May of 2007 was a difficult month for me, the only bright spot being having my brother home from the army for a few weeks, and the two of us going to see the movie Vacancy.  Not many good horror movies come out these days, the majority of them being pointless remakes that seem hell bent on destroying the classic originals, ones which we horror fans cringe over every time we hear about one being made, yet end up watching anyway due to our curiosity of seeing what the director has done, our minds hoping that maybe, just maybe, it will be as good as the original, yet always being disappointed in the end.  So when a new horror movie comes out, one which isn’t another stupid remake, my brother and I usually are the first to see it, though in recent years given his war zone deployments I usually end up seeing them alone and then renting them when he is home, or, if the movie is still in the dollar theater, taking him to see it   

me, in a situation like that just described, this movie will scare the shit out of you (or the girl you are holding close, which is even better).  

there, something which is turning out to be a lot of fun.  Despite our love of horror movie neither one of us had heard much about the movie Vacancy before going to see it due to our difficult living situations at the time, but had been told by a few people that it wasn’t another blood and guts splatter film that the major studios seemed fixated on at the time thanks to the success of movies like Saw, which was enough for us to go and give the movie a try, something which turned out to be a great decision, since it was one of the better horror movie to come out in recent years (it might have even made it into the BEST category had it not been for the ending -- if you’ve seen the film you know what I’m talking about, if not, don’t worry, up  until the last five seconds or so the movie is really, really good, the director just chickened out on the ending).  

The movie Vacancy didn’t really offer anything new in terms of horror movies, but it displayed the movie in a way that isn’t seen much these days, a way that emphasizes the darkness surrounding the characters and relies on stealthy scares rather than in your face scares, ones that are intensified by the chilling music (it has always been my opinion that the music makes or breaks a horror movie and so far no one has ever disagreed with me).  The movie also wasn’t very bloody, yet to those watching seemed incredibly violent, which again goes to show one doesn’t need buckets of blood to make a horror movie disturbing, and instead can do this with the actions taking place and the sounds that fill the theater.  

Now, while writing this I have learned that there is actually a sequel to Vacancy, one which most likely wasn’t released in theaters or else I would have probably heard about it.  I doubt it will be as good as the this movie, but I will go rent it anyway and see what it has to offer.

All in all, Vacancy was a great movie, one that is worth every horror fans time, especially if that time happens to fall during the night in a dark basement, the only light coming from the TV and the blinking numbers on a DVD player.  Trust