Young filmmaker Ti West has spent the past few years carving out a niche in the world of low budget horror films. In 2009, his 1980s set thriller “House of the Devil” was a mostly successful return to old school slow building satanic horror films, a la “Rosemary’s Baby.” This time around, he seems to be aiming for a more light-hearted and fun jab at the horror genre with “The Innkeepers,” which screened at last year's L.A. Film Festival. The result is an occasionally fun ghost story set in a haunted hotel that doesn’t always hit the mark.
It is the final days of business at the soon to close Yankee Pedlar Inn, and employees Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) have decided to work the final shifts with the intent of finding out once and for all if the hotel is as haunted as they believe it to be. Luke is convinced the place is and has been working on a website for it, including a legend about a woman who was hung in one of the rooms many years ago and allegedly still haunts the place. Claire seems to believe Luke and is up for helping out, but perhaps that has more to do with boredom than anything else. Like in any horror movie, weird things start happening to Claire, convincing her more and more that it all could be true.
One thing that the film gets right is capturing what it’s like to work a boring, pointless job and try to entertain oneself in the process. Paxton and Healy, despite a few awkward moments, do a good job of portraying realistic characters that normally wouldn’t be found in horror films. It really is easy to believe that these two have spent a good deal of time bonding together at their job. In particular, Paxton is very good as Claire, a likeable heroine that is capable of keeping us engaged in the film even as the story hits a few speed bumps.
West wisely chooses once again to set most of the action for his low budget film in one major location. The Yankee Pedlar (an actual hotel in Connecticut) is as much of a character as the two leads and its creaky old Colonial vibe provides instant creepiness whenever the story needs it to. According to West, he and his crew stayed at the real hotel while they were making his previous film, and the haunted tales told to them by its actual innkeepers served as his inspiration to set a film there.
The only overall problem with “The Innkeepers” is that it’s not quite funny enough to be a horror comedy, and not scary enough to be a straight up horror film. However, it is an admirable effort and should please fans of the genre. West appears to be a talented filmmaker, but it would be nice to see him expand his vision and challenge himself a bit more next time.
