User reviews

Vacancy 2: The first cut is a film that is better than it really ought to be.

I have said this comment countless times before, but an idea that has been implemented to great effect in the first film makes it interesting, and suspenseful.

Now with a prequel, it begins to give off some bad vibes, as if the ending has already been predetermined, and therefore it would need something truly unique to make it memorable.

Thankfully it created its own distinctive story about how the culprits began their operation at the Meadow View Inn, and how they turned into the monsters that terrorized couples, and families from the original Vacancy.

The acting was decent enough, although there won't be any award winners.

The psychopath Smith who was played by Scott Anderson was the absolute standout for me. He was bone-chilling, vicious, cruel, and sadistic. I couldn't believe the motel perverts trusted, and sided with him knowing how unstable, and deranged his actions were.

I would be a little more intrigued, into his past, and why he became such a savage to be able to commit these horrendous acts without remorse.

The good was that there is a lot of tension. You want the kids to survive, therefore you are alert, and on the edge of your seat constantly barracking for their survival.

The bad is that this is a very limited story, and doesn't deviate whatsoever from that blatantly obvious plot, so there's nothing that makes it stand out.

I can't give much more in-depth information here, this is a film that you already know won't reach any great expectations, It does sit below par because it's not entirely terrible, but I'm not sure that it warrants much of your time.

4.5/10.

The original Vacancy was a rather simple but also rather effective and well done little horror film; and while it certainly wasn't brilliant, I did at least enjoy it. I do have to say that I never really thought the film needed a follow-up, and after finding out that Vacancy 2 would be a direct to video release, I did abandon all hope...but to my surprise, the film is better than I thought it would be an almost qualifies as being a decent horror film. Naturally I was expecting this film to be more or less the same as the original; but actually it does take a (slightly) more unexpected route. This film is actually a prequel to the original. The plot begins with a seedy motel where the employees spy on couples having sex and then sells the tapes to a marketer who gets rid of them on the black market. Things are turned upside down one day when a man arrives with a prostitute, and kills her. The hotel owners then hatch a plan with the murderer to make snuff films instead of sex tapes.

The film attempts to explain how exactly the staff of the motel in the original film got into the business of killing people; but due to the bizarre plot decisions spread throughout the film, Vacancy 2 actually creates more questions than it answers. For a start, why set it a different motel all together? Also, I don't remember seeing ANY of the characters of this film in the original. The saddest part is that most of these changes are put in place because of the ending, which could have been a lot neater if only the filmmakers were a bit braver! Still, on its own merits; the film is entertaining, if shallow and silly, entertainment. The victim characters are just your average horror film fodder and neither invokes any emotion towards them nor do they really provide any interest. The team of killers is slightly more interesting...though not much more. Still, it would be silly to go into this expecting anything more than just a throwaway ninety minutes and the film was at least more entertaining than I thought it would be. I'd say it's just about worth a look if you liked the original.

Agnes Bruckner plays Jessica,a sexy girl from South Carolina.She on a road trip with her fiancée Caleb and annoying friend Tanner.Soon they find themselves checking into the Meadow View Inn a week after an initial murder took place the previous week.The motel's employee Gordon and his three comrades focus on torturing guests for profit and recording their agony on tape,leaving the three friends having to fight for survival.This straight-to-video sequel to horror hit "Vacancy" offers nothing fresh.It's more violent and sadistic than its predecessor,but less believable.The characters of villains are actually more interesting than protagonists.The motel setting is spot on as it provides some spooky atmosphere.It's a shame that the climax is so anticlimatic.6 out of 10.

Vacancy the original was so much better, however this one was decent for a prequel. I felt like there were some moments that felt more silly than anything, which I don't think personally is good in a horror film. The acting was pretty well done also. Good if you just want to watch it or have extra time on your hands but you wouldn't be missing too much if you skipped out on this one.

A direct-to-DVD sequel to the surprisingly successful VACANCY, a supposed horror/thriller that I wasn't too fussed about if I'm truthful. I felt that VACANCY was a film I'd seen a hundred times before, and the same can be said for this low budget sequel which takes the form of a prequel set in another motel.

The story is very predictable and aimed at the torture porn market. A travelling group of three teenagers end up staying at a remote motel (is there any other type?) and fall foul of a group of weirdos who decide to make a snuff film. There are no shocks or surprises here, and the writing is merely perfunctory. The characters act dumb and stilted, and the worst thing is that there's no sense of empathy; you never care as to who lives or dies.

Agnus Bruckner (THE WOODS) is the typical pretty blonde heroine but her character is severely underwritten to the point that the villains are more interesting than the supposed protagonists. The direction is insipid and uninspired and despite the plentiful chase sequences there isn't an exciting moment in the whole movie. Can't say I'm too surprised...

In 2004, the redneck managers of the Meadow View Motel Gordon (David Moscow) and Reece (Brian Klugman) use room 6 to videotape the intimacy of the guests to sell porn movies. When the mysterious Mr. Smith (Scott G. Anderson) checks in with a young woman, they witness the sadistic psychopath guest stabbing and killing his mate. The footage is a success and they decide to make other snuff movies with Smith. When Caleb (Trevor Wright), who is traveling from Chicago with his fiancée Jessica (Agnes Bruckner) and his best friend Tanner (Arjay Smith), decides to rest in Meadow View, they have a nightmarish night and try to survive from the sick intention of the gang.

The underrated "Vacancy 2: The First Cut" is a decent prequel to the original "Vacancy" (which is also a reasonable movie, nothing more than that). There are some stupid scenes, like for example Jessica beating on the window instead of escaping; or the attitude of Tanner in the house of Otis and Doris; or the conclusion with the police finding no evidence of the murders; but the final result is not bad or mediocre like mentioned in some reviews. The screenplay and the story could be better but work on DVD. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Temos Vagas 2 - The First Cut" ("Vacancy 2: The First Cut")

The Pinewood Motel was shut down in April 2007 and 200 videotaped murders were discovered from as far back as September 2004. It all started with motel clerks Reece (Brian Klugman) and Gordon (David Moscow) videotaping the sexual escapades of their guests and selling them to the truck driver (David Shackelford). Then they film the mysterious Mr. Smith murdering a woman in the room. They take Smith prisoner who sells them on making more snuff movies. Young couple Jessica (Agnes Bruckner) and Caleb (Trevor Wright) with their funny black friend Tanner (Arjay Smith) arrive at the motel just in time.

It's a real disappointment that neither Frank Whaley nor Ethan Embry come back for this prequel. The connection to the first movie is lost. I only know Bruckner and she's played this damsel-in-distress before as all young actresses do. The concept is basically the same as the original which means that there are no surprises. The first one was a well-made simple B-horror elevated because of compelling good actors in the cast. The simplicity means there is no place for this to go. The lack of good actors is really where this falls down. Fank Whaley was creepy in the first one. This is just a straight-to-video cash grab.

"Vacancy 2: The First Cut" is the prequel of the classic movie "Vacancy" and in this movie we have three young people who are in the classic motel and they are fully unaware of the psycho employees and their sick-minded intentions.

I liked this movie as prequel but I have to say that the first one was better than this, it had more action and we were unpredicted for what it will come up, and that was something that I did not have in this movie. I also think that "Vacancy 2: The First Cut" had nice plot and the storyline was great.

Finally I have to tell you that you have to see it because with this one you will understand better what's going on in this motel.

I was really surprised by this one. As far as direct to DVD films go, this one's much better than average. It has pretty good acting and production values. I'd say it's comparable in quality to Joy Ride 2, if you've had a chance to catch that one.

Since it's a prequel, the conclusion is mostly foregone, but the writers did offer up a few nice twists that keeps this from being a waste of time.

Not a lot of gore. It (thankfully) skips most of the torture porn conventions, and mostly offers up a nice companion piece to the first movie. If you liked the original Vacancy, give this one a chance.

After watching vacancy, it looked like a decent thriller to me just lacked in it's story. But vacancy 2 came back with a message. A message that tells the story behind all you saw in the first one. Vacany 2 had a good idea, and could of made it in theatres if it had a bigger cast. Don't get me wrong the cast did wonderfully, but they don't have no name, it would of made some good money too with it being in the theatres.

What made the film so good, was it's clever idea to take a step back from the first one and answer your questions you were asking from the first one. So yeah the plot was impressive and stronger then the first. The actors also impressed me too, they did much better then i would of expected, it would be more fair on them and the rest of the crew if the film was for the big screen. If a producer was clever enough to make it happen then it would been better. Off coarse it's not brilliant, but it's very decent for a DTV movie. With a little more construction and a promotion it would have definitely been up to that standard.

But again it slightly lacked on thrills. The first instalment offered more thrills and it was more creepy, vacancy 2 doesn't deliver as much. It's more trial and error, then a planned out kill. Maybe if it just had a tad more suspense in it. Just maybe.

Overall very impressed with this second instalment. Much more then i expected,i would strongly recommend you watch this if you seen the first.

A prequel to the 2007 movie, which starts out decent enough, with the first 20 minutes or so putting the biggest focus on the bad guys which it should have kept doing through out the running time of the movie IMO.

Cause let's face it, this is a prequel... And we know this from the beginning so already from then that doesn't really bode well for any of the good guys in the movie, but still 20 minutes in the focus is turned away from the bad guys we've gotten to know slightly in the beginning and on to their unsuspected victims instead.

Which results to it feeling immensely predictable with a lot of really dragged out scenes that are suppose to feel suspenseful but just feels boring instead.

And the characters aren't interesting or likable enough to make up for it either, and I usually like Agnes Bruckner.

In the end you just completely run out of interest and just want it to finish already.

Just watch the first movie again, there's nothing in this movie that wasn't in that and that wasn't done a lot better either.

Vacancy 2 is not as great as the first, but it does have some of the same suspense in the first half.

I found it pretty interesting and entertaining, especially as seen as a prequel. I did like how the order of the killings were not as obvious as other slasher films, but I do not like how it ripped off from The Strangers (a superior film) in the killers' masks. Saying that, the ending also sort of fell apart, and the reason is because there is just way too much chase. However, it still makes for a quick and mostly entertaining film that manages to be alright for a quick Saturday night, but do not expect it to be as great as other horrors, since the original was not all that either.

Killers are sick. There are victims on the loose. What else is new? I enjoy doing laundry more than I enjoyed finishing the 'horror' that is....this movie. Come up with something original already. The talent was great - but the writing sucked. I can't believe they did a sequel to the first....I was expecting much better things out of the second try.

Save your money, don't watch it. Save your time, don't watch it.

I can't believe I have to come up with 10 lines to say why this movie sucked. All I want to say is that it sucked....big, gargantuan ball sacks.

Unlikable characters with forced unconvincing (unfunny) banter.

Unrealistic premise and verisimilitude absent.

Snuff film - "we could sell 10,000 copies". Are you sure that's how underground movies work? You want 10,000 copies floating around implicating you in murder? I don't think so, how about there is a market for this but it's a select clientele who pay big bucks for the real thing, like $10 grand per tape? I can think of this stuff for free, how much did they pay you guys to write this?

Really despised all of the protagonists in this film, I would have stuck around to watch them all murdered but the film was already so unconvincing the payoff wouldn't be worth it. Bailed on this one halfway through, waste of time.

The first Vacancy was pretty good due to strong characterization and although realism wasn't entirely that movie's strong point, they put some effort into it at least. Don't waste your time on this, it's not scary, entertaining, shocking, and it's not even a "so bad it's good" flick, it's just lame through and through.

When I read the premise of this film from the back of the DVD, I expected something even better than the original. Unfortunately it is worse. What we get is something almost totally unrelated to the original. First mistake was using a different motel and different characters. From there it just continued downhill and ended up totally ridiculous and forgettable. The prequel would have been MUCH better if they had used not only the original Pinewood motel (which was a GREAT set and MUCH creepier!) but also the original cast, which were much more believable and much more interesting. But alas, that's not what we get here so don't even bother. One star for effort.

I just recently came across Vacancy 2 and since I love and have the first one, I had to buy the second one and I was really impressed. I don't know which one I like better, they both scared the hell out of me. In this one, it goes back and shows how the psychopaths got involved in making snuff films, so this one is suppose to take place before Vacancy. This one centers on a group of friends, Agnes Bruckner, Trevor Wright and Arjay Smith and others encounter a team of psychos, who have rigged the motel with cameras and plan to butcher the friends for profit. Its pretty sick. After watching this movie, it sort of reminds me of The Strangers. This film had some jump out of your seat moments. I recommend both Vacancy and Vacancy 2, they are really intense thrillers that scare you down to the bone.

i'm kinda torn how i feel bout this one,, it could have been better,, the "new hotel look" omg,, geesh ugly,, could have been worse.. this is supposed to be a prequel, i mean don't get me wrong there were a lot to this movie i liked. the showing of how our killer got his mask, it had a great opening scene,, and gave you some more insight into the mind of someone who makes and sells snuff films. it had a decent cast,, but once again you get a hot girl who has to be the heroine,, i just am really sick and tired of the "hot" girl hero,, it is so overdone,, here is an idea. make the black guy the hero... or have a butt ugly girl as the heroine. overall it's not a bad movie,, you kinda have to distance yourself from the first one when you watch this one.

Vacancy was a decent suspense thriller which you enjoy to some extent but this prequel was nothing closer to it. It was rather irritating. The story was bland and bores you to death till the end. You just want the movie to end. The performances by the cast members were bad and unconvincing. This prequel story had a lot of potential if there would have been proper story writing and proper execution but nothing went right for this movie. They could have also ignored making this movie.

Overall, it was an irritating bad prequel which I would not recommend to anyone who has watched Vacancy (2007).