Co-writer/co-director Jay Sherer, co-director Lukas Colombo, and co-writer Nathan Scheck drop us into No Vacancy with the kind of uneasy, backroads dread that feels like it’s been waiting for you all night. This short psychological thriller wastes no time turning a routine investigation into a pressure-cooker of secrets, and the lead character is already carrying more than she’s willing to say out loud.
Investigative journalist Leigh Larson (Colleen Trusler) pulls up to an isolated roadside motel. Her co-worker (Austin Lynn Hall) is eager to understand why she is there, but Leigh says nothing as he drops her off at this clandestine location. Leigh heads into her room, where she has notes and research for a story she’s been chasing… but why out here? Then, mysteriously, the television turns on by itself, showing an interview she gave about her research on superheroes, which leaves the interviewer skeptical.
The Informant talks as Leigh Larson listens in a stark, black-and-white moment from No Vacancy.
“Then, mysteriously, the television turns on by itself, showing an interview she gave about her research on superheroes…”
The incident jolts her, and she recalls a meeting she had with an Informant (Kirk Bovill), who handed her a large handbag. In another flashback, she is confronted by her partner Karl (Ben Holtzmuller), who wonders why she’s being so quiet about her work and asks if he can help. But she remains quiet as if she’s protecting him from something. Suddenly, Leigh receives a mysterious phone call, and when she runs to the front desk to get help, the check-in clerk, Stoner Ryan (Spencer Harrison Levin), is found murdered. Leigh is being hunted.
In No Vacancy, directors Sherer and Colombo build a world of mystery and conspiracy. It’s quite an incredible world they built as indie filmmakers. The main location is a seedy motel out in the middle of nowhere, lit up as if it came straight out of the ’60s. They then smartly shoot the flashback scenes in a black box, giving it a minimalist appeal. From this setting, they’re able to weave a tale where superheroes live among us, hiding in plain sight. Only the government, resourceful investigators, and supervillains know of their existence—think the X-Files, but with metahumans.
No Vacancy excels at pure-tone management. From the start, the filmmakers set the mood, the location, and the plot, allowing them to tell a big story right off the bat and create a large world on an indie budget. In the end, they present a small piece of a much larger puzzle.
For more information, visit the No Vacancy official website.
"…a pressure-cooker of secrets..."
