The Vault (3/5)

The Vault is very much a classic horror movie. If you love the gore and creepiness of horror, you should be entertained by this movie.

Even though The Vault is very much a horror movie, it doesn’t quite get all my juices flowing. So to speak. There’s something a bit off and it’s probably the fact that you can guess the plot twists.

Also, don’t be fooled by the poster; James Franco isn’t a big part of the movie. Or rather, he’s very instrumental in the story but doesn’t have much screentime.

Instead, The Vault is very much about sisters Vee (Taryn Manning) and Leah (Francesca Eastwood). They’re robbing a bank to help their brother Michael (Scott Haze).

Exactly why do they need to rob a bank in order to help him? Well, that’s not really something the movie spends much time covering. To me, this is a damn shame. The main problem for me is the fact that I don’t really care about any of the characters either way.

All the horror works

While I may not care about the characters in The Vault, I do care about the horror of it all. And it’s clear that all the efforts of the filmmakers are focused on the horror elements. All the stops are being pulled out.

That’s why I think you can enjoy this movie if you love horror. That may be the only thing you like about this movie.

Forget about the story (which doesn’t really matter anyway) and focus on guessing the plot (shouldn’t be too difficult) and just enjoy the gore of it all. Then you should be entertained and feel like your time was well spent with The Vault.

Interesting supporting characters

Usually, I think Taryn Manning works perfectly in horror and thriller movies. And it’s not that she’s bad in this one. She’s doing the best she can with a desperately boring (and extremely one-dimensional) character.

That’s probably why the supporting cast seemed much more interesting. At least they get a bit more backstory and a bit of an understandable edge.

Especially the head bank teller, Susan Cromwell (played by Q’orianka Kilcher), and another teller, Mary (Jill Jane Clements), work perfectly with the story.

Kilcher has an air of confidence that works so well, you can’t help but think this movie would’ve been even more lost without her. And Clements is just so extremely relatable in her portrayal. I’m sure anyone who’s ever worked as a cashier or with customer service will feel for her.

Obvious potential

It’s obvious that The Vault had a lot more potential. The story is a classic horror tale and perfect for a movie. It just seems that an emphasis on weird (and unexplained) sibling drama takes over at most turns.

Dan Bush directed this movie and wrote the script with Conal Byrne. The two have worked together several times in the past. In fact, they have an upcoming movie in post-production now called Dark Red.

Hopefully, the story and characters will be better focused in the future. There’s definite potential for horror greatness with these two, so let’s hope we get it.

The Vault was released on Netflix in the US on January 1, 2018.
You can also watch it on Netflix in Canada, Scandinavia, and a few other countries.