A retro celebration of things that go bump in the night, The Innkeepers is what you might call a character-driven ghost story.
Fans of the horror genre can expect to get all nostalgic about the 1970s feel to the action, which most certainly includes people going down the basement, all alone, in the dark, and that sort of thing.
This one is a nice mix of scares and laughs.
The Yankee Pedlar Inn has been welcoming guests for more than 100 years, but the time has come for the old hotel to close forever. Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) are a pair of slacker/nerd types who work at the Inn, and over the last weekend that the hotel will be open, they decide to find out whether or not the hotel, as rumoured, is a haunted place.
They don't have much company at the hotel. The only guests for the final weekend are a mother and her little son, an elderly gent with an anniversary to celebrate and a former actress (Kelly McGillis) turned healer named Leanne Rease-Jones.
Geeky, asthmatic Claire is really the focus of the story. She's an innocent underachiever who is very keen to go ghost hunting. She gets all excited when that actress, Leanne, turns up at the Yankee Pedlar, and she doesn't even take offence when Leanne insults her.
Claire is determined to flush out the ghost of Madeline O'Malley, a woman who allegedly killed herself at the Inn a few generations ago. Her co-worker Luke claims to be interested in the ghosts peculiar to the Inn, and he has recording devices that are meant to turn up spirits. Still, for all his claims to ghost-hunting, his computer reveals mostly porn sites.
Our two inept investigators bumble around the Inn, until Claire begins to communicate with the spirits. The action heats up considerably in the second half of the movie, which is heavy on atmosphere and tension; still, this is not the movie for anyone hoping to be scared out of his or her wits. This is a horror film for the cool kids, especially those who will laugh at seeing indie filmmaker/actress Lena Dunham as a needy coffee-house clerk.
The Innkeepers is often funny and weirdly charming, which is how filmmaker Ti West gets you to care so much about what happens to Claire. Sara Paxton is endearing in that role, and Kelly McGillis manages to be simultaneously ridiculous and commanding in the role of Leanne. The performances count for a lot.
The Innkeepers played in Toronto last fall at both TIFF and the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. It's playing now at Bell Lightbox. More Movie Reviews
