Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Jan 4, 2012 19:20:24 GMT -5
Plot:Concerns the last two staffers of a haunted hotel that's going out of business. The Yankee Pedlar Hotel is about to close its doors for good. The last remaining clerks, Claire (Sara Paxton), a twenty something that has come to terms with her lot in life, and Luke (Pat Healy), a computer-smart loner, are convinced that the hotel is haunted and are determined to prove it. As time ticks down to the final days of operation, mysterious guests check in including Leanne Rease-Jones (Kelly McGillis), a former TV actress turned psychic, and an old man insistent on staying in room 353. As several strange occurrences begin to add up, both Claire and Luke must make the crucial decision on what to believe and what not to believe.
Cast:
Sara Paxton
Pat Healy
Kelly McGillis
George Riddle
My Thoughts:Odd little spectre movie.
Review:"The Innkeepers" has been a greatly hyped supernatural horror film from filmmaker Ti West. West, whos genre offerings have included "The Roost", and "Cabin Fever 2" (although Fever 2 was really taken out of his hands by Lionsgate near the end). Is finally back with an original picture.
That stars Sara Paxton as Claire. An employee at the Yankee Pedlar hotel. She tends the desk with her co-worker Luke (Healy). Both are just about done with their tenure there. As the hotel is about to close in a few days. But before they split, Claire would like to get to the bottom of the Madeline O'Malley mystery. A woman who died in the hotel many years ago.
This coincides with Luke's newfound financial interest in EVP's and Ghost Hunting. The two of them decide to join forces to solve this mystery by acquiring EVP's around the hotel's various rooms. Since they pretty much have the place to themselves beyond two guests. But their curiosity just might get them more than they bargained for. The movies set up is quite nice and intriguing. It sets up for a terrific, spooky ghost tale. The problem comes when it's time to sort everything out.
In the terms of well-placed scares. Suspense, and the like. That's when things get complicated. And so does this movie. It gets very choppy in fact. And when the going gets tough, it cannot handle the pressure. So it cracks. Little by little as it goes along. Look, I like spooky ghost/spectre/spirit movies as much as the next genre fan. But you have to give the audience and the viewer more than just "BOO!" moments.
And random scenes of a rotted corpse appearing in a bed or someones closet. These parlor tricks have been done to death. In mainstream theatrical, and straight to dvd indie films. I get tired of it quickly. Everyone does. And this movie has a lot of scenes with no payoff. These tease one, but never deliver. Nor does it have many interesting characters. Every good supernatural horror film needs interesting character.
Atleast a few. This movie has one, in Healy the clerk guy at the hotel. Paxton's Claire just comes off as charming, peppy, and at times adorably naive. Not a character who's hard to root for. But at the same time, how can you root for her if she's never in any real danger? Claire, the heroine/screamer of the movie...is put into grave danger maybe 2 times (barely), before the movies conclusion. And then there's Kelly McGillises character Leanne Rease-Jones.
A TV actress who is incorporated into the movie for the purpose of thickening, and enhancing the mystery elements. But this picture is also very problematic and sporadic. The climax finally picks up the action to its proper pace. A pace which it should've jumped in and out of from time to time throughout the full hour and 41. Instead, this picture moves too slowly to ever really get scary when and where it needs to. Also, I have to admit that I am a bit spoiled by the whole EVP (Eelectronic Voice Phenomena) set up.
I've been checking out some of these so called "Ghost Hunter" shows over the past few months. So I know the set up of when two people enter a room. And then proclaim they're trying to contact the spirit of "someone". And then follow that up with "give us a sign that you're here". Or something along those lines. Then...we wait for something creepy to happen. A lound bang, pop, or scratching sound.
"The Innkeepers" does the same thing. And I just didn't buy into it as a viewer. Mostly because the whole "schtick" isn't new to me. However, I always felt while watching "The Innkeepers" that the movie wanted to take the scary mystery deeper, darker, and more twisted than it did. But something was holding it back. Maybe it was the writers wish to emphasize more what "might be", in the room. Or in the hotel.
Rather than what is. But strangely enough, I never could hate this movie. It wasn't obnoxious, lazy, or piss poor assembled. It just seemed to have good ideas that never panned out. And Paxton as the charming Claire is hard not to like. Her character is more curious, and yet at the same time...trying to reach some sort of optimism in her friend/co-worker Luke. So she as a character has a lot more going on than just being the idiot girl who wants to screw around with the dead.
The conclusion of "The Innkeepers" is intriguing, but again...it poses a lot of questions. And hardly answers many if any at all. In fact, the conclusion is too shift and discombobulated to be totally, 100% effective. But it has a bright spot here or there. But by the end, you wish the movie had done so many more things better. Better scares, better suspense sequences. And incorporating McGillises character into the thick of things early and often. Instead, "The Innkeepers" winds up being quite the missed opportunity to be something good and intriguing.
Positives:Paxton gives a good performance. Healy isn't too shabby either. The flick has some good ideas. Just never fleshes them out well enough to work.
Negatives:Too many missed opportunities with the scares, attempts of creating suspense, and a strong story. The picture just needed to rework some things for feature purposes. But it didn't. So it only half maxed out its effort.
Overall:Two and a half stars out of four.