Moving away from the goofy comedies and family flicks that made his name, Luke Wilson plays one half of a couple stranded at a creepy hotel in Vacancy. Kate Beckinsale does the screaming in what turned out to be a "watered down" slasher thriller by the interestingly named director Nimrod Antal. It got mixed reviews - the lack of gore was most likely the cause of lukewarm ticket sales.

Room With A View

Antal talks up the "Hitchcockian element" that attracted him to the script in Checking In: The Cast And Crew Of Vacancy. He goes on to explain why it was important to keep the focus on the characters played by Wilson and Beckinsale in order to make the scary stuff more compelling. Later on, the stars reveal the aspects of the script that appealed to them, though working on the old Wizard Of Oz set was apparently a big draw as well. A look at set design rounds off this standard making of featurette, with Natal going for a feel of "old Americana" in the hotel.

Checking Out

For those who didn't get their fill of gruesome violence in the cinema, there's an eight-minute reel of extended snuff videos. These only appear in snippets in the film and, although the grainy high-angle view restricts the amount of blood on show, they are much more disturbing viewed at full length. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for one deleted scene presented under the heading The Racoon Encounter. Wilson is accosted by the nocturnal critter whilst taking a pee in the bushes, which could have been scary if only the animal wranglers had thought to dangle some berries in the relevant area.

An alternative opening seems to be an excuse for Antal to show off an expensive crane shot, because there's little else about the scene to take note of. Overall, this roadside thriller travels very light on DVD and if you've already seen it in cinemas, it's just not worth a return visit.

EXTRA FEATURES

Vacancy DVD is released on Monday 15th October 2007.