Review of The Innkeepers (2011) by Phillip K — 27 May 2012

Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) are workers at a local inn on its last weekend of business. There's very few guests, just an annoying woman and her son, former actress Leanne (Kelly McGillis) and then an old man (George Riddle) who wants to stay in his old honeymoon suite.

Luke tells Claire of a ghost that resides in the hotel, the ghost of Madeline O'Malley (Brenda Cooney), a woman who killed herself after being jilted by her fiancee on their wedding day. Claire becomes obsessed with finding the ghost, and relentlessly seeks it out. She should've been more careful. Now her life is in danger, and it's up to an unlikely source to help her escape the Inn before the spirits come for her.

"The House of the Devil" director Ti West wrote, edited and directed this film, which seems to be a throwback to the old Hitchcock classics. While I can appreciate the slow (very slow) buildup and character development, the ending left me feeling deflated, and almost cheated. Everything leading up to it was amazing to see, but then the ending was so shoddy and pointless I was upset by it. Still, Sara Paxton delivered a great performance.