Ninth Annual FMS Scarelicious October Movie Series" #12 The Innkeepers

Another Ti West flick - man, this guy really knows how to make me jump.  As I got the DVD for The Innkeepers spinning, my initial notes say: "I think this is going to be scary/jumpy" and I was right.  Haunted house and ghost story horror movies are difficult for me because I am SO jumpy; I ended up watching much of this movie with my glasses off, not because it was actively scary - once the scares really started, it was easier to watch - but because of the anticipation.

On the last weekend before the Yankee Pedlar Inn closed for good, hotel staff Claire (Sara Paxton, excellent) and Luke (Pat Healy, quite good) are bored out of their minds.  Friendly with each other but adrift in their own lives, there aren't enough guests to keep them busy so they decide to see if they can find evidence of the ghosts said to be haunting the inn.  Luke has some recording equipment and the hope is to upload some evidence to the website he's building based on the inn.  They take turns manning the front desk and when it's Claire's turn, she wanders the creaky corridors, calling out to Madeline O'Malley, a woman said to have died on her wedding night.  Some odder than normal hotel guests check in, Claire gets a little paranoid and as the weekend wears on, things start to get a little weird.  Whether you (as the movie goer) believe that it's really supernatural or that it's just the characters' paranoia kicking in, shit still gets real.

I thought The Innkeepers was great.  It absolutely isn't for people who like their horror with big gore and giant jumpscares and naked boobs and lots of pandemonium.  Like The House of the Devil before it, The Innkeepers takes its time and, I think, is all the better for it.  Much of the movie is just Claire and Luke hanging out, dealing with hotel guests, taking out the trash, being funny and realistic.  That meant, when things got tense, I cared about them.  Makes a huge difference.  Plus, there are lots of shots of long corridors and dark corners that last just a little too long, ratcheting up the suspense and convincing me that something horrible was about to happen.  And yes, the Yankee Pedlar was a real hotel in Torrington, Connecticut, and yes, it was rumored to be haunted, and yes, it has, in fact closed and may never reopen.