The Helpers

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.

No pun intended - I mean you may already know where this is going. Just the title Helpers ... you know how it is meant and what you can expect ... well more or less, because there are quite some extreme scenes in this. So not for the faint hearted to say the least.

But I doubt someone who is into romantic movies, will watch this. I would assume someone would warn them ... maybe me? So yes, be aware of what you watch. That being said, the movie has highs and lows. It seems to much fun, until it changes gears ... and then it is only ugly ... which I assume you either "like" or find disgusting. Some ideas were interesting, but it is really hard to watch ... especially because it seems to be done without reason ... until it is revealed there might be a reason ... just so the end credits (bonus scene) tells us otherwise ... what is it? Ah well ... do we really care?

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.

NO VACANCY AKA THE HELPERS is a horror film in which every scene makes you feel like you have seen something like this before. Perhaps the most original aspect of it is that it attempts (in its earlier parts, at least) to combine elements of found footage with normal story-telling, but curiously, the camera angles under "normal mode" are chosen such that it feels even more like found-footage, and so when it switches modes, it becomes a little confusing.

What really does this movie in, however, is not the lack of originality or botched handling of different modes of story-telling, but the barrage of implausibilities from start to end.

The seven(!) friends do not get even a little suspicious that they are being offered free food, drinks and board? Really? And then, when the killings start, they don't avail themselves of the many objects lying around to defend themselves? The plot twist was better than having no twist at all, but it was still underwhelming, in part, again, because it seemed so implausible. And what was up with the epilogue? Is this now about the undead?

Several scenes were filmed in a way that made it obvious how the film tried to manipulate the audience into a sense of dread. Of course, many movies, and especially horror films, try to manipulate the audience into experiencing certain emotions. The art lies in doing it in a way that the audience does not notice it. In that regard, the film failed, too.

Finally, there is an unevenness in the movie which I think makes it difficult fo the film to find its audience: the earlier killings have a strong torture porn feel, whereas the later ones are more reminiscent of standard action-thriller movies.

All in all, quite a forgettable film.

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.