Vacancy 2: The First Cut represents part of a growing and unsettlingly awful trend in which movies that really shouldn’t have a sequel are given them, and get them send directly to video. There is, however, a strange side to this new and growing trend—sometimes, the direct to video sequels are actually watchable. That may be the scariest part about this suspense / thriller from Sony.
It’s a prequel, in case you weren’t aware, and it’s set several years before the first film, where the managers of the Meadow View Inn have a lucrative but waning side business selling voyeuristic porn to truckers. To that end, the Meadow View Inn has a network of cameras throughout the property, taping people’s most intimate moments for resale. But like I said, the porn business is falling off, and that’s threatening to put a serious crimp into the managers’ lives. Until one day when a random couple takes a room—and the male half kills the female half. Faced with a strange dilemma, the management decides not to call the cops on the killer, but rather bring him on board to occasionally kill guests and market the resulting snuff films, which have always before been regarded as something of an urban myth. Jump ahead a little bit, to where a young newlywed couple and their friend are on their way to the bride’s hometown when they decide they’re going to stop for the night…at the Meadow View Inn.
What follows is an onslaught of bloodshed, horror and mayhem.
The thing that surprised me most about this whole thing was that it turned out to be downright watchable. I was shocked. I expected this thing to be a warmed-over crap sandwich, but no. I got a good if somewhat scaled-down romp that featured plenty of interesting plot twists and suspenseful moments. In fact, what I got was almost a carbon copy of the original.
It’s hard to believe—it’s INCREDIBLY hard to believe, in fact—because I’ve seen plenty of these. Joy Ride 2, Wrong Turn 2, Urban Legend 3…and every one of them has been a sad and sorry entrant into the overall scheme of things. I’ve regretted watching every one of them, in all honesty, and this may be the first one that I didn’t actively regret.
I understand how weird this is. I’m actually going to recommend it if you’re into the suspense / thriller subgenre of movies and doubly so if you liked the original Vacancy because it’s so similar to the original that liking this prequel, which turns out to be pretty much a rehash of the first with new characters, isn’t at all far fetched.
I guess that, at the end of the day, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Vacancy 2: The First Cut is proof of just that. Sometimes, not all of these surprise direct to video sequels are completely unwatchable. Sometimes, there’s a halfway decent one. Vacancy 2 is one of the rare ones. Oh, sure, it may not be as good as some, but it will be better than many. This puts it—and me—in an unusual position, as I can safely recommend this one.
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