The Plot:

  A young couple, Amy and David Fox (Beckinsale and Wilson), recently lost their son to an accident. The frustrated couple decides to call it quits with their suffering marriage, but after attending a family function their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. With no available mechanic until the next day, Amy and David decide to stay the night in a remote motel.
  Shortly after arriving the couple settles in, as best they can, to their outdated and seriously unclean accommodations. Before long they begin to have trouble with apparent pranksters. As the excitement subsides David and Amy discover a series of disturbing snuff films (movies in which people are actually filmed dying) in the room. Upon further examination it appears that the room is wired to the hilt with hidden cameras and that the films’ victims were murdered in the same room that David and Amy have rented.
  Faced with the reality of certain death if they don’t escape, David and Amy become involved in a deadly game of cat and mouse with a group of murderous villains.

The Point:

  Vacancy turns on the concept that suspense and peril for characters that seem real has higher payoffs than a gallon of the red stuff splattering all over scantily clad co-eds. There’s very little inane dialogue about waiting out the killers as David and Amy are mostly proactive about finding a way out of their precarious situation.
  Beckinsale and Wilson do a fantastic job as a couple that is clearly having a lot of trouble with their marriage. I never expected to see this pair play a married couple in a movie because their styles are so different. This seeming incompatibility helps to build a sense of frustration that reinforces the story-driven idea that the couple is on the rocks. However I was pleasantly surprised to see performances from the actors that made me really believe that these two grew closer together in the face of a mortal threat, in this case two knife-wielding, masked maniacs. Frank Whaley also turns in a stellar performance (as usual) as the creepy and unsettling night manager at the motel.
  Because of the subject matter this movie is obviously not for children or early teens. However because of the subject matter it makes a great “date movie” provided of course that everyone is of legal age to see this film. Despite being a horror movie this flick is likely to generate a lot of conversation afterwards about love, relationships and what to do if you are ever stuck in a dive motel with two armed maniacs trying to get inside.