Even though I enjoy all different sorts of movies, I have always had a specific interest in the horror genre. Some of my best movie-going experiences have been tied to horror films, including those that got my interested in film to begin with. With the advent of the modern "torture porn" trend at the turn of the millennium, traditional atmospheric horror started to fall by the wayside. Only in recent years has this classic approach to the genre seen a reemergence. One notable directory trying desperately to resuscitate old-school horror is Ti West.
West's 2009 80's throwback The House of the Devil hit all the right notes with me. It was immensely atmospheric and took its time with a slow, deliberate pacing leading up to an explosive and insane climax. In his follow-up The Innkeepers, West attempts to do exactly the same.
The Innkeepers follows two clerks working dead-end jobs at a failing New England inn dubbed "The Yankee Pedlar". In the final week before it closes its doors for good, Claire (Sara Paxton) struggles to keep herself entertained. When she discovers that her coworker Luke (Pat Healy) has been keeping a blog about the supposed haunting of the inn by a suicidal bride, the two of them decide to go ghost hunting to put the myth to rest once and for all.
It is extremely evident that West intends to duplicate the success of The House of the Devil by employing similar tactics with this story. Much like his last film, The Innkeepers is also a slow burn of a movie. A third of the movie elapses before Claire even learns of the inn's past and almost another third before the first genuine scare. I'd be the first to admit that my attention span isn't quite what it should be, but this is no excuse for how absolutely boring the film is. The only reason this method of building suspense worked so well before was because of the occasional payoff along the way. This movie has no payoff whatsoever, including a climactic "chase" through the basement of the inn at the end of the film that I still can't quite figure out what was happening. It's a complete mess.
In an attempt to beef up the bare-bones main plot, a couple specks of subplot are introduced that never really come to matter at all. Throughout the film Claire mopes around and laments not doing anything significant with her 20-something years of life. This is kind of brought into play when a TV star turned spiritual medium (Kelly McGillis of Top Gun fame) checks in for a few days. Ultimately she brings nothing else to the film besides a few cryptic messages and a bit of foreshadowing. Such a waste of a character.
If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to say something I liked, I would have to praise Pat Healy. His character is the only one in the film to go through some sort of change between the beginning and the end. He plays the part of Luke as a good-for-little slacker that you might actually find working at a place like the Yankee Pedlar. It's just a shame that his character disappears for a good part of the movie, and when he is around he's pushed to the background.
All in all, I was extremely disappointed by the film. I was entirely prepared to make another long and suspense-filled journey with these characters or at the very least see an adequate ghost story, but what I got was a bunch of setup with no satisfying reward or outcome. If this is an indication of the state of the genre, Ti West might have already exhausted all there is to do with the resurrection of classic horror.
4/10
West's 2009 80's throwback The House of the Devil hit all the right notes with me. It was immensely atmospheric and took its time with a slow, deliberate pacing leading up to an explosive and insane climax. In his follow-up The Innkeepers, West attempts to do exactly the same.
The Innkeepers follows two clerks working dead-end jobs at a failing New England inn dubbed "The Yankee Pedlar". In the final week before it closes its doors for good, Claire (Sara Paxton) struggles to keep herself entertained. When she discovers that her coworker Luke (Pat Healy) has been keeping a blog about the supposed haunting of the inn by a suicidal bride, the two of them decide to go ghost hunting to put the myth to rest once and for all.
In an attempt to beef up the bare-bones main plot, a couple specks of subplot are introduced that never really come to matter at all. Throughout the film Claire mopes around and laments not doing anything significant with her 20-something years of life. This is kind of brought into play when a TV star turned spiritual medium (Kelly McGillis of Top Gun fame) checks in for a few days. Ultimately she brings nothing else to the film besides a few cryptic messages and a bit of foreshadowing. Such a waste of a character.
If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to say something I liked, I would have to praise Pat Healy. His character is the only one in the film to go through some sort of change between the beginning and the end. He plays the part of Luke as a good-for-little slacker that you might actually find working at a place like the Yankee Pedlar. It's just a shame that his character disappears for a good part of the movie, and when he is around he's pushed to the background.
All in all, I was extremely disappointed by the film. I was entirely prepared to make another long and suspense-filled journey with these characters or at the very least see an adequate ghost story, but what I got was a bunch of setup with no satisfying reward or outcome. If this is an indication of the state of the genre, Ti West might have already exhausted all there is to do with the resurrection of classic horror.
4/10
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