Luke tries his best to act cool, building a website about their hotel and its resident ghost and telling a vaguely fake-sounding story about how he once encountered the ghost, told over them sitting in an otherwise empty hotel dining room eating lunch. Claire obviously looks up to Luke, who is painfully obviously into Claire despite her ignorance.
The innkeepers movie trailer movie#
The movie spends a lot of time just living with Claire and Luke. The trick of The Innkeepers is the trick of many of the classics of horror: for most of the movie, nothing at all happens. They are spending this last weekend, with the boss out of town and the rooms mostly empty, making one last pass with their recorder to try to catch some evidence of the ghost before the whole place is closed off and torn down. But they’re also deeply interested in ghosts, specifically the ghost that supposedly haunts the Yankee Pedlar of a woman who died there long, long ago. The employees, Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) spend most of their time being shiftless and hanging out together. The Innkeepers is the story of two employees of the Yankee Pedlar Inn, a run down hotel that is seeing its last weekend in business. Would this movie achieve the same magic? Would it remind me what I love about the genre? And better yet, would it be equally genius in how subtle its scares were? So it was with no small mount of hype that I walked into his latest movie, another horror movie by the name of The Innkeepers. And that movie singlehandedly reminded me why I love horror movies. That movie was House of the Devil, from director Ti West. I had more or less given up on being ‘into horror’ until two years ago when I sat down and put on a disc that someone had recommended. Part of it was the rise of ‘extreme’ horror, which is fine enough but never touched me in the same way. Part of it was the rise of the post-modern slasher with Scream, that mocked the thing I grew up loving while still carrying it on with the same basic formula. Part of it was that I saw the seams more, understood the formula. As I grew up, though, horror seemed to mostly lose its appeal. They are the genre that probably got me into movies, something I would devour endlessly as a child and young teen, up late at night nearly every weekend to watch bad horror movies on cable stations.
I have a love/hate relationship with horror movies. Thus, assume there are probably more spoilers than you’d find in, say, the trailer for any given film. “This one is a keeper: classic, in every sense.Note on reviews: I try not to spoil what I would consider major plot revelations in any of my reviews, but I do like to talk about movies in a way that would be meaningful to someone who has seen the film. "Ti West is a singular genius, and The Innkeepers is his best film to date." - Michael Ryan, " **** Fun and entertaining.genuine scares and – heartfelt comedy." - Coutney Howard, "Truly wonderful.Featuring great fun, scares and characters, it’s a film that has the wonderful ability to both make you laugh and scream." - Eric Eisenberg,
"Genuinely funny.Terribly frightening" - Brian Salisbury, FilmSchoolRejects “A tense, haunted house style thriller." - Mike Sampson, a dynamic and important voice who become the generational equivalent of John Carpenter." - Todd Gilchrist, " TERRIFYING - there are several shots and sequences in the film that are literally chilling. "As well-paced and thrilling as any horror film in recent memory. " A fantastic film that marries heart and horror.When the final act comes it’s intense.Like a brick to the chest." - N. " Slow-burn horror and spooky comedy fuse quite effectively resulting in that all too elusive thing: an original movie." - Jordan Hoffman, UGO Paxton and Healy are truly delightful as the heart of the movie." - Samuel Zimmerman, Fangoria "A classical spook story that transitions from something incredibly fun and endearing to a terrifying assault. "CREEPY – Ti West is back with his most original and novel flick to date"- Scott Weinberg, FEARnet A true horror comedy that makes you laugh out loud and jump out of your seat." - Drew Tinnin, "It draws you in then ultimately scares the s*** out of you. There is simply nobody else quite like him.A master of minimalist film." Todd Brown, Twitch
" Ti West is one of the most distinctive voices in American film today. "SCARY, FUNNY, a good campfire style horror movie reminiscent of the ‘80s classics." - Fred Topel, Screen Junkies " A slow burning creeper that pays off in spades." - Sam Adams, Philadelphia City Paper "An old-fashioned ghost story with high-impact shocks among delicate chills. "RADIANT WITH INSPIRATION, with a refined and sophisticated sense of dread.