy is long gone from the theaters, pressing two disconnects you. Pressing one plays the normal intro, pressing two takes you to the front desk, pressing zero plays a scratchy recording of a call to the operator. When disconnected on the recording, it too disconnects you from the call.
In addition, the phone call also refers the caller to the film's website, which is also set up to be the site of the actual motel. After calling, one is given a "promotional code" (8889) which can be entered at the website,[4] which then shows previews of the snuff films that the motel proprietor and various people created, taken from the set. It was assisted and directed by Julie Tsaruhas.
However, as of February 14, 2011, the phone number is no longer working. The automated response says the phone number is not available at the moment.
Vacancy 2: The First Cut is written by Mark L. Smith, the same writer from the first film, and directed by Eric Bross. The film stars Agnes Bruckner and Trevor Wright. The prequel focuses on the events happened before the first film, where it will show how the motel's employees started their crazy intentions.
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