No Vacancy (2012) User Reviews

This movie is so dumb

[spotlightne · 4/10 · 28 January 2013]

This movie left me laughing throughout. So many stupid things happen. The 'victims' are stupid; the killers are stupid.

How can 78 people give this movie a 10/10? Unbelievable.

I gave it 4/10 because I was being charitable.

What's it about? Well not much. Seven 'teenagers' (who are all in their late 20s/early 30s) go on a road trip. The usual thing happens. Their car tyres get a puncture and yes you've guessed it they go off wandering for help.

THIS, the movie tells us, will be their downfall.

After walking a little while, they meet up at a roadside motel and gas station. All seems friendly at first but then the inevitable happens. Nothing is surprising. Nothing is that much interesting. You know they're not going to leave that place singing and dancing.

The victims act dumb because they are dumb. You'll find yourself screaming 'kill him!' And guess what happens after knocking one of the killers unconscious, YEAH, THEY DON'T KILL HIM.

Hmm, looks familiar. But now it's boring.

If you're looking for something different in this movie, forget it. It's like Saw and Vacancy rolled into one, except the majority of the acting sucks big time.

Ultimately it's very forgettable.

Laughable

[iamtherobotman · 4/10 · 9 October 2015]

Are there people who are actually this stupid?? It started off not too bad but very quickly became unbelievably stupid and moronic. The couple who "escaped" only to meet the proprietor of the establishment on the road and actually believe he didn't have a hand in what was happening was the final nail in this movies coffin for me.

I'm getting increasingly tired of Horror movies with zero substance, incredibly stupid characters and a plot which makes no sense what-so-ever.

Please, someone make a decent Horror film soon. I love the genre but the lack of quality is beginning to wear me out.

Middle of the road horror copycat

[AESP_pres · 4/10 · 26 September 2022]

First thing first... this isn't a 1/10 or 2/10 and certainly not a 10, to be honest I will never understand why people gave 1 or 10 to movies.

A group of friends are on the way to Las Vegas for a nice weekend of lustful fun (I mean it's Vegas so it's a given) but their road trip is cut short when they take a detour and get two flat tires. While the girls stay on the car the guys go to find help and thankfully they find a motel with a garage and a tow truck to help. The owners are super friendly: it's open bar, stay the night at the motel free of charge and car fixing at no cost. Now would all that ring your danger alarm bell? You bet...

This is a less than average film that we had all seen before,

the main characters aren't likeable or very bright and I didn't care if they died or not,

the reason why the bad guys did all this is absolutely ridiculous (seriously wait to learn why).

On the positive side we didn't get a sequel (after 10 years I think we are safe), the girl who played Norah was a better actress than the rest of the cast and it was short.

If you watch the film free (it was on Tubi when I watched it) it's an OK time waster, but it sure doesn't worth a purchase or a rent.

Absolutely horrible!!!!

[tman-21289 · 1/10 · 7 February 2020]

WOW!! I really wish -10 was an option! No part of this movie at any time was remotely good!!! Sucks with a capital S!!

Help me please

[dawulf · 1/10 · 25 January 2013]

OK first off, never say that to a stranger. If you decide to watch this movie you will understand. This movie seems to be a collection of Vacancy, The Hitcher, and Saw. Not very creative and someone should help the cast to acting lessons. Especially the blonds. I am writing this to be helpful to the next potential victim of this movie. I understand that is didn't have that large of a budget as movies go nowadays and it shows. When watching this, you can't help to notice the inconsistency and implausibility of the plot. this movie isn't even worth writing ten lines worth of review for. Help me get away from this bad movie!

Where to start?

[vengeance20 · 2/10 · 6 May 2019]

Let's see:

• Poorly filmed.

• Plot holes galore.

• Saw-Like revenge traps don't match Motives & come off as over dramatic & really stupid if not childish.

• Back story for vengeance was serious dumb itself.

• 2 tires blow out on vehicle (not 4?) with police spikes yet aren't seen in sight.

• Acting was kak.

• Deaths were ok but not quite creative.

• Dialogue was stupid & childish.

• Film was short (Thank god).

• One of the deaths, when one of the victims gets vengeance was cool. If not the only good part in the film besides 2 males & 1 female living. No female soul survivor film (Again, thank god!)

• Female empowerment in film & man acts like a wimp. Not cool in a diverse world we no live in.

• Character errors like not questioning free drinks & food.

• Unconvincing story-line.

• Villains got away with it in the end.

Overall, poor & cheaply made. 2/10

Awful movie

[dashielle89-425-132181 · 2/10 · 27 April 2013]

This movie starts off with a pretty typical horror plot, a group of young friends is traveling (by car in the middle of nowhere, of course) to Las Vegas for a weekend trip. They need to take a detour because a road is closed, and suddenly, two of their brand new tires mysteriously blow. Do they get suspicious and go check to see if someone put something in the road to purposely cause it? Nope. Do they even have an idle curiosity as to what may have been the cause, even if it was an accident? Of course not. And as usual they also have no cell phone signals anywhere, nor do they try to get a signal very hard, even though just a minute ago they had one. Right from the beginning all of the characters are so unbelievably stupid it makes you want to quit watching there.

As the movie progresses it just gets worse. The villains, after they reveal themselves, are so ridiculously over the top it is laughable. I'm not sure if it is the actors' fault or just the directing and writing in general, but it seriously is stupid. Nobody has even the slightest bit of a realistic personality, and in the end the motives don't really make much sense either.

Isn't one of the main points of a horror movie to make you scared? But when a movie seems totally fake, lame, just generally unbelievable and you know nothing like this could ever happen in a million years, what is scary about it? And as others have already mentioned, it brings nothing new to the table, it has all been done before.

Maybe some people will enjoy it just for the fun if they're into the torture stuff, but anyone else will most likely find it too stupid to bear, it's almost embarrassing. I guess if you're really bored, a one time watch won't kill you, otherwise steer clear.

A mercifully short trek through tiresomely familiar ground...

[wadechurton · 2/10 · 17 July 2013]

I thoroughly enjoyed the 'Saw' series (give or take an entry or two), because their plotting, acting and inventive 'traps' lifted them well above the norm. Their main saving grace however was the solid vein of black humour, something which accorded them a standing with the similarly fun 'Dr Phibes' movies of the early 1970s. There was a conspicuously low budget with 'The Helpers', but so there was with the first 'Saw', and the creators made a virtue of it. A low budget isn't the problem here, and neither for the most part is the acting. What utterly destroyed my enjoyment of 'The Helpers' is a distinct lack of ideas. This means that the movie falls squarely into the category of 'torture porn', and simulated snuff movies are just a tedious one-by-one blood-bath which follow a depressingly well-trodden path to the inevitable 'it's not really over' ending and the raucous music accompanying the final credits. Thank goodness it was so short.

very impressed........

[lil_dude6666 · 7/10 · 25 January 2013]

I have just finished watching this film and to be honest I was very impressed. The acting was better than average and the plot kept me watching till the very end. I must add though that the film is very sick but if you like that sort of thing you should be OK. The story is somewhat simple but that does not distract you from the events within the movie. Having seen the IMDb rating of only 4.4 i was very shocked as in my opinion i would definitely rate it a 7.5. Hope to the see the director make another film soon. Having watched a lot of the b rated horror movies lately for example Hold your breath which in my opinion was utter rubbish, the acting was atrocious and the storyline appalling. Please watch this movie(The helpers) as it is well worthy of only 77mins of your precious time.

writing, writing, WRITING! (was missing from this movie)

[JamieWJackson · 2/10 · 20 November 2013]

*** WARNING: RAMPANT SPOILERS ***

OK, there's some acting ability amongst the cast, and there was some (but only some) decent filmmaking on display here (camera work, lighting, etc., good in places but not always), and a few scenes were disturbing, so I could almost give it a 3, but it was just SO DUMB in SO MANY PLACES that I had to go with a 2.

NONE of the following problems should have survived into the film; they should all have been resolved prior to shooting:

* protagonists got off course too easily; none ever heard of a map?

* all 4 tires should have blown, not just 2

* even with "only" 2 simultaneous blowouts, nobody went back to see what had caused them

* nobody was suspicious/bashful about all the freebies

* there was a debate (albeit tiny) about whether to stay, but no alternative suggested... were they considering just wandering around in the desert all night?

* motive for the killers was unconvincing

* with all the surviving killers in one place, held at gunpoint, the surviving protagonists LEFT THEM there and RAN AWAY... but only back into the buildings, allowing further attacks {facepalm}

This is TERRIBLE writing -- and I stopped there only to save time.

This movie has a lot of 1 and 2 star reviews. The above list should help provide clues for the few reviewers who remain in need of them.

There's nothing essential in this film, unless you just need a Dallas Lovato fix or something. (She is awfully sexy here; hoping to see her more.) Of course, if we're mentioning eye candy, the lovely Rachel Sterling is on parade, but she doesn't get to do much real acting here. Her big scene to show some acting skills comes across as pretty weak; I've seen girls act more terrified of small critters than she did at the imminent prospect of being fatally ripped apart. I found myself wondering if she had been confused about which of them was wearing the anti-scream shock collar.

Wait, I take that back... there is just one thing that was kind of different. The black guy DIDN'T die first, and in fact got his grudge on and dished out some butt-kicking. So, I could almost give it another point for that, too... but I can't because my brain hurts too much from all the plot holes.

Great torture film.... Don't understand all the bad reviews

[Beckymilner4 · 9/10 · 3 April 2013]

Im so glad that I watched this film and didn't look at all the bad reviews as I would have not bothered to watch it..... I don't understand why so many people have rated the film in a negative way. I truly enjoyed this film and to be honest in my opinion it's one of the best horror films I've seen in a long time, the film has elements of saw, hostel and no vacancy but it brings that little added extra that makes the film fresh and enjoyable

The film centres on a group of friends whose car breaks down the boys of the group leave the girls in the car to find help and they find a car shop which is next to a motel the locals seem very friendly and they let the group stay the night at the motel free of charge so far it's a typical storyline but then the torture starts as the friends wake up the next morning tied up in rope and all linked to various traps and torture I don't want to give too much away so I won't describe the torture you will have to find out for yourself :)

To sum up the whole film the acting is pretty decent and I actually felt sorry for the characters and at the end emphasised with them and in a horror film you have to have a bond with the characters and actually care for them to enjoy the film and keeps interested the storyline adds everything into the mix from saw to no vacancy and it's keeps you on the edge of your seat and in some scenes it truly made me cringe to finish off just ignore the rubbish reviews and give the film a chance Im a true an of the horror genre and have seen nearly every horror film and trust me this ones a one to watch

It wasnt that bad

[iainmcleod_800 · 7/10 · 22 April 2021]

Some of the reviews are too harsh. Ok, some of the acting was questionable, but pretty much the whole cast was attractive and its an easy watch. It is what it is.

Extremely poor quality

[myrddinfyrch · 2/10 · 18 June 2015]

I'm no fan of torture porn movies in the first place, but there was practically no suspense provided here, which would have helped. The "jump-scares" were trite and the deadly scenarios all but laughable. I've only walked out of one movie in my life (The Barbarian Brothers) but I would have been tempted with this one.

As another reviewer had pointed out, better writing would have at least made it tolerable. I would add to that some more alert editing and direction: - The sand at the roadside where the car is immobilized has tire tracks from the previous take. - At one point, a villain-babe actually reaches into the supposedly electrified bathwater and accidentally splashes, while a few scenes later she falls in to the tub and dies. - The "Marine" (ugh) has a voice-activated shock collar, yet towards the end of one scene shouts with it on - all the while having been grimacing and twitching when it supposedly activated. Even Marines aren't as stupid as these characters are... >:-D

Trite and unlikely concepts abound. The first victim is a film geek who is so offensive that there is no possible way a gaggle of "cool" types are driving with him to Las Vegas. The character even has an emotional attachment to his backpack.

I, too, signed up for IMDb just to rate this movie. What should have been a redeeming feature - the casting of the stunning & talented Rachel Sterling - was very disappointing. Her character is undeveloped, her nude scene (the only nudity in the movie) is completely throwaway - as if they could cut it and achieve a better MPAA rating? Or worse, be able to show it on TV?

Most of all, Sterling's character is literally ripped in half as the first female victim. I'm assuming this decision was so she can fix her boyfriend the Marine with her smoky gaze as she expires. What a waste.

Kind of like deciding to sell Monet prints as toilet paper. She would have been better utilized as one of the villains.

The absolute lowest form of entertainment...

[Dragoneyed363 · 3/10 · 24 September 2020]

I say this because, while the movie is indeed awful, the few pros going for it are that it sufficed my need for a quick, low budget Horror/Thriller in that moment, and as cliché as the ending was, I wanted to see how the movie ended anyway. That's the only good qualities I can list about the movie folks.

Now for the many unforgiveable cons: The acting is lower than second rate from everyone, ranging from weird to just plain out atrociously bad deliverance of lines and awkward appearances/mannerisms, mostly by the antagonists. Though, no one stands apart from the crowd as the best or worst actor/actress; they are all equally horrible and sorely lacking in any likeability or credibility, and easily forgettable. While this is usually okay if the acting is cheesy, corny or intentionally hammed up, or the characters are such, there were no instances I chuckled with this one, but more so gave my signature WTF face over half the movie for various reasons...

On to the setting; There are very few masterpiece scary films set in the desert, which is disappointing because it is a perfect setting. While the movie takes place at a motel in a very barren area, it feels anything but hopeless/lost/deserted. Most of the scenes are in a car and the half motel-half bar, so there is actually a lot of social activity going on, many bland rooms, including too many characters changing in and out in no rhythm whatsoever. I don't remember a single one of their name's, the setting was wasted.

Next is the ultra basic predictable plot. It has been done. to. death. People check into a hotel/motel and end up not checking out... Psycho? Vacancy? It Happened at Nightmare Inn? 1408?! Hostel?!! Amazingly, all of those movies are better by simple comparison, especially Psycho which is a classic, and Vacancy and 1408 which I personally enjoyed a lot. I would suggest you watch any of those I just listed instead of this.

They are uninspiring, heartless and grotesque for the sole reason of being grotesque. There is of course lots of senseless screaming, over-use of blood meant to be taken seriously, and a "twist" so out of place and lame you barely feel anything at all when it is revealed, or notice the characters are even discussing a twist at first...

I'd recommend watching this movie if you are at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to your Horror/Thriller selection.

Brainless gore.

[veritybingo · 2/10 · 22 March 2021]

Derivative gore film featuring the dumbest decisions by main characters ever. It also has music by a wimpy female songwriter (like a poor man's early Taylor Swift) all the way through it, including during gory & supposedly tense scenes. There are, however, a couple of scary tense moments in a darkly lit bar. Whenever the main characters subdue the villains, they make no attempt to kill, maim, disarm or tie them up. Just ridiculous .

Lack of a Big Budget is No Excuse for Crappy Storytelling

[specfxdude · 1/10 · 27 May 2016]

Spoilers Ahead!

This has got to be one of the most convoluted and idiotic plots I have ever come across in a low budget horror flick: 7 friends -3 chicks & 4 dudes - travel through the desert en route to Vegas, encounter a detour that sends them down a side road only have both rear tires blow out. They happen upon a diner and motel where EVERYTHING is FREE!!!! (Wow... and none these idiots think that's just a bit strange.) As it turns out, the people running the joint happen to be a gang of nut-jobs who know one of the girls in the group of friends (we'll call her Twit) and they staged this elaborate scheme to lure them all into the desert to kill them because her daddy ran a mean orphanage that the nut-jobs lived in while they were kids (which they subsequently burned to the ground).

But wait... there's more! How did the bad guys know that the friends would be traveling through the desert and happen upon their motel? Well - get this - because they planted one of their own into the circle of friends. WHAT? Yeah, the stereotypical nerdy guy of the group (the only guy traveling without a girl) has a girlfriend who planned the entire trip for them all but then decided not to join them at the last minute. Which is kind of stupid. I mean, if she was as distraught as these other orphaned nut-jobs, why didn't she come along just to join in the torturing, too? It may have improved the already confusing and lame plot to have one of the "friends" revealed as one of the killers instead.

That's just the tip of the retarded iceberg. Here's more!

I can't stand this trend of creating a strong, defiant female lead who has all of the answers while making the men total moronic ninnies who need the girls to save them. It really ticks me off. And here's what I mean... The only two people NOT tied up to be tortured and killed is Twit and her stupid boyfriend. They are locked in a room and forced to watch while her friends are killed. And all along, her boyfriend is this sniveling little wimp who promises to get her out but then does absolutely nothing to do so. It is up to her to come up with the plan to help them escape. And when they do, they run into the guy who masterminded this whole thing and she's reluctant to get in his truck because she thinks he's involved. But then, the stupid boyfriend convinces her it's safe and they have to go back to the motel with this guy so they can call the police. This really pisses me off. If you can't find a more convincing and plausible reason to keep your protagonists in danger instead of resorting to totally convenient stupidity, then you have no business making a living as a writer.

Near the end of the movie, it's revealed that they hit a tire trap - the kind the police throw across the road to blow out your tires - that only blows out the rear tires and NOT all 4 - what? And nobody in the group (not even the Marine, who should have been on his guard) thinks to go back and try to find out what suspiciously blew out both tires which seem to be pretty brand new. So the guys - ALL of them - decide it's a good idea to leave their ladies in the vehicle on a deserted desert road so they can walk off several miles to find help... even a Marine would have suggested at least one of the guys stay behind with the ladies - and he would have been the smart choice since he's combat trained and can protect them.

There are way too many more flaws in this crappy movie to go on anymore.

Come on people, can't you put together a better story than this? I'm a screenwriter and I've had a hard time finding financing for 4 movie scripts that have way more depth and character development... where did you find the morons to give you money for this piece of crap?

Don't listen to geordies

[gaz-84033 · 3/10 · 16 November 2020]

My two little Georgie friends recommended this to me. I bought a pizza and rented the dvd. Me and my mates got boozed up, hated the movie and missed super Saturday. Sorry Mo.

Ummm...No!

[darrengabbe-634-457321 · 1/10 · 16 March 2013]

Is this a thriller? A comedy? A horror? I didn't know what it was. I had to sign up with IMDb just to let the ppl who made this know that though they may be Rob Zombie fans they shouldn't try and copy him!!!!! Bad acting, bad plot, and stupid inconsistencies made this drivel a waste of 90 minutes of time better spent. If you are between the age of 11 and 17 the cute chicks and the gore may entertain, but anyone with a fully functioning brain will pretty well be guaranteed to eject it after 30-45 Min's. My girlfriend started squirming at around the 25 minute mark and by the 35 I was exchanging glances wondering what the hell we'd gotten ourselves into. By the 45 minute mark I really wanted to score the disc so that no one else would have to suffer the pain of it. ;-) Really Bad!!!!

Good and scary, could have done more with more length to the movie, below 80 minutes is not enough

[haithambayazeed · 6/10 · 25 January 2013]

This movie is disturbing and scary at some scenes, and boring as hell in other scenes, even when it is the climax, only torture scenes are suspenseful and scary, some other scenes towards the end, give you the feeling of lack of settlements, some jump scares, the writer would've explained more, but the movie is impressive, but not great, smart but not intelligent, scary but not horrifying, it is just an average horror movie with lack of good presenting, but still a good movie with great plot and kind of good acting, still underrated a lot!!!

Rating 6.3/10 = 6/10 on IMDb Reviews ratings

I think that this movie is not that scary compared to V/H/S The movie

The movie in not that gory such as SAW franchise The movie is not erotically

silly such as Piranha 3D in a comedic way The movie so unsettling such as Paranormal Activity

I think the cast and crew will make something great in future, maybe a sequel or prequel? Who knows?!

the people who need help are filmmakers

[soapdodgerz · 1/10 · 24 March 2013]

remember years ago when some bore ,used to put on homemovies of weddings holidays and family gatherings.people would sit through them and politely keep quiet and not say a word in case you offended the host of these drab excuses for entertainment. roll on 20 years and this is what most of the found footage movies have become. i say most because i still think there are a couple of exceptions.grave encounters being one.this is not in the same league.in fact this would have been OK without the camcorders. if it wasn't such a rip off of vacancy which had great suspense and a scary setup.even though the people on screen are put through terrible ordeals. not once is there any feeling of fear for the victims.why, because everyone is so unlikeable that you don't care what happens. this film will annoy not scare and thats why this genre is going down the pan.if i was sherri moon id sue.

I told him I'm not a camera person

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 18 January 2018]

The film opens with a story about 23 orphans being killed in a fire. The rest of film is us figuring out what this had to do with the rest of the film with flashbacks to "10,000 Maniacs" and "House of a 1,000 Corpses." Seven young adults taken a back road into Vegas, a too common horror film set up, and find themselves stranded at a friendly bar and motel. Then the clever killings start, 1 person at a time in a slow methodical manner. I give them a plus for that.

Dallas Lovato played the role perfected by Sherie Moon Zombie. She did a fair job, but they didn't let her go. There were a few good characters, but the rest, especially Claire (Kristen Quintrall) were mostly cardboard. The on screen horror chemistry and mood wasn't there. When Claire was attempting to hide, her continuous whimpering was more annoying than anything. Kill her, let's move on I kept thinking to myself.

Once the film did tie together to that orphan thing..."Really? That's it?"

They also had trouble with the title. The first title (used in UK) was "The Helpers" which actually related to the film, even though it lacks any horror factor. The US title, "No Vacancy" is a better horror title (We don't get a picture of little fuzzy chipmunks trying to help people) but it doesn't relate to the film other than the fact it has a motel in it, which BTW always had a vacancy. With "Motel Hell" already taken, the pickings are slim.

Some attempt at dark humor like "House of a !,000 Corpses." If you need a slasher film fix, you could do worse.

Parental Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity (Rachel Sterling- Juggy dancer on "The Man Show")

Nevermind

[brunovanael · 3/10 · 1 December 2020]

Poor acting and a horrible script. They tried to fill the huge holes in the story with an explanation that was unintentionally hilarious. On the bright side a few good scares. But better watch Vacancy. The original is in this case a lot better than this cheap ripp off.

Eh.. no

[lexicat-47048 · 3/10 · 1 December 2020]

This movie honestly could've been way better in my opinion (the story line) but geez, it was messed up. The main issue in the movie for me was the actors/actresses. Worst acting I've ever seen in a movie, most scenes felt super awkward and like they were about to forget their lines. Also most of the characters would not show any emotion while they talked which made it even more hilarious- lol. Only giving this a 3/10 because I liked the story line.. at first. It went downhill after first 20 minutes.

Just no

[shutterdreams · 1/10 · 22 February 2020]

Really, just no, kill me now.

Acting: unbearable Plot: mind numbing Brain cells: lost

Don't watch it's terrible

[kieranthomas-89641 · 1/10 · 5 October 2021]

Possibly the worst horror movie I've ever watched.