A MOVIE A DAY CHALLENGE #005: The Innkeepers (2011)

The Innkeepers (2011)
Director: Ti West
Stars: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy and Kelly McGillis

Director Ti West had a lot to live up to after his horror throwback “House of the Devil.” Aesthetically speaking House of the Devil nailed the earlier decade look down to a tee. But the movie had so much more going for it. A real methodical pace that built up tension and an eerie atmosphere made the movie one of the best genre pieces released that year.

I was hoping for some of the same great qualities in “The Innkeepers,” I wasn’t disappointed.

On the eve of the closing of the historical “Yankee Peddler” inn, two lonely hotel staff members try to find evidence of paranormal happenings in the hotel. As a handful of guest check in and out, throughout the long weekend increasingly spooky stuff starts to happen. Whether it’s real or in the minds of the hotel staff is a mystery in its self.

Sara Paxton plays Claire, a young collage age woman who plays one of two employees at the Yankee Peddler Inn. She does a great job playing her role as a slacker who wants to believe but takes everything as somewhat as a joke. That it is until things start happening and she’s the only one to witness them. In an excellent choice in casting Pat Healy plays Luke, the other employee who has a bit of a crush on Claire and claims to have had paranormal experiences in the hotel

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I have to admit after watching the trailer about a month before its release I really wasn’t that impressed. After watching the film, it makes a lot of sense. This isn’t really a movie that has “gotcha” scare moments.

It’s a scary movie, but the fright it built up upon by somewhat of a slower story. Some complained the payoff wasn’t what they were expecting. With thoughts of “Paranormal Activity” in their head as well as other recent ghost movies that really pack a wallop of an ending.

Even with that being the case The Innkeepers does a great at being what it set out to be, a well-crafted and acted ghost story.