Vacancy
Short description
A married couple, David and Amy Fox, are driving through a remote stretch of countryside when their car breaks down. With no other option, they check into a shabby motel and spend the night in one of its rooms. While there, they find videotapes that show violent acts filmed in the very room they are staying in, and they come to understand that hidden cameras throughout the motel are recording their every move. If they cannot get away, they will become the subjects of the next recording.
Nimród Antal directed the film, which came after his earlier features Insurance and Kontroll and before Armored. Mark L. Smith wrote the screenplay, with Hal Lieberman, Stacy Cramer and Brian Paschal producing. Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson play Amy and David Fox, while Frank Whaley appears as Mason, alongside Ethan Embry, Scott G. Anderson and Mark Casella. The film runs 85 minutes.
Made for around 19 million dollars, the film took in roughly 35 million worldwide, a return that exceeded its production cost. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.2 from over 106,000 votes, and on TMDB it stands at 6.3 from a much smaller number of votes. A critics' rating of 5.5 from 124 reviews places it somewhat below the audience scores. The film belongs to the horror and thriller genres and was produced in the United States by Screen Gems and the Hal Lieberman Company.
What's left behind the scenes
- Both the film crew and the actors involved repeatedly emphasized that the film was created as a tribute to old-school horror films, primarily Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960). This is why the focus is on fear generated by the unknown and uncertainty, rather than visible violence.
- Sarah Jessica Parker was originally cast in the role played by Kate Beckinsale, but she left the project.
- All the snuff videos (snuff videos – short films showing actual murder without any special effects) were filmed on the first day of shooting.
- When the officer inspects the room in the motel, he initially notices a broken television. However, when he is about to leave the room, a snuff film is shown on the television, and the television itself is shown to be working.
- The motel featured in the film was specifically built for the shoot (rather than using an existing one). Moreover, two such structures were built – one for filming interior scenes, and another for exterior shots. Director Nimrod Antal later recounted that after filming, he often felt the urge to take a shower – the film crew had done such a good job of creating a motel that looked old and neglected.
- The film was advertised online, as well as using a special phone number. Calling the number mimicked a call to the motel where the main characters were staying. The background for the motel owner's voice in the recording consisted of distant screams, and the owner himself told the caller about “killer” prices and conditions. The text in the recording was read by Frank Wailey, who played the motel manager in the film.
- The scene where the heroes' BMW crashes into the motel wall was filmed live, without the use of computer graphics.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
