(4.5/5)
After his great retro horror film House of the Devil a couple of years ago, Ti West had a lot of expectations to live up to with his new horror film. Would he be able to recapture the sense of freshness that House of the Devil breathed into an extremely overpopulated genre? And would he be able to do it without repeating himself, especially since The Innkeepers is also a haunted house story? The answer to both questions, I’m very glad to say, is a resounding “yes.”
Claire and Luke are the last remaining employees at the Yankee Pedlar, an historic Connecticut inn about to shutter its doors. The two are interested in paranormal phenomena, especially the legends of the inn’s ghost, a jilted bride from the previous century, so they’ve decided to stay in the hotel the whole last weekend it’s open, using a tape recorder to try to capture audio evidence of the ghostly Madeline’s continued presence in the inn. But for quite a bit of its running time, the film is actually far more of a laugh-out-loud comedy, and a good one, than an outright fear-fest, as West takes his time setting up Luke and Claire’s relationship, Claire’s awkward encounters with an actress she idolizes who’s one of the few last guests in the inn (the actress played self-deprecatingly by Kelly McGillis) and generally letting the characters and atmosphere of the inn build up organically.
But we know this is a ghost story, and the humor is always tempered with dread, and the chilling atmosphere gets almost palpable as Claire pursues odd readings on her recorder, eventually building to a frenzy just as breathtaking as the climax of House of the Devil. West’s command of camera movement and composition underlies the wonderful way the tone baits-and-switches, leading you to expect conventional elements that he then deliciously withholds for a better and more fulfilling scare later. One of the best and worst things about horror films is the army of conventions that they maintain – using conventions well is immensely satisfying, but using them poorly can be predictable and stale, and eschewing them entirely can feel cheap or out of place. West sets up a lot of Chekov’s guns, and fires them all off, but in a way that feels right, even though you can see the set-ups from a mile away.
On a craft level, this thing is perfect. Deciding to establish early on that Luke’s video camera is broken, forcing them to use only the audio set-up, was a brilliant move, allowing the film to largely depend on sound design for its creepy atmosphere and a lot of its scares. For me, this is far more effective than actually showing scary things; it’s this aural dread that really hits my fear buttons, and I spent at least two major sequences in this film totally tensed up and forgetting to breathe. That’s my definition of an effective horror film.
But even aside from the scares, which balance really well between tension-defusing jump scares and tension-infusing aural and visual cues, the film works really well as a comedy – it isn’t just trying to throw in some humor to provide relief from the horror, it’s actually a very well-written and believable not-quite romantic comedy. Sara Paxton and Pat Healy work together really well as the innkeepers, and I hope to see a lot more of them in the future. West pointed out in the Q&A that Claire is a character who shouldn’t be in a horror movie, and that’s what makes it interesting; I’m actually not sure exactly what that means, except that she’s extremely refreshing in the role, smart and funny but not at all clued in to the fact that she’s in a horror film. The film is utterly guileless, with no winking or self-awareness, and in a very good way. I love a good postmodern horror film, but it’s great to see one take itself so seriously and yet be so much fun at the same time. All the humor comes from the characters and the situations.
Some may complain that the horror in The Innkeepers takes too long to get going, others may claim it sticks too close to genre conventions. For me, it hit a sweet spot of genre filmmaking that sticks to the rules, but does so with such refreshing naïveté and charm that I loved every second. Add in the pitch-perfect camerawork, sound design, and winning performances, and this will likely remain near the top of my favorites of this festival.
Director: Ti West
Screenplay: Ti West
Producers: Derek Curl, Larry Fessenden, Peter Phok, Ti West
Starring: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis
Running Time: 102 min
Country/Language: USA, English
US Theatrical Release Date: TBD, Dark Sky Films
But then, I loved Julia’s Eyes, and y’all keep denigrating it, so you may disagree with me totally about Innkeepers. :p It hit a similar sweet spot for me to Julia’s Eyes, but more fun/funny.
As a Horror geek, there’s no one that excites me more than Ti West in the genre right now. Nice to see talented guys like West and James Wan doing these awesome low budget horror films, breathing life back in the genre.
Everyone I know who’s seen Innkeepers has loved it, as did I–first-rate review, by the way. It’s a slow, sweet burn, and Paxton is incredibly adorable. Plus the poster is awesome.
Sounds like this years DRAG ME TO HELL, and I dig that completely.
haunted house where the horror focuses on sound, I am getting a Session 9 vibe, and if so, I am even more pumped about this. I don’t have a lot of love for the horror genre, but House of the Devil has made me an instant fan of Ti West and it is a relief to hear his next film is equally awesome.
I quite enjoyed Julia’s Eyes – if it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, it still worked very well and had a terrific central performance and character. I think Kurt described it as “workmanlike” which indeed does sound like a jab…I kinda know what he means, but still enjoyed the film.
The Innkeepers may have just jumped over Drive as one of my most anticipated…
Innkeepers is better than both Drag Me to Hell and Session 9. Drag Me to Hell is schlocky fun, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but Innkeepers plays the horror totally straight. It’s like Deep Red crossed with A Tale of Two Sisters with a touch of Val Lewton. Not maybe quite as awesome as those films, but it’s in that ballpark (plus funny). And it follows through on its ending, which I don’t think Session 9 did, but I know you guys are bigger fans of Session 9 than I am, so your mileage may vary. (And don’t get me wrong, I really liked Drag Me to Hell, too, but it was out of my head the minute it was over, and I think Innkeepers will stick with me a bit longer.)
Bob, just keep Innkeepers and Drive tied for most anticipated.
For me Session 9 has serious flaws but is enjoyable… I am expecting Innkeepers to be better.
I will say that in terms of setting a sinister mood centered on a building, Session 9 did that wonderfully, and Innkeepers does too. So they’re similar in that regard. I somehow neglected to mention how good a job West does with establishing space in the inn – by the time shit starts going down, you know where everything in the inn is compared to everything else, which I think is great. So few directors take the time to establish cinematic space and any random corridor is the same as any other one. Here, when Claire starts walking down a hall, you know exactly where she’s headed, and it helps build the feeling of dread. Plus it makes the inn feel like a real place with a real geography.
he did the same in House of the Devil, part of the reason of my love for that film. Kurosawa was great at establishing the architectonics of the set (along with my love for situated real place Los Angeles narratives, I also have a big thing for this underused technique of establishing then using space intelligently)
Rot, you will probably like/love the horror films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Rarely has a horror film maker been as consistent as K. Kurosawa.
Spot on Antho – Kurosawa’s use of space and framing is masterful in Pulse, Cure, Seance and, probably most impressively, Tokyo Sonata. He’s one of my favourite filmmakers.
I don’t think I ever managed to lend you Pulse, did I Mike?
No, Bob, and I am still interested. Been tempted to watch the remake on Netflix.
Best assimilation of Space within any given film
The Shining (easily wins this)
The ship Serenity in Firefly/Serenity
Sunshine
Solaris
Alien
Clerks
Last Year At Marienbad
a fair number of Antonioni films have masterful use of space/geometry.
Basically, it often comes down to, are they doing this practically, but building large sets, or are they just stringing a bunch of stuff together.
And ROT, by god, don’t watch the Pulse remake until you’ve seen the original, which is one of the best horror films ever to come out of Japan.
The Shining is up there with A Kurosawa for sure. This does seem to be more common with horror than other genres, I guess because you have to chase people through somewhere.
add to the list
Elephant
Rear Window
I will wait for the original Pulse then, but I remember Bob saying the remake was alright.
Kurt, in the Q&A Ti West mentioned trying not to emulate The Shining too much, but that it was hard to have a steadicam shot in a hotel hallway without everyone going “it’s like in The Shining!” Heh. There’s a shot with a photo on the wall that I thought was going to turn into a Shining-esque moment, but it didn’t, probably for the best.
Rot, don’t watch the remake.
Well, the remake was alright in the sense that it wasn’t completely horrible. But it wasn’t good. And, do NOT under any circumstances watch it before the original. It’s a different film, but you shouldn’t spoil anything about the original. If we sync up for a Lightbox movie over the summer, I’ll bring it for you.
Let me just say that I LOVED THIS MOVIE. Saw it last night. Ending felt more organic and natural than the high-energy digital flatness of HotD.