Another oldie from the IPC golden year of 2012 : ) Jut look at all of those quotation marks…
I have been waiting for this movie to be released for a year or so and Ti West’s The Innkeepers is finally out. I have seen a couple of his movies, one I really, really liked – The House of the Devil, the other is Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever which I didn’t care too much for, but I don’t think it’s West’s fault (according to what you can find about it out there). With regards to HOTD, there are two differing sides to that movie, one is the “I loved the slow, tension building, nothing in your face or cats in the cupboard gimmicks and the old school feel”, then there’s the “this movie had no action and is the worst movie ever made” side of the house. Obviously I am one of the former – and all that is written because that’s what you need to expect with this “slow, tension building, no cats in the cupboard, no loud noisy gimmicks” ghost story about two clerks and a couple of guests in a haunted hotel. I want to say right now that I loved Sara Paxton as the lead, but I do need to counter that with: the only other person to share significant face time is Pat Healy, who was kind of irritating after about 30 minutes of him. To note, we also get 80’s beauty Kelly McGillis in the supporting role as an aged actress who now dabbles in the spirit world. There it is – I really liked this, but there’s not much action until the last twenty minutes or so, it’s all in the characters and the build up. There’s not much blood, no gore, no make-you-jump sound effects, so if you are looking to get scared shitless, that probably won’t happen here.
Paxton plays Claire and Healy = Luke, the last two employees of the “Inn”: The Yankee Pedlar (that’s how it is spelled) established 1891. They are working the last weekend it will ever be opened and, sure enough, it’s haunted by the restless ghost of Madeline O’Malley, who committed suicide there over 100 years ago. Since this is the last few days ever for the Pedlar to be open, there’s not much of a crowd and the two clerks hope to catch some paranormal activity on their recording device before the opportunity is gone forever. There’s really not a lot to describe here as the first 40 minutes are character build up that looks pretty artsy to me, wicked camera angles, slow zooms, wide pans, an awesome set, things that go bump in the night. The next 50 minutes provide any and all of the action, complete with a grizzled, grizzled, creepy old man, what I thought was a pretty intense scene down there in the basement and then the big payoff – the final twenty minutes.
I liked this – and I already want to watch it again. Like I wrote up there, this isn’t for everyone and some people could be pretty disappointed. If you are a fan of The House of the Devil – this is right up your alley. If you hated that movie, then you should save your money. It’s funny, I had to go to IMDB to get the name of the ghost (O’Malley) and the reviews are either completely scathing “WORST MOVIE EVER!!!!” “A MISERABLE WASTE OF MY TIME!!!!” “WALKED OUT!!!” or “A Work of art!” “West does it again!” “A Film for true horror fans”.
HA HA – I liked it.
Not a bad film. I enjoyed it up until the end where the twist didn’t really cut it. Nice write-up mucker! 🙂
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Thanks, Mucker!! I can agree with that – the twist was a little *meh* but it didn’t ruin it for me…
Have a good weekend my Scottish friend!!
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Oh – you HAVE watched this. I’m in the middle of it now & suddenly thought I’d check to see if you’d seen it as you’re horror guy. Four top hats! I’ll keep watching then come back & read this later. 🙂
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I loved it! Kind of slow but sometimes slow (for me) is ok if done right… Hope you like it!!
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Okay – read your review. We agree on this one. I liked it. 🙂 Not completely sure why! Can definitely see why some people hate it but I like these kind of slow, haunted house type of movies. It wasn’t GREAT but it was a decent watch for its genre. I thought the girl in it was probably the best thing about it – so sweet & kind of dorky.
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Yep!! It’s not mind blowing but there’s just something GOOD about it – have you seen House of the Devil yet??
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No! Because I’d never heard of that one before. Is it good??
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Doesn’t sound terrible. 🙂
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Not at all!
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eewww…I didn’t care for this one. It was too slow and didn’t build for me. It was like watching a woman do the laundry, read emails on her laptop, order dinner…wait, all these things did happen in the film.
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A LITERAL extravaganza of excitement!!
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Really enjoyable film — not quite as good as House of the Devil, but still very watchable!
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I agree completely!
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I keep meaning to get to this. Maybe someday…
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JJB,
I think it’s worth it…
#lowfives
SSC
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Great read Eric. This sounds like one to look out for. Its trippy to read your older writing mate, so different! 🙂
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LOL – back when I was trying to be polite and shit!
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I liked this one, too. The girl is adorable.
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Excellent!
*high fives*
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