THE PLOT THUS FAR
Seven friends on a road trip to Las Vegas break down near a rest-stop motel, where they encounter a seemingly helpful group of people. Convinced to stay overnight, the friends wake up in their rooms to a gruesome and bloody terror.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“No Vacancy” wants to be something that it’s not. Director Chris Stokes is familiar with the Rap and R&B game, so I respect an effort to venture outside of his comfort zone. That being said, he made a pedestrian horror movie that feels like a carbon copy of everything else getting released. While some might say that schlock is successful, there’s a reason why it’s going straight to DVD. No one likes repetitive horror, not even people that star in it. At least, that’s what the last yahoo that emailed me claimed.
The whole road trip by way of a creepy roadside motel is getting old. The same with the “Saw” by way of “The Strangers” style villains that blame everything on a bad childhood. No characters are memorable, but if they were it might make it hard to watch them get hacked apart. Giving the audience a filter to watch the carnage is meant to make them semi-applicable in the carnage. But, it just feels like one more media filter to disconnect anyone from any obligation of the carnage. In a way, they all become Punch and Judy characters waiting for the next stabbing. Whether it’s with a knife or pork sword, it’s all pointless in the end. So, what does one do?
The DVD comes with a Digital Copy and a trailer gallery as the special features. The A/V Quality is typical for standard definition. The transfer is flat with little punch-up. But, the Dolby 5.1 track kicks up where needed. In the end, I’d recommend a rental or streaming it.
RELEASE DATE: 07/01/2014