The Innkeepers: 01 of 31 Horror Films I Have Never Seen!

Last year I made an attempt at a personal challenge to watch 31 Horror films that I had never seen before.  Due to my work schedule and my personal life being in a state of turmoil I was unable to complete this challenge so this year I’m taking the plunge once again with the intention of completing it come hell or high water.

For film number one, I settled on Ti West’s The Innkeepers.  The film is a loving homage to the Haunted House Ghost Story, while simultaneously being a bit of a critique on the millennial generation.  The main characters, Claire and Luke, are spending the last weekend at work before the Yankee Peddler Inn will close its doors once and for all.  Luke is really more of the supporting character of the story as the central focus is Claire, an early 20s college dropout who has no idea what she wants out of life.  Sara Paxton plays Claire with sort of manic energy that certainly harkens to a younger generation which is contrasted nicely by Pat Healy’s dead pan malaise.

West throws us into the story with very little exposition other than a few remarks that ultimately lead us to our central focus, the search for proof that a spirit is haunting the Inn.  From there the story unfolds in a fashion that was a bit too typical for my tastes.  The film is very well shot, very well lit, very well edited, and even very well scored, but West spends too much time trying to make the world real before getting to the juicy bits. 

Ultimately I found it rather tedious and not nearly as arresting as his previous film, House of the Devil.  I couldn’t relate with Claire and Luke, because I have nothing in common with them.  Overall, I think West, who wrote/directed/edited the film, could have gotten to the actual conflict in the story much faster than he did.  He opted for a slow burn type of story, but the climax fell short.  Still there were a few enjoyable jumpy moments, great make up, and Kelly McGillis was perfectly cast as a retired actor turned spiritual guru.

For all its short comings, I still enjoyed the film more than found footage ghost films like the Paranormal Activity series, a series which needs to die horribly in a fire.  West does a good job setting up the atmosphere, but all the atmosphere in the world doesn’t quite save this film from the “meh” factor.

I gave it 3 out of 5 Skulls.