Directed By Ti West
Starring: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis
Synopsis:
During the final days at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, two employees
determined to reveal the hotel's haunted past begin to experience disturbing
events as old guests check in for a stay.
Review:
Ti West continually frustrates me. The Roost was a promising debut
that I enjoyed. The House of the Devil showed more promise, with some tense
scenes, but ultimately over-indulgent with little to get excited about. Cabin
Fever 2 was just horrible and I couldn’t believe that the same director had
made it. When I saw the trailer for The Innkeepers I got excited at the
prospect of a Ti West movie that would finally
showcase his obvious talent as a Director, and it does to a point. Unfortunately
it suffers from the same problem as The House of the Devil; not much actually
happens.
For the most part of the movie we are observers of conversations
between Claire and Luke. They are both likeable characters so I forgave the
jovial tone of the movie expecting it to darken as the film carried on. After
all, the trailer made the film look tense, spooky and thrilling. Sara Paxton is
great as Claire; a slightly kooky, off-kilter character. I found Pat Healy
likeable but his acting seemed forced and I blame the screenplay for making him
little more than a spokesperson at times. Otherwise both Paxton and Healy
worked well off each other during the frequent exchanges that make up most of
the movie. The trouble is for the movie’s duration there’s just too much
of the banter, and no adequate build up of dread. When tension comes it is well
crafted by West, who generates dread and tension during the latter spooky
scenes, but it’s too little, too late. The jump scares do nothing to help a
movie that would have been better developing on the subtler and more sinister
moments. One cheap jump scare spoilt the mood of the beginning, for me.
Kelly McGillis, who I liked in Stake Land
, doesn’t get much to do in this film but she is nonetheless important to the
plot and provides much of the mystery we’re left with after the credits
roll.
Ti West clearly bases some of his camera shots on the Kubrick
perspective shots in The Shining; which is ok, but this film doesn’t come close
to The Shining in its execution. There’s even a cheeky nod to the finale of The
Shining at the end of The Innkeepers that I did find amusing purely down to the
fact I thought West was going to emulate the final denoument of the Kubrick movie.
The make up on the female ghost is effective and advertised on the
poster art. There is always something scary about eyes that have rolled up into
their sockets. I would have been happier if I had seen more of that
spookiness in the rest of the picture.
I don’t mind when a film neglects to answer questions and leaves it
for the audience to work it out for themselves but there has to be an
interesting reason for the audience to want to do that. The Innkeepers doesn’t
provide enough interesting material for us to be bothered by what actually
happened at the end. I get that the movie is an unusual take on the haunted
hotel story but I have to ask “So what?” I don’t watch a romantic comedy to get
my scares so why should I watch a movie touted to be a horror movie for what is
essentially a light-hearted character study. Considering the time taken to get
to know the characters, the tragedy at the end should have been far more
shocking than it was.
Summary:
The Innkeepers will divide movie viewers, into those who slap
themselves on the back saying “I got it, it’s not like any old horror film”,
and others who when they watch a Western want to see a shoot out. This is by no
means a boring movie, I must be clear about that, but it does fall short of
what I felt it could have been, judging from the publicity. I wanted to enjoy it and in some ways I
did. Ti West still has a classic movie within him somewhere, because he sure
can write fleshed out characters and generate tension in scenes. I just hope I
get to see it.
Score: 5/10
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