Review of The Innkeepers (2011) by Thequietgamer — 21 Oct 2017

Two hotel workers and friends are spending their last days of employment taking advantage of the fact that almost of the guests are gone by playing ghost hunters. Naturally, their investigation of the hotel's supposed haunting leads them to more than they bargained for. But until that happens writer, director, and producer Ti West lets us hang out with his characters as they goof off and struggle with the fact that their lives aren't going the way they want them to. It's a lot of fun to watch leads Paxton and Healy. Their playing some pretty cool people and there are quite a few laughs along the way. It's what ultimately saves the movie when the actual horror falls flat.

Despite a great atmosphere and some effective tension building, The Innkeepers just isn't scary. The ghost looks a touch overdone as it's evident that West was trying too hard with it's appearance. Mix that with the fact that Paxton's acting ability takes a hit when she's pretending to be scared and you have some very ineffective moments of terror. The movie has a way of letting you know what scary thing it's going to throw at you next by being incredibly obvious. It's a very well-made horror movie, but the masterfully helmed shots mean little when they aren't actually capturing anything scary.

When it comes to being a horror movie things fall flat. Yet, I am surprised to find just how willing I am to overlook that in favor of what the movie is good at being; and that's a light-hearted comedy with believable characters and a great story about not being where you want to be in life. Had Ti West have ditched the horror element all together and just focused on these two friends and coworkers exploring the hotel, their relationship, and having some laughs along the way, we might have ended up with something truly compelling. The Innkeepers kind of missed it's calling as a charming indie-comedy. It would have been cool to see it dive into subplots more and maybe even adapt a light drama element as the two employees get involved in the lives of their last few guests before the hotel shuts down for good. Oh well. As it stands, The Innkeepers is still good. It could have used a little more work in order to have been actually scary, but I appreciate how it took the time to come up with a believable setup and made us care about it's characters. That's more than I can say for the vast majority of horror movies I've watched. For that, I consider this movie a win. 7.