It’s only as the movie lumbers into its progressively uninteresting midsection that one’s involvement begins to flag, as West attempts to pad out the film’s running time by offering up one lackluster sequence after another – with the pronounced emphasis on Claire’s exploration of the hotel lending the proceedings a palpable spinning-its-wheels sort of quality. The almost excessive deliberateness with which the sparse narrative unfolds is, as a result, initially not too problematic, with the periodic inclusion of distinctly suspenseful interludes – eg Claire hears a piano being played during one of her late-night jaunts – going a long way towards alleviating the decidedly uneventful atmosphere. It’s an unusual choice that admittedly does work better than one might’ve anticipated, and there’s little doubt that the immensely likeable nature of the two central characters is heightened by Healy and Paxton’s engaging, personable work – with, in particular, Paxton’s impressively captivating performance standing as a highlight within the proceedings. It’s interesting to note that, despite the horror-centric bent of the premise, The Innkeepers initially comes off as a subdued (and fairly typical) indie comedy/drama, as filmmaker Ti West generally emphasizes the off-kilter banter between (and quirk-filled exploits of) the protagonists. Throw in a setting that’s not particularly grand or isolated, and you have something which feels almost like real life.The Innkeepers follows slackers Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) as they prepare to spend their final weekend working at a low-rent hotel, with Luke’s insistence that a ghost roams the halls eventually (and inevitably) prompting Claire to launch an investigation of her own. We see a pair of co-workers chasing something which may or may not exist, and their successes, when they have them, are minor. It feels almost like a mockumentary, and it does strive for a sort of realistic ghost story. So when there isn’t, we let out a breath of relief.īut if nothing has happened so far to make me really believe that Claire would hear something on that recording, why should I be forced to sit through a long, boring scene of her doing nothing? Especially when there’s no payoff.
We get nervous because maybe just maybe there could have been something on the other side. A character slowly creeps towards a closed room, pulls open the door, and finds it empty.
Now, the old ‘build up and let down’ is a staple of the horror genre. And you can imagine how this is problem in a film that’s an hour and 40 minutes long.Īnd the empty corridors continue. There is quite a lot of talking about the ghost. And that’s where The Innkeepers begins to fall apart. Other major characters include Claire’s co-worker Luke (Pat Healy) and a former television actress turned psychic healer (Kelly McGillis).īoth Claire and Luke are amateur paranormal investigators who spend much of the film either talking about or hunting for the ghost of Madeline O’Malley, a scorned bride who, according to legend, hanged herself in the building over a century ago. The Innkeepers, directed by Ti West, (whom horror fans may know for films like The Roost and The House of the Devil) stars Sara Paxton ( The Last House on the Left) as Claire, a young employee at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, a historic hotel about to close its doors for good. And while it never really tries to be The Shining, it unfortunately never quite achieves the tension or the lasting impact of Kubrick’s film either. I’m a talking about a hotel-the setting of today’s Netflix Horror Find. Or maybe you get stuck waiting behind them while they fill up their ice buckets. Maybe you hear them shuffling about above you or banging on the walls next door. Maybe you catch glimpses of them hurrying down a stairwell or disappearing into a doorway. And, of course, the distinct awareness that you’re not alone. Disembodied voices floating through the empty hallways at night. Rows of identical doors shut tight to the outside world.
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