The Helpers

Heading off on a road-trip, a group of friends get stranded near a roadside motel and decide to stay the night only to awake in the morning tied up and being forced to undergo grueling, brutal tortures for a past revenge and must find a way to battle their captors to escape alive.

For the most part, this one wasn't all that great. What really tends to work well here for this one is the fact that there's quite a nicely believable and enjoyable first half which really dispels the notion of the upcoming horror quite nicely as there's a lot of fun to be had here. The shots of them sitting around partying and hanging out at the motel before it all goes down, and it makes for some rather cool times with their ability to keep this section of the film quite interesting. When it leads into the series of tortures and other tactics committed against the group, that does make for a somewhat more enjoyable time here with some rather fun and exciting tortures throughout here which are much more prominently based on actual tortures being imposed on them which makes for a rather decent time here. With them really running through some solid tortures in the various rooms as in them being tied up to trucks or strapped into chairs above bathtubs filled with water holding a live wire above it, the ideas behind them are kinda cruel and makes for some chilling moments as there's a nice sense of twisted brutality to their madness which is rather fun to watch and sets up the finale nicely as there's plenty of fun chasing and brawling occurring throughout that makes for quite a fun and really enjoyable time throughout here. These, though, are all that really work for this one since way too much of it isn't all that appealing and features a multitude of big flaws. The main issue to be found here is the fact that there's just absolutely nothing about the villains that makes them someone to be feared or scared of, being the usual assortment of wackos that are simply in the position of power through drugging everyone and it really seems like a situation where it would be quite easy to get the upper hand on them if an actual, honest attempt at putting them away were tried, and as they go for the tormenting and torture route this doesn't get any better. As a main genre this is simply old and tiresome which really just makes for a rather overdone and quite bland outing here as there's just not a whole lot of interest here generated from that plot line. Then to top if off there's the utter gall of the film to try to tie in their actions with the backstory delivered by them which is so utterly obnoxious, condescending and truly pathetic that it never once comes across as anything but a total joke. Based on such a lame reasoning in the first place at wanting to find revenge on the guilty party only for that to be the tie into the simply most ridiculous manner of carrying it out which has no need to ever be attempted here truly turns this whole part of the film into quite the pain to get through trying to rationalize the true nature of what's going on which is quite pathetic. This here makes this one such an utterly torturous watch that it really overcomes many of it's positives otherwise.

Rated R: Extreme Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and Brief Nudity.

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

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 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.