The Innkeepers

I don't usually write reviews but after watching this film and then looking at the latest reviews posted on here i felt compelled to give this a serious review.

If you like Slasher movies where girls who fall down a lot are being chased by a maniac with a weapon. THIS FILM IS NOT FOR YOU.

If you like Zombie movies with lots of blood and gore. THIS FILM IS NOT FOR YOU.

If you've got the attention span of a goldfish and like to chat to your mates all the way through a movie. (Guess What).

Right now the rantings out the way.

If you like sitting in a dark cinema/room, late at night with no distractions and you like ghost stories, then watch this film. I thought the acting, directing and sound score of this movie all worked really well and that with ghost stories less is more. The odd noise here and there, was that a ghost? or wasn't it? The uncertainty of whether this is real or not is what a ghost story should be all about, yes it's slow but that builds up the atmosphere, which i thought was great and there's some genuinely jumpy parts in the film. Sat here on my own in the dark watching this film had me gripped from start to finish. It's been a long time since i've seen a film this good and i recommend this to anyone who's into ghost stories.

At the soon to be closed Yankee Pedlar Inn, the last remaining employees consisting of college dropout Claire (Sara Paxton) and amateur paranormalist Luke (Pat Healy) while away the hours tending to the limited assortment of guests or hunting for ghost activity to post on Luke's website detailing the Inn's hauntings. With the arrival of former actress turned spiritualist Lee (Kelly McGillis), Claire uses Lee's guidance to push her amateur paranormal hunts to greater extremes.

The Innkeepers is the third major film from writer/director Ti West following his two 2009 films The House of the Devil and Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. Although West had been slated to The Haunting in Georgia (better known as The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia), West dropped out early on presumably to avoid a repeat experience of producer interference that befell Cabin Fever 2. Centered around the real life haunting hot spot the Yankee Pedlar Inn in Torrington, Connecticut the movie was filmed on location with many scenes shot at the actual Inn. Much like West's House of the Devil, The Innkeepers is undeniably influenced by past genre staples, but also like House of the Devil, West showcases a strong understanding of character and atmosphere.

A big part of what appealed to me with The Innkeepers was the performances and dynamics between the two leads Sara Paxton and Pat Healy. Both of them feel like well rounded everyday people who are underemployed and their interactions where they play silly games or pranks reminded me of the interactions seen in Kevin Smith's Clerks where he explored minimum wage tedium. The movie does a solid job of making the Yankee Pedlar a character unto itself and we get some moments between Claire, Luke, and the guests with Kelly McGillis quite good as the obligatory psychic expert who adds some solid humor and humanity to her performance. Much like House of the Devil, The Innkeepers is a slow burn with most of the scares situated in the back half as we build character and atmosphere in the first. Granted there were times where maybe I began to wander a little bit, but there'd always be something around the corner that would pull me back in.

Ti West continues to show his penchant for mining familiar territory and making it feel knew with solid characters and atmosphere. Definitely well worth a viewing.

I began watching this with a a sense of hesitation due to a couple of reviews which were very negative. In a way I can understand why some people might not like this. There are no great action scenes for starters, blood and gore is kept to the bare minimum and a lot of time is spent on building on the characters. If you are going to watch this, you really are just best watching it knowing the bare minimum of the film's storyline... i.e set in a hotel. I would go as far as to say the storyline is obscure and really does not impact on the film at all. For me, the acting was great. After the first half an hour of getting comfortable with the two main characters I found myself getting nervous for them until by the end of the film my heart was beating ten to the dozen, which is the aim of a good horror I feel. I waited for my wife to go to bed before putting this on. I watched it by myself around about midnight with the lighting on low and I have to say that had I got a pillow to hand, I would have been sitting behind it.

After seeing brilliant "House of Devil" I decided to check out other movies of Ti West, who seems to be a very talented and promising film director. Even lots of negative reviews on IMDb did not dissuade me to watch this film. "Innkeeprers" turned out to be a very well made horror film which will be truly appreciated by more mature horror movie fans looking forward for suspense rather than lots of gore and high bodycount. Tension builds up slowly, gradually reaching the climax. Actors are doing a great job and director is a true master of the genre attempting to produce a small masterpiece in a minimalistic premise, only a few actors and almost no special effects. Watch this movie at night, alone, with lights off and I promise you that you are going to be scared.

"The Innkeepers" is … well, first and foremost a very difficult movie to rate and review! I can't deny feeling a bit disappointed after my viewing, but on the other hand I realize I can't possibly claim that this is a bad movie. Quite the contrary, in fact… In a relatively short time, the still very young writer/director Ti West distinguished himself as a respectable narrator with a versatile imagination and a vastly profound knowledge of the genre classics. Horror buffs' expectations naturally increase with every new movie, so after West's creative and playful zombie debut "The Roost" and the captivating throwback to 70's satanic horror "The House of the Devil", a whole lot of people – including myself – were highly anticipating his homage to atmosphere driven haunted house effort. And "The Innkeepers" is largely a praiseworthy accomplishment, for sure. Particularly the tone, atmosphere and the decors/set pieces are downright stupendous and the hotel filming location ideally lends itself for a good old-fashioned and nostalgic ghost tale. Dreamy Claire and sarcastic Luke work as reception clerks at the classy old Yankee Peddlar Inn. The hotel exists since many decades but has filed for bankruptcy now, so during the last boring weekend with minimum capacity, Claire and Luke occupy themselves with trying to find evidence of the hotel's legendary ghost story from the past. Many years ago, the abandoned bride Madeline O'Malley hung herself in the honeymoon suite, and according to the local folklore legends her restless spirits still meanders around the corridors of the Yankee Peddlar Inn. Claire seems the most receptive for the ghostly vibes, even to a point where a spiritual medium strongly advises her to leave the hotel. If it were all exclusively about style & atmosphere, "The Innkeepers" would deserve a solid 10/10 rating. Not since "The Shining" we have seen such an efficient usage of a guest house in horror films and Ti West (very) patiently takes his time to introduce the main characters, as well as to illustrate the background of the hotel and generate the ominous mood-setting. This inevitably results in very long suggestive horror tableaux (slow moving camera through the hallways, doors slowly closing by themselves, etc…) and false scares, but it's all very stylish and eerily crafted. But slow building ups do eventually have to lead somewhere and this is where the film falls short in my humble opinion. The whole denouement is too confusing and leaves too many elements open for personal interpretation. There are some truly powerful "jump" sequences in the last fifteen minutes of the film, but the horror always remains oppressed in favor of the mystery of it all. I wasn't looking for gore and filth, but a bit more excitement would have been welcome. Too bad. Purely talking in terms of "new" atmospheric ghost stories, the James Wan/Leigh Whannell film "Insidious" is slightly more satisfying.