The Vault

I think anything under a 5 is unfair as it's watchable. The acting is pretty decent the story is fine, but ultimately it's drags on too long for it's gimmick. It's not particularly interesting and you can guess the "twist" about 5 minutes into the movie. In fact if were being honest they literally tell you whats going to happen. It's weird that they do that. I'm not kidding. You'll see it and groan. The idea is intriguing enough that you A. hope that they would be stupid enough to give the plot and thats its a red herring or B. Just go with it and enjoy it for what it is. The movie doesn't look cheap so that's a plus. I tried to watch some other low rent horror just before this called berkshire county. The cinematography in the first 5 minutes was so bad and lazy I couldn't be bothered to battle through it. This looks solid and they have 3 or 4 journeyman actors holding this up around the edges. Im like 90 percent I've seen an extremely similar concept on twilight zone or tales from the crypt. However in those cases it was a tight 40-45 minute story. This film is..tiresome. So thats my advise. If you can handle a low-medium rent episode of TFTC stretched out maybe 30 minutes too long this is fine. I didn't hate it, but I got bored more than a few times and checked apps on my phone during it.

When starting The Vault up I had an overwhelming feeling of deja-vu, I felt like I'd seen it before but not because of a lack of originality more that I watched the trailer months ago and it left a lasting impression on me.

Telling the story of a bank robbery that gets complicated when the robbers discover that the vault is haunted it's a neat little tale (In theory) with a fascinating highly original concept. I was so excited to see where this would go, what a brilliant idea I thought.

Sadly despite having a great concept they really didn't think it through and certainly had no endgame. The potential is squandered to a painful extent, what an absolute heartbreaking shame.

Starring James Franco and a host of oddly competent folk including the excellent Francesca Eastwood (Who looks alarmingly like Amanda Seyfried) the film manages to look good but offers little else.

The concept is wasted, the antagonists are lackluster and the protagonists are quite frankly non-existent!

I wanted to like The Vault, I simply couldn't. It's a demonstration on how to drop the ball.

The Good:

Cast deliver

Very interesting premise

The Bad:

Concept feels wasted

Stock screams

No protagonists

This film tells the story of a group of five bank robbers who aim to rob half a million dollars from the bank. The think they hit the jackpot when the assistant manager of the bank offers help to get them six million dollars from the mysterious underground vault.

"The Vault" is a very low budget film, and it really shows. That in itself is not a problem, if it had a good story and tight editing. Unfortunately, there is not much to fill the screen time, and the pacing is just really slow. It takes the robbers thirty minutes to get to the vault, and then another thirty minutes for things to get going. There are many implausible or illogical things happening in the film too. I find it implausible that there is only one man trying to open the vault, while the two women watch on CCTV. Could they not have helped with opening the vault? It is a low budget B film through and through. There will be fans who like this film, but it is not for me.

Having liked James Franco in other things, liking horror and thriller and being intrigued by the premise (bank heist films are not new in film or television, a very tried and tested formula, but a bank heist with a twist intrigued a lot), 'The Vault' had enough to make me want to see it. It had enough ingredients for it to be a good film, but in the end it ends up being just a lacklustre one with salvageable elements.

'The Vault' starts off very promisingly with an energetic and tension-filled opening that is easily the best thing about the film. Wasn't that impressed by the acting on the whole, but Franco gives it his all and is not bad at all. In fact, while it is a long way from being among his best performances, he is pretty good and convincing and actually looks like he's trying.

Generally the production values could have been better, but the sets are suitably creepy and the atmospheric lighting accentuates the creepiness further.

Sadly, 'The Vault' is lacking everywhere else. Taryn Manning and Francesca Eastwood don't have the screen presence to intimidate even a cat, marionettes have more animation than Manning who doesn't seem to try to act and Eastwood tries too hard. The rest of the cast struggle to do anything with characters that are basically just ciphers with nothing developed or distinct. The script tends to be very flabby with an air of smugness, while most of the film is clumsily directed in a way that's far too calculated.

Despite a great opening, 'The Vault' goes downhill quickly with momentum petering out far too early, meaning that a lot of the film limps along. The thriller elements lack suspense and can be implausible, implausibility turning into complete ridiculousness at the end, while the horror side fails to deliver on the scares, being too over-familiar, tension-lacking and the slow-burning taken to extremes. The film is really dull by this point and one is past caring what happens in the film or to anybody because the characters are so thinly sketched, make illogical decisions and mostly unconvincingly acted.

Just for the record, really liked that there was more than one genre. It was just the way it was executed, it was too much of a mishmash and the whole thing becomes disjointed.

Sets and lighting aside, the production values scream of straight-to-DVD quality with particularly slapdash editing. The music and sound editing can be overbearingly loud at points.

In summary, a strange lacklustre film that is not bad enough to keep buried in the vault but not good enough to warrant a permanent unlocking. 4/10 Bethany Cox

This will be a short review. Just like the last 90 minutes.

I had a lot of fun with this. This is a straight B-horror movie. That's what it sets out to be and accomplishes it.

Good cast, good scenario, and good ideas.

It's not going to be a respected 'film' by any means. That's not what it's supposed to be. Think 'Belko Experiment' or 'Man vs'.

The cinematography was on par, the acting was solid, and it had a great original idea.

If you want a 90 min, B-horror movie. 100% yes.

I liked it very much and you will too.