"Small Talk"

4 August 2024

1 min 33s

Holiday sin.

This is surely everyone's worst vacation nightmare... you arrive at your holiday destination, admire the beautiful house where you will be staying, only to discover that a very strange man is lying in wait for you. Combining the tropes of horror and melodrama, director Miles Jay perfectly captures the dread of this scenario.

Arguably, this highlights a difficulty which is best remedied by booking a hotel rather than any of the various services which bring you to someone else's house, but the differentiation is nonetheless convincing, and manages to suggest that you have a better chance of avoiding this fate if you opt for VRBO as against its most famous competitor.

The 90" canvas enables director Jay to make the most of his considerable narrative skills, establishing a back story for the couple not so much with what they say as they're gathering their stuff out of the car, as the way they say it. It's subtly established that this is a couple hoping to use this trip to remedy tensions in their relationship, meaning the 'surprise' inside the house all the more unwelcome.

The casting is perfect. The house owner is exactly the right kind of creepy... any creepier and he'd be too much, and he discreetly conveys a level of loneliness which makes it harder for the couple to simply insist that he leave, meaning the only option is passive-aggression.

VRBO has a tiny market share compared with Airbnb, and they need advertising with a bold proposition to hold their own, and expand their appeal... and this idea feels exactly right for them.

USA

Holiday Companies