The Innkeepers
Cloudy with a chance of evil spirits
It's my favorite
month of the year, October. The days are getting shorter, the weather
is cooler, the leaves are changing, pumpkin pie is plentiful, and
horror rules. It's the time of ghouls, monsters, and especially ghost
stories. What is it about a ghost story that scares us so much? Is it
a fear of the unknown? Perhaps a secret desire of an afterlife? A
love of sheets with holes in them? Whatever the reason, ghost stories
are as old as time, being passed down from generation to generation.
There are countless ghost tours, haunted hayrides and other
attractions for fans of horror and the paranormal. The United States
has no shortage of haunted places, be it houses, cemeteries, or in
the case of today's movie, a hotel.
The Innkeepers is a
2001 ghost-centric horror movie written and directed by Ti West (The
House Of The Devil, V/H/S). The movie stars Sara Paxton (Shark Night,
Superhero Movie) as Claire, an employee at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, a
formerly grand hotel that is now in its final week of operation. The
only other employee is Luke (Pat Healy, Six Feet Under, Ghost World)
who created a website about the supposed paranormal events that take
place in the hotel. Both are amateur ghost hunters trying to find the
spirit of Madeline O'Malley, a bride from the 1800's who hanged
herself in the hotel after her husband left her on their honeymoon.
It was also rumored that her body was hidden in the basement by the
hotel owners at the time. The hotel receives a new guest, former
actress Leanne Rease-Jones (Kelly McGillis, Top Gun, Witness) who
claims to be in town for an actor's convention. That night, Claire
uses Luke's ghost-hunting equipment to record various strange sounds
in the hotel. She picks up the sound of faint voices and music and
even sees the piano playing by itself. She runs into Leanne and
explains what she heard. Leanne reveals that she is actually a medium
and is in town to meet with other psychics. She also warns Claire to
stay away from the basement. The next morning, Claire awakens to see
an apparition of Madeline O'Malley sitting in her bed. Later that
day, a strange old man asks to check into a honeymoon suite on the
third floor, even though it has already been stripped of furniture.
Luke and Claire decide to investigate the basement where Madeline's
body is supposedly buried, ignoring Leanne's warning. Luke freaks out
and flees, leaving Claire alone in the hotel. Panicked, Claire wakes
Leanne who goes down into the basement to contact the spirit. She
tells Claire that she is in great danger and must leave the hotel
now. How is the old man connected to the events in the hotel and will
Claire survive?
Did you have that dream about being Reese Witherspoon again, honey?
Many people say
that writer/director Ti West is the new master of the “slow burn”
in horror. I think it's more accurate to say that Ti West is the mast
of the 10 minute horror movie. Of course, that's a problem when the
movie is over 100 minutes long. Much like his other movie “The House Of The Devil” the majority of The Innkeepers teases the
horror out almost to the point where he risks the audience leaving
before things happen. Besides the one scene where the ghost appears
in Claire's bed, almost nothing of importance happens until the final
twenty minutes. There are a few creepy scenes here and there when
Claire is listening to the ghost-hunting machine, but it's not
heavy-duty horror. It's like West enjoys forcing the audience to sit
through most of his movies bored in hopes of getting a few big scares
in at the end. Unfortunately, the scares at the end of The Innkeepers
weren't particularly frightening. The final events in The House Of
The Devil was far more unsettling than The Innkeepers. I actually had
a countdown during this movie to whens something was going to happen.
“There's an hour left, something better happen. There's 45 minutes
left, something better happen. There's 30 minutes left, something
better happen.” Forcing your audience to be bored for most of the
movie just to have a “thrilling” ending is never a good idea. It
makes the movie feel like a chore instead of a form of entertainment.
That being said,
everything else in the movie is very good. The acting is solid with
it's small, but competent cast. The conversations feel very fluid and
natural, though they're not always pertinent to the story itself. It
sometimes feels as if West is trying to channel his inner Quentin
Tarantino, having his characters have full conversations and witty
rapport rather than advancing the story. Most of the movie comes off
almost as a comedy between Luke's dorkish slackerism and Claire's
awkwardness and wacky Jim Carrey-style flailing. Sara Paxton does a
fine job, thanks in part to her gigantic eyes conveying fear, and
Pat Healy was a good foil for her. Ti West is unquestionably a good
director as he has an eye for great shots, both close up and far
away. There is good character development throughout, almost too much
to be honest. There is an actual Yankee Pedlar Inn in Torrington,
Connecticut and parts of the movie were shot there. I felt that that
was a nice touch, going above and beyond what was needed to give the
movie an authentic feel.
This movie is authentic, right down to the boredom we share with the characters
The Innkeepers is
essentially two movies: The first is a cutesy and occasionally funny
exploration into a few oddball characters. The second is an average
ghost-tale with a few jumps and decent makeup. The main problem is
that this “second” movie is about twenty minutes long and if
you're going into this movie hoping for horror, you'll be sorely
disappointed. The film moves at a snail's pace and will truly try the
patience of people looking to be scared. It's not that the movie is
bad, because it really isn't, it's just not what it promises to be.
If you're thinking of seeing The Innkeepers, you should, because
thanks to good acting and direction, the non-horror parts are well
done. It's the story itself that is the true problem as nothing of
particular interest occurs until the very end. If you're looking for
scares, you can probably skip the first hour of the movie. That's
never a good thing to say in a horror movie.
4.5/10
