The Vault (I) (2017) User Reviews

I liked it

[Patient444 · 6/10 · 3 September 2017]

So apparently today everything has to be big, with lots of special effects, jump scares and an astronomical budget. Right? -Wrong!

This is how movies used to be done, sure it is a tad bit more ambiguous, resembles The Void a little, but I still say it succeeded! I had fun watching it, I liked the characters, the plot, the execution, I did not expect something out of the ordinary, thus I feel I received exactly what I wanted. A good little film, a nice add-on to my horror collection, I'll even recommend it for a late night run.

The Vault is a nicely crafted piece, there was room for improvement, for something bigger, surely enough, but it did not failed. Overall, a small success indeed!

Cheers!

Give it a Netflix shot.

[kderuy-82422 · 6/10 · 8 June 2018]

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.

The Vault: Blown potential

[Platypuschow · 5/10 · 22 January 2019]

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

A decent tales from the crypt episode

[just_in_case · 5/10 · 5 October 2017]

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.

A low budget B film through and through

[Gordon-11 · 1 September 2017]

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.

One strange bank heist

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 26 September 2017]

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

Interesting concept, horrible movie

[Spookylicious · 2/10 · 29 December 2019]

What the hell is wrong with this characters. I swear I don't get how this got finished the way it is. My only theory would be they'd get drunk after each take and next week continue without any idea what they were doing.

A character finds a team member down the basement on a chair with injuries and drill his own head. He goes up comments "X is dead" (dead?? that's what you tell your sister? the guy drilled his own freaking head, WHAT??) and goes down again to continue working. WHAT THE HELL is wrong with these people??? Another team member dissapears after being closed in a room with hostages and there's zero reaction nor concern, everyone just keeps going with their own thing.

It's beyond me how this stuff gets done and how anyone can think this is watchable in any sense.

If you like bad writting, horrible edits (scenes of characters interacting with eachother without you knowing where they are, which ovviously shows they were takes done with each actor alone in other days or whatever), boring villains, (the dead robber makes sense that's evil, but why are the dead hostages working with whom killed them???????), stupid characters and situations watch it.

But trust me, spend your time with something else.

Fun Scary Movie!

[julied3-467-5547 · 7/10 · 19 June 2018]

I had this one on my list to watch for a long time, but I let the low user reviews and ratings sway me. Finally last night we watched it. SO good. It is a very different kind of ghost story, but full of surprises and creepiness. There were some seriously creepy scenes and I know I jumped several times. The antagonists were just obnoxious enough that you were happy to see them have some challenges. The ghosts were scary and unexpected. If you are looking for a fun scare, give this a try. Loved it.

A movie that can't be redeemed

[tabuno · 2/10 · 28 January 2019]

The criminal gang featured in the movie was a motley crew that initially seemed competent, then they sort of disintegrated but not as the horror script would suggest as they began to disappear. Instead most of them succumbed to a poor script. Using the typical eerie music along with some strains of Alien (1979) chords the movie proceeds to include the intermittent lights blinking in and out. There's no clear explanation behind the robbery. In several instances, some of the criminals are so nasty that it encouraged that they meet a miserable demise. And why spend manpower on one person unnecessarily guarding bank hostages instead of just locking them in some unescapable room or why let another person kill themselves when there was plenty of time to prevent it? And who threatens a hostage in order to get answers without using a weapon in order to encourage a more truthful response under the circumstances, except when it comes to female bank tellers? The movie also includes a somewhat sympathetic criminal character being tormented towards innocence by a female bank teller for supposedly an additional layered subplot but that is more of a distraction. Then there's even a bullet through a window scene that doesn't make real sense as a script-driven dramatic device even with a surprisingly decent attempt to explain it away. Even the reported past bank robbery attempt story doesn't hold up in regards to law enforcement protocol and seems much more scripted just for supposedly the horror affect but it's pretty absurd. Instead of a truly professional group of bank robbers against a haunting unknown, the heightened dynamics is lost in contrast to The Devil's Tomb (2009) or even the more straight forward but much more compelling The Numbers Station (2013). With this particular criminal gang, its little wonder that they disappeared so fast, unfortunately for the audience not fast enough. The short, The Vault seems to follow most of the typical horror movie attempts at scare scenarios which by now have become either familiar or the audience just inured to it. There's very little in the way scary scenes or originality. There's one promising scene later in the movie involving a girl, but it's not really followed up with and used only for an attempted scare that becomes only another typical fright shot. Suddenly with only about twenty minutes to go there's a big turn around but again unfortunately, the absence of a good backstory takes a lot out of the emotional appeal of the climatic ending. There's even a Sixth Sense (1999) flavor in this movie that could have had potential towards making this a decent movie. But it's all too little too late and unconvincing as well as the final typical, boring, over-used, clique shot that definitely didn't redeem the movie.

Deserves a higher rating

[nickyb-79131 · 7/10 · 6 September 2017]

This is better than the rating, at the time of writing, of 4.7. This has hair-on-end horror not the standard jump-scares, with a touch of gore and suspense to boot. Something about it reminded me of "The Usual Suspects" and "Assault on Precinct 13" and now I have said that you will see it too! Really only commenting as 4.7 seems waay too low. Hardly a deep movie but a good movie. As I have hinted it is derivative but nevertheless entertaining with a charismatic cast and camera-work, lighting and action worthy of classic Hollywood fare. I know people will knock this review simply for me saying this is what Hollywood does best but I think Cannes would like this, even.

Lock away...forever.

[coreyjdenford · 4/10 · 7 September 2017]

This review of The Vault is spoiler free

** (2/5)

WHEN A FILM opens so greatly with a bank robbery or hostage situation, it can often go wrong. With many intricacies to planning the heist, one wrong move and it essentially could collapse without repair. This leads us to writer-director Dan Bush's hybrid horror The Vault, where everything that can go wrong inevitably does go wrong - and then some. James Franco's Ed Maas is one of the several targets to a collective team of thieves led by two estranged sisters Vee (Taryn Manning) and Leah (Francesca Eastwood), who rob a bank to save their brother (Scott Haze). However they soon find that this is no ordinary bank, they later find out that the bank has a history and something is lurking in the shadows down in the old vault.

It's an excellent opening, which thrives in the suspense of mystery, as it's not always clear who is in on the heist or who isn't, is it the sisters?, is it the brother?, or perhaps it's the things hidden in the basement? It's sometimes hard to guess. This premise keeps it thrilling for a while as the unknown threat makes them fight for their survival. But sadly this energetic opening is short-lived as Bush draws the cards far too early bringing proceedings to a hasty close, quickly shifting the premise from an escalating thriller to a survival horror. As the two sisters become unstuck from their bars, so does Bush. Things get messy with the hapless introduction to the unknown threat, in perhaps an unsuccessful nod to The Haunting or last year's The Void, it's left as a misguidedly directed, poorly written thriller-horror (throrror?) or (hiller) filled with boring thrills and a silly story.

On paper, while most of the film feels generic it does have interesting smatterings of peppered originality, as a first it's a change to see the film's female characters be the play makers during this operation, they are the planners of the heist when things go wrong while also handling the hostages making them the brawn of the operation too. They're not exactly fleshed out; then again really nobody feels 3D. Franco's assistant manager tries his best to give at least some flesh to his character, though like the vault in question he's just left in the shadows, it feels that only his name that makes an illicit attempt at aggression. It's clear that he's just here for a pay check.

The Vault is a poorly handled heist hybrid horror which gives its celebrated players, poor writing and several boring thrills that really leave nothing more than just a rubbery haphazard execution.

VERDICT A loud, disjointed, silly and very uneven fright flick that barely kicks off anything original. It'll be better to watch this as a TV special, then forgetting it.

Don't Let The Low Rating Sway You

[AverageJoesDriveInPodcast · 9/10 · 7 January 2018]

Once in awhile, you go into a movie blind and with low expectations. That was the case for me with The Vault. Sometimes, that helps the experience even more. I knew zero about this film. I didn't watch the trailer or anything, I just clicked play.

Holy shit is this movie amazing. I'm going to include the trailer in the review, but I recommend you just go find it on Netflix and watch it. Honestly, I was blown away. The only thing I'll tell you about it is it's a bank heist movie, but oh so much more (Horror nerds I'm looking at you) I'm going to keep it at that just to be as vague as possible because I don't want to give anything away that might spoil it. If I had done a favorite of 2017 list this would have been on it, wow, still can't get over how amazingly good this film was.

Don't let the shitty IMDB Rating sway you from checking this out. The only way I would not recommend this one is if you like your films bland, vanilla and by the numbers with everything spoon fed to you, this isn't the movie for you. I have a feeling that has a lot to do with the IMDB rating.

My Rating: 8.5/10

No lies. Just short answers.

[nogodnomasters · 7/10 · 1 September 2017]

The film shows you headlines from a Centurion Trust bank robbery and then trusts you into another bank robbery at the same location. You get an idea who the characters are in about 35 minutes. The job is lead by Leah (Francesca Eastwood). As time approaches, the assistant bank manager James Franco gives them help and advice. The team is dissatisfied with the haul and Franco suggests the old vault in the basement...one that was alluded to earlier with the word "haunting." This is when the fun begins.

Unfortunately there is little to no lighting in and around the vault, so the best scenes are always dark. Eastwood did the cold calculating tough girl very well. Franco had subdued role for a change.

In 1982 the Joan Jett cover of "Crimson and Clover" would have been popular and not the original.

If you like this film, you might try "The Last Heist." Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Weak plot, boring movie

[datorsiers2 · 4/10 · 7 July 2018]

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 truth n in short: a bad film. Franco, u cheated us man.

[Fella_shibby · 5/10 · 7 September 2017]

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.

IMDB rating is spot on.

[NYAmicas · 4/10 · 14 January 2018]

Some of these reviews........I wonder if they are part of the movie production crew or going senile. This movie was just plain terrible. It had the look of a properly financed production but what came from that was a D list horror movie that you find in a $5 Walmart bin. I had high hopes when I saw some recognizable faces as the movie started but when the very simple and uninteresting premise unfolded my inner panic started. When the "horror" aspect of this haunted vault began I knew it wasn't going to get any better. As the movie progressed the characters had conversations and expositions that didn;t really help explain the choices they made later and you actually dont care. The "twist" is not a twist at all and you;ll be very glad you survived this awful movie. I am so upset at my wasted time.

Actually pretty good!

[kmdoherty-99811 · 7/10 · 30 June 2018]

Glad I decided to watch this, it's a pretty good little spine tingler, I'm one of those, skip the blood and gore , and give me more discreet eerieness type of movie watchers , so this movie was a good fill for me. Good acting helped also.

Spoiler comment.

[deveancrandall · 4/10 · 19 March 2018]

It was terrible. James Franco of all people shouldn't have been in a film like this. It was terrible. The whole movie was just dragged on. You look outside at the police and it's two police officers everytime who are simply moving around making it look like they were doing something. Poor film and the ghosts were shitty. Couldn't have gave me more of a scare. It's watchable but I say don't watch it.

Not terrible, not great

[qa_meyers · 16 January 2018]

I believe James Franco may have owed somebody a favor on this one. Not what I expect from someone of his calibur. Either way I'm sure he had good reason to want to do it. Not a horrible movie, but most certainly not his best work. Good acting throughout on everyones behalf

Not Great, But Not Bad

[karma-08218 · 6/10 · 16 May 2018]

The premise of this movie sounded different than most so I figured it was worth a watch. The story starts out pretty good and the acting is decent. It got sort of rushed and clumsy towards the middle though and the ending left something to be desired.

I would have liked to see more background on the main characters; their stories just seemed sort of hollow to me. There is a good, creepy vibe throughout a lot of the movie which is a plus.

I'd say it's worth a watch. It wasn't bad compared to many of the movies in the genre, but I don't need to see it again.

Enjoyable in an old fashioned way

[sleemice · 5/10 · 5 September 2017]

I enjoyed the movie because it tried to be original and you could get the gist of the movie.The movie really is about the vault but it's also about more than just the vault and I enjoyed how the movie kept building up on the story and kept me interested.

I think James Franco is too good an actor to be in a movie like this and you could tell by the fact that he was the only actor who was a good actor. I'm not sure if Taryn Manning and Francesca Eastwood were intentionally supposed to act like crazy, unpredictable, very unlikeable bad guys but 1 minute they want to kill you and in the next scene they "would" never hurt a fly and it's their bad acting that totally ruined the movie for me. I mean Taryn right at the very beginning tries to beat someone to death but then later on talks about how no one is going to die. Lol.....All the other actors/ characters where pretty straightforward and played their parts well.

Highly underrated movie

[lotten-04694 · 8/10 · 28 October 2017]

This movie is full of suspense from the first to last minute. Actors are great, setting seemingly traditional, but don't let that fool you. Nothing is as traditional as it seems in this seemingly clear cut bank robbery going dramatically wrong. Some good jumps, but no real surprises, though, which would have made me pay 10 stars. A well written, well played ghost thriller. Worth my while.

Very enjoyable movie.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 9 September 2018]

It must be hard for writers and producers to come up with original ideas for movies. Let's face it originality in horrors no longer exists, what's not been done.

However, The Vault had a whiff of originality about it, I liked the scenario, the acting was really good, and the pacing was such that it built up well, albeit after a fairly slow start.

Not a gory film, this was more in the way of suspense, with subtle moments of horror, but that seemed to suit the film.

It's not a gripping movie, but I really enjoyed it, it was certainly well made and nicely shot. For a B movie it is rather good. 7/10

Why? How?

[EndeAbgrunds · 4/10 · 1 September 2017]

This is one of those movies and by THOSE I mean it's one that you can predict being an average or below average movie, based off the strength of the trailer.

This is the second film I've seen that stars Francesca Eastwood, the other being Angels and Outlaws(I think it was called). Neither of which is worth watching twice. She plays the "badass" whose only purpose in the film is to look good and attempt to be intimidating, attempt being the key word, since she is as intimidating as miley cyrus holding a box of cute cuddly puppies.

But I digress, where was I? Oh yes, why was this made? How did this get the green-light? The writing is so weak and cringy, that it only makes me wonder how this garnered any attention from producers or anybody at all. Yes it is a low budget film, but is that really an excuse?

In the end, it's an underwhelming, poorly written, and downright boring film. I actually fell asleep during the "climax" as our cuddly puppy eyed protagonist pulls off one of those wonderful eye rolling decisions that'll make you go: "what the hell are you doing lady?" Then the movie goes through about five different endings, yay.. Oh and apparently there were ghosts or something, who knows.

You won't remember this one t-minus five minutes after seeing it. Skip it.

Great low budget film spoiled by stereotypical ending.... Spoiler in last paragraph

[anthonyharburn · 4/10 · 12 September 2017]

Even though it is a slow paced film, it gives you enough to keep you interested and curious about what is actually going on...

The acting is very good and The Movie develops the character's well, creating a good atmosphere and viewer interest in the outcome of the character's fates...

I was really enjoying this Movie right until the very end. Yes, the Ending.. which made me regret watching the whole Dam Movie...

(Spoiler alert - Maybe... Ending)

Everything was fitting the narrative of a Building holding onto the past (which is where it should stay!!)... The Chartater build up had meaning plus some curiosity's unexplained... Then the well thought out ending came along (NOT)... A good film that I may have recommended to friends and family was totally spoiled by a sudden Stereotypical Friday the thirteenth-nightmare on elm st-Halloween Ending that Totally spoils the whole Movie to a point that it made me feel angry and cheated... Like so many other movies do... I would have given this Movie an 8 if it had even a reasonable ending...

This is still a worthwhile watch. and who knows you may in fact like the ending.. But for me, it spoiled the whole experience...