Because of their foreboding motel-based settings, comparisons will abound between Psycho and the new Screen Gems thriller Vacancy. But aside from locations, the similarity stops there. Stylistically, Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece was a slow and deliberate chiller, while Vacancy comes across as a dingy little flick with a pretty fast pace. Now I'm all for swift-moving films that put you right in the action -- but Vacancy's approach seems geared more to getting the movie over with quickly than to catching the audience off-guard. 

The film's premise is a simple one: Amy (Kate Beckinsale) and David (Luke Wilson) are a not-so-happily married couple heading home on a dark night. Their relationship has been strained since the death of their child. Everything they do seems to anger one another, and their marriage is about to be given the ultimate test after David takes a back road as a shortcut, ending up stuck with a busted engine in the middle of nowhere. The pair reluctantly check into a dirty motel run by an even shiftier manager (Frank Whaley), but they soon discover cockroaches and a lack of cable TV are the least of their problems. Amy and David come upon some videotapes in their room containing what seem to be low-grade slasher movies -- until they realize these pictures were filmed in the very same room they're staying in. In no time, murderous thugs descend upon the room, leaving Amy and David to think fast in order to outwit their captors before becoming the stars of their latest snuff production.

I read an article recently about the effectiveness of "Hollywoodized" horror/thrillers. It pointed out that  while horror is dominating the box office these days, die-hard genre fans can spot something watered-down and by-the-books from a mile away. Vacancy belongs to this club, and although it's not a bad movie by any means, it is one that gives up on its great, creepy potential before even getting started. This is the type of scary movie 4-H Club members rent to show at slumber parties, a little on the violent side but nothing that'll give anyone nightmares. Although Vacancy provides an hour and twentysomething minutes worth of quick, slightly jarring thrills, it's more tense than  intense. It never put me on edge -- but at least it didn't bore me.  

Other reviewers have remarked how Wilson and Beckinsale's characters are more intelligent than those found in standard slasher fare. While this is true, as Amy and David don't just twiddle their thumbs and wait for the slaughter to begin, the attempts made to flesh them out seem a little on the stale side. The back story to their waning marriage is somewhat cliched and ineffective when it comes into play later on in the movie. The performances themselves aren't bad, but the ho-hum characterizations take a good chunk out of their shared bite. Whaley does his best Steve Buscemi impression and fares well as the movie's grand psycho poobah, and the three attackers mostly stick to the shadows (although I am curious as to why only one  guy was singled out as "Killer" in the final credits).

I think this thriller is a decent quick fix for fans who like their movies bare bones and to-the-point. However, although Vacancy may be a nice place to visit because of its creepy look and tight pace, you still wouldn't want to stay there.  

MY RATING: ** 1/2 (out of ****)

(Released by Screen Gems and rated "R" for brutal violence and terror, brief nudity and language.)