Ti West's new horror flick offers up some fun, throwback mood and some legitimate scares (not to mention a supporting turn from Kelly McGillis!), but doesn't completely deliver the goods...
MPI / 101 Minutes / 2011 / Rated R / Street Date: April 24, 2012
The Innkeepers is constructed as a decidedly old-fashioned horror movie, and this syntax is nobly appreciated. As a viewer who grew up with the simmering suspense of horror flicks like The Changeling or An American Werewolf in London, a return to that kind of slow-paced, big build-up cinematic storytelling made the first half-hour of The Innkeepers a hushed, nostalgic surprise.
It's ironic, however, that - like so many horror movies from the late 70s and early 80s - The Innkeepers completely falls off the rails as it enters its second half. Director Ti West is absolutely able to insert legitimate scares into his final act here, but whatever potential the movie demonstrates in its opening moments, it turns its back on as it pounds toward its clumsy climax. Basically, The Innkeepers has the look, the feel, and the mood, but not the narrative delivery.
The film takes place on the last weekend the (allegedly) haunted Yankee Pedlar inn is in business, and the only two poor souls still working there - Luke (Pat Healy) and Claire (Sara Paxton) - don't exactly know how to deal with it. Neither has ideas about what to do with their lives once their menial gigs at the Yankee Pedlar are up, and while the appearance of a TV psychic (Kelly McGillis) as one of the inn's final guests allow for the weekend to take on a sort of importance and finality, their ennui absolutely trumps any other element of their lives. This all changes, of course, when ghosts are awakened and folks who really shouldn't be checking in start checking in, and the you-know-what hits the fan.
Luke and Claire's awkward, almost goofy rapport in The Innkeepers is one of the movie's most valuable assets - it's part of what gives the movie such a lived-in charm. But about halfway through, the ghoulies from beyond the grave that threaten the Yankee Pedlar take center stage, and it simply doesn't manifest the same intensity or nuance. As a genre flick, The Innkeepers hits all the right notes, but after a setup that has hints of greatness to it, it ends up being just another scary movie. Watchable? Sure. Anything to write home about? Nah...
