The Vault

The Vault-720P

The Vault-720P

The Vault-360P

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

-The worst film I've seen this year hand's down -They attempted to add an edgy twist which ended up as several different endings -Shame on James Franco for accepting this role after reading the script -DO NOT waste your money watching this, you'll feel robbed of your cash and life.

Saw this recently on a pirated DVD. The trailer showing a heist with horror elements along with Franco was sufficient to buy the DVD. As one character keeps on asking no lies, short answers. Well, i will tell the truth n in short. Bad film. Franco cheated the audiences. The Vault tried to be a mix n mash genre but it failed. There wasn't any tension n action. It is not at all scary or graphic n not action-heavy. The killings weren't that scary or tension filled. The scenes with the "stuff" were shot in dark n the editing was horrendous. In one scene the brother is sitting when the shooting happens n suddenly he is seen cutting the pipe. Ther r numerous badly edited scenes. Non scary scenes which r just there to fill up. The acting was awful by the two leading ladies. Clint Eastwood must b really upset. There was no character development n the twist was kinda predictable. Maybe director Dan Bush's intention was to create a good blend of heist n horror. His Signal is one of my favorite horror film.

The Vault_360P

source: The Vault

Pretty much everything about this movie was average or below average. At no point was i surprised or feeling the supposed suspense, which was a joke for anyone who has watched more than a handful of horror flicks in their life. The premise was somewhat promising, but the potential got completely wrecked when the main antagonists were revealed, the movie turned from a promising and suspensful bank heist/hostage thriller flick into a laughable and childish monster story with no relevance in just a matter of seconds, well they tried to justify it, but nothing great came out of it as you are simply unable to take the actions seriously after that. Overall nothing new or exciting, not worth watching, not the worst movie ever, by no means, but nothing you would like to invest your precious time in!

The Vault is part heist part horror movie starring James Franco, Francesca Eastwood, Taryn Manning and Clfton Collins Jr. among others. A gang of robbers attempts a bank heist and they end up in a hostage situation while at the same time being taken out by malevolent spirits that haunt the part of the bank where the old vault is. It turns out that in 1982 a deranged criminal attempted a bank robbery and killed most of the employees and customers and all of their spirits still haunt the building and they get very violent when a new gang attempts a robbery. The overall idea was interesting but there is very little character development and the story feels rushed and is badly explained and executed. The acting is borderline with the best actors being severely under-used and the overall feel of the movie is both disjointed and predictable. Some of the decisions by the main characters make little sense and the big twist is obvious almost from the start (the lack of interaction with the particular character and the sideburns gave it away). In the end it's a mash-up movie but the problem is that it fails as both a heist movie and a horror. Could have been much better if the story was developed in depth.