Review of Vacancy (2007) by Chads. — 19 Apr 2007

For anybody who's been lucky(well...) enough to see the faux-documentary "Man Bites Dog", will recognize the snuff films David(Luke Wilson) and Amy(Kate Beckinsale) discover as nihilistic examples of neorealism; and its maker, a deranged auteur(he has an editing bay), who like Vittorio DeSica("The Bicycle Thief", "Umberto D.

) or any filmmaker with a realist aesthetic, utilitzes real people and real locations in an economically depressed area. "Vacancy" questions the motivations of a filmmaker that seems to fetishize violence(like Eli Roth; you wonder about that guy) and the audiences who derive pleasure from watching innocent people being put under constant sadistic duress.

Seen through Mason's cameras, Amy and David are the unenvied stars of a schlocky exploitation film like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Like Remy Belvaux and Andre Bonzel's 1992 masterpiece("C'est arrive pres des chez vous", or "Man Bites Dog"), "Vacancy" puts you in the shoes of Mason(Frank Whaley), who is watching one of his "films" in another room when the bickering couple rings his motel bell.

If you were watching the very same film(out of the context of "Vacancy"), you'd praise the director for its realism. "Man Bites Dog" was a seminal film about the darker side of vouyerism because the Belgian production estranged audiences from the hurtful acts against humanity we've been conditioned to dismiss as "movie violence", as opposed to the real violence that we'd normally revile.

It asked us if there's something unnatural about watching people getting killed for entertainment. "Vacancy" soft-pedals the faux-documentary's ideas, but if you equate the realism of the snuff films with the potential fate of the Foxs, the horror movie cliches they exhibit seem more like primal fear instead of a stock character's imbecility.