The Innkeepers

source: The Innkeepers

This movie is less scary than an episode of Scooby Doo. The story is very boring. The characters are bland. The acting is wooden. There is no build-up of tension. It's very hard to believe that the story fails so completely to be scary. Old buildings by their very nature are creepy, but this hotel is less creepy than the office I work in. The dialogue isn't engaging in the least and since the movie is more dialogue than action, that's a big problem. All the "scares" are stuffed into the last few minutes of the movie. If I hadn't seen the trailer I would have thought there was no ghost in this movie, but it did pop up at the last second. Basically, if you've seen the trailer, you don't need to see the movie.

I'm a little ambivalent about The Innkeepers, much as I was about Ti West's previous opus, The House of the Devil. Both films put nary a foot wrong on atmospheric or technical levels, both are backed up by solid little stories, yet for all their little pleasures neither really wowed me, as if not all their elements gelled, or perhaps they didn't go far enough. The Innkeepers has the advantage of simpler and far more forthcoming entertainment, making it an overall pleasurable ride, one that I may even revisit and enjoy more. Its a character rather than scare driven affair, focusing on Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy), last staff of the going out of business Yankee Pedlar inn, and later Leeanne Reece Jones (Kelly McGillis), ageing actress turned psychic. With adept performances from the three leads the characters portray a spectrum of vulnerable humanity, Claire quirky and likable, but asthmatic and somewhat mindful of her lack of direction, Luke a droll slacker slowly reaching that point where falls life and the weight of what could have been and Leeanne fully self aware but only a little bitter, of the three the most in possession of herself. It being the last night of the hotel customers are scarce so Claire and Luke set out to investigate the inn's alleged ghost, a girl who committed suicide whose body was hidden in the basement to avoid scandal. At first the tone is light, the characters trade off one another, there are jump scares played for light humour and the audience gets to be a part of the films little world. Later on though the laughs are dropped, as Claire and Luke get serious in their investigation and things get rather spooky, leading to a nicely jolting conclusion. Everything works here, yet it didn't really stir me until the final scenes. Its not the measured pace, not gripes with the plotting (which maintains plenty of pleasing ambiguity), more I guess the issue of things not really gelling together. The film is intentionally episodic, broken into three chapters and there isn't much flow between them other than the flow of plot. So the inspired humour, a sort of light and likable slacker vibe with several true to life moments, and the horror, mostly swift creepy jolts and some brooding atmosphere, never really feed each other in a manner fit to hold the film together and make it really effective, the two veins subvert each other quite nicely just not in a manner that works so well in the moment of the film itself. Still, I can see people liking this one a lot and its done pretty nicely on the critical circuit so I may be in a minority. Definitely check it out for yourself say I, its worth experiencing for yourself.

Let me start by saying this movie isn't for everyone and not because some people are idiots - just different sensibilities. That's cool. But I do; however, don't believe it deserves the score it has - esp with all the terrible horror movies pumped out yearly. This one should get some credit. It's a subtle horror moving that builds great tension and has some good scares. ::SPOILERS:: The end was a bit open ended, but I don't mind that. Movies that keep the wheels in my head turning after the credits role are some of my faves. As far as "getting it" I found that the characters spelled it out during the movie. The hotel is closing, Clair believes that Luke has seen the ghost and she's becoming increasingly desperate to see something supernatural before she loses her chance. Luke explains that she needs to be extremely careful when dealing with ghost/spirit hunting or trying to make contact because you have to be in the right state of mind otherwise you can start seeing things and will spiral out of control. As the movie goes on she begins to believe there are things happening around her, mysterious noises, etc. Every time she investigates and it's nothing she gets a HUGE scare and has to take a hit off her inhaler. During Claire's meeting with Lee she keeps asking if the spirit there is O'Malley, even after Lee tells her NO she still keeps speaking to O'Malley and completely disregards Lee's warning to her. "It was an accident/Stay out of the basement". Claire applies this to O'Malley even though it was a warning about/for her. So Claire is completely wrapped up in believing O'Malley is there and making contact with her. The point that pushes her over mentally is seeing the old man in the tub. This is the point where she spirals out of control. She's seeing things, shes ends up in the basement (where she inadvertently locked herself in previously )where she is completely terrified without her inhaler after her tumble down the stairs. Asthma attack = death. Have it figured out? Thought so, but ah so... slamming door scene in the end. Was she seeing things or is there something supernatural happening.. hmm. Maybe the whole O'Malley thing was just a story but Claire's death there ends up being the real ghost at the hotel after all the rumors. THAT is what I liked about this movie. It keeps you thinking and second guessing yourself. It's a ghost story. Are there ghosts - do you believe. Because that's the difference between being scared or not. Is it real or fake? I wasn't bothered that I didn't' get a definitive answer - although a door slamming shut in an empty hotel does suggest something strange - I can't say for sure. In the end I found the movie to be spooky, the imagery great, the acting done very well and it left me thinking. Even a little creeped out to walk down the dark hallway in my very old house at night. I enjoy a good ghost story and I believe this delivered. Can't wait to see what the director does next!

This was on Comcast "On Demand" for $9.99 so we presumed it had to be something fairly good. This was a total bore. We waited and waited wondering why are we still watching this. OK, we should have checked reviews but on this site some one has put its rating up to 7 out of 10 -- unbelievable! The "terror" never happens unless you find sudden appearances terrifying. The appearances are ridiculous. The interaction between the leading characters is clumsy and embarrassing to watch.

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.

There are a lot of people complaining that it's a slow burner and yes it is. That's the whole point. The story builds upon the characters directly involved and also the person who was murdered in the hotel. It could of perhaps started a little earlier with the creepy stuff, but if done too soon, it would have ruined the film. If you're a fan of lots of blood and guts with an axe wielding maniac killing 50 people throughout the film, this probably isn't for you. Some of the scariest parts of this film is when you don't actually see anything. This film is about build-up, tension and suspense, which it does to perfection.

What a pile of rubbish - I'm pretty easy to please in regards to films and I love most films but was highly disappointed with this film! The trailer makes it so exciting but after waiting over an hour for something good to happen - and still nothing came.....As for the ending - That doesn't even deserve a rating! very disappointed! As for the characters...yet again another disappointment. The chick seems like she high on drugs all the time and the dude can not act for sin! When the hell will a decent horror surface.. The only thing good about the movie was the setting...it has such potential to be a excellent horror but has been let down by the production and the characters.

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 a film its probably better not to go heavily into detail on. What I can state is The Innkeepers features heavy character focus. Therefore, while the deliberate pacing of the film means it takes sometime before the supernatural parts of the story take off, it doesn't leave the audience waiting, as the characters are both interesting and at times amusing. Naturally the ghost story aspects get going the movie relies primarily on atmosphere, which it achieves effectively. You're never sure exactly what you should expect with The Innkeepers but this movie is somewhat scary and at times inventive. I expect re-watching it would be interesting as there's probably many details that can easily go unnoticed in the first viewing.