Spring Break
Movie Reviews
David Coley
Issue date: 4/23/07 Section: Culture
If you're still with me and you're wondering why I'm wasting time and space writing about such a ludicrous movie, let me explain. I will admit the appeal of it is going to be very limited. However, it is part of a tradition of art that is often misunderstood and ridiculed. It's hard to pinpoint its exact heritage, but it's possibly absurdist, surrealist, maybe even Dadaist. At its heart is an attempt to make sense of a seemingly random universe by satirizing it in an equally random way.
Nothing is predictable, nothing is sacred, and everything is subject to change.
Writer/directors Matt Maiellero and Dave Willis have crafted their own personal New Jersey where literally anything can happen and does. It's a world that puzzles and mystifies, yet also manages to strike some kind of chord we've never heard before.
It's a world where meat talks, chickens catch fire, and literally everything explodes upon impact.
In Theaters
'Vacancy'
It seems every weekend there's a new horror flick. And no matter how good or bad they may be, they usually do good business. As the genre has become more prolific, so has its outlandishness and its senselessness, each film trying to outdo the others in terms of gore, cheap thrills, and imaginative means of creating excruciating pain.
With that said, let me tell you about "Vacancy." It features none of the following: mutants, diabolical puppets, zombies, vampires, werewolves, extravagant technological deathtraps, or a low-cost European lodging establishment.
There are no self-righteous maniacs trying to teach people the error of their ways by brutally murdering them. There are no killers who find the need to come back from the dead to exact revenge. These are all reasons why this film will likely stand out from this year's already crowded crop.
It's a decidedly simple concept: possibly psychotic hicks trying to kill two unsuspecting victims. The unfortunate duty this time around belongs to David and Amy Fox (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale). After the Hitchcock-style opening credits, we are launched immediately into their story. No annoying prologue or back story, just a bickering couple lost on a highway at night.
Nothing is predictable, nothing is sacred, and everything is subject to change.
Writer/directors Matt Maiellero and Dave Willis have crafted their own personal New Jersey where literally anything can happen and does. It's a world that puzzles and mystifies, yet also manages to strike some kind of chord we've never heard before.
It's a world where meat talks, chickens catch fire, and literally everything explodes upon impact.
In Theaters
'Vacancy'
It seems every weekend there's a new horror flick. And no matter how good or bad they may be, they usually do good business. As the genre has become more prolific, so has its outlandishness and its senselessness, each film trying to outdo the others in terms of gore, cheap thrills, and imaginative means of creating excruciating pain.
With that said, let me tell you about "Vacancy." It features none of the following: mutants, diabolical puppets, zombies, vampires, werewolves, extravagant technological deathtraps, or a low-cost European lodging establishment.
There are no self-righteous maniacs trying to teach people the error of their ways by brutally murdering them. There are no killers who find the need to come back from the dead to exact revenge. These are all reasons why this film will likely stand out from this year's already crowded crop.
It's a decidedly simple concept: possibly psychotic hicks trying to kill two unsuspecting victims. The unfortunate duty this time around belongs to David and Amy Fox (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale). After the Hitchcock-style opening credits, we are launched immediately into their story. No annoying prologue or back story, just a bickering couple lost on a highway at night.
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