Vacancy 2: The First Cut

Set three years before the first film, the action takes place in and around the Meadow View Inn, a small roadside motel in rural North Carolina. It opens with newlyweds driving and the bride wants to have sex in the car, which makes the groom stop. They are then stopped by a man, whose property they are on, so they head to the motel. The manager, Gordon (David Moscow), oversees an operation of using cameras within the motel to videotape the newlyweds having sex.

Later, a serial killer, Smith (Scott G. Anderson), checks into the motel and brutally murders a woman he brought with him in one of the motel rooms. The horrified staff see the whole crime on videotape and then subdue the man. They do not know what to do with him, however, as they will endanger their operation if they call the police. Smith manages to convince Gordon and his staff to hire him to torture and murder the motel guests on videotape and then sell them as snuff films.

The trucker confirms that this is indeed a functional market and Gordon agrees under the conditions that he is the leader of the operation. Smith mockingly agrees. A couple of days later, a young couple, Jessica (Agnes Bruckner) and Caleb (Trevor Wright), and their friend Tanner (Arjay Smith) check into the Meadow View Inn for a night's rest, unaware of the inn's sick-minded employees and their nefarious intentions.

As the killers begin to terrorize the hotel guests, it quickly becomes apparent that Smith is a loose-cannon, with no intention of following Gordon's lead. He fashions a crude mask out of wire and proceeds to murder two of the hotel's three guests. They capture and stab Caleb in the stomach until he dies, while Jessica and Tanner hide in the woods and then run to a nearby house. It is revealed that the man who stopped the newlyweds, Otis, lives in the house with his wife. They let Jessica and Tanner in. They tell the couple about the killers, but Otis does not believe them. Smith and the others come in, telling the man that Jessica and Tanner stole from them, which Otis believes. But his wife does not, as she takes the phone and is about to call the police. Smith then shoots Otis and his wife, and runs after Jessica and Tanner.

They catch both and torture Tanner first. Smith calls the others off, since he wants to kill Jessica himself. The others are watching on tape what Smith is going to do. One of them does not want to kill anymore and Gordon says to let it play out, then they will call the cops and blame the whole thing on Smith. Smith leaves the room to check on Gordon and the others. Jessica finds a way to untie herself in the meantime. Smith comes back and is about to kill Jessica, and she manages to stab him in the jaw, but Smith survives. Jessica escapes, and Gordon and the others run to see what happened to Smith. Jessica hides and finds dead bodies. She then finds Caleb dead and Tanner, dying, while choking on his blood. Meanwhile, Smith and the others desperately search for Jessica. One of the staff go to the place where Jessica hid, but she hides under Caleb's body and pushes it upward, killing the employee (since it had low ceiling with nails sticking out of it). Jessica takes his gun and runs to the truck, rummages through the glove box, then she goes underwater in the lake. Gordon goes to the lake and searches for her.

He finds a sweater sticking out of the water, thinking it is her. Jessica pulls the gun out of the water. Gordon turns around to see it as Jessica pulls the trigger, killing him. Smith hears the gunshot and runs to the lake. Jessica gets out quickly and hides in Smith's trailer. He finds her and tries to stab her, but she burns him and runs. The next day, the cops arrive and Jessica tells the story. They are skeptical of her story because the cameras and bodies have disappeared. At another hotel (the Pinewood Hotel, the motel in the very first movie) a badly scarred Smith informs the trucker that he will have the motel up and running in a few weeks, just as soon as the cameras are set. Smith gives the trucker the very first snuff film that features one of the guests he murdered at the Meadow View Inn. He tells the trucker that he will make more copies as soon as he can.

64 minutes of music was written, performed, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Jerome Dillon (Nearly, Nine Inch Nails) with engineer Ryan Kull, in his home studio for the soundtrack.

The film was released direct-to-DVD on January 20, 2009. Reviews were average and mediocre.

• Official website
• Vacancy 2: The First Cut at IMDb