The Innkeepers (2011)

The Yankee Pedlar Inn is closing after being in business for over a hundred years. Spunky young Claire (a winningly perky portrayal by Sarah Paxton) and her nerdy coworker Luke (a fine performance by Pat Healy) are the sole remaining employees left. The pair decide to investigate rumors that the place might be haunted.Writer/director Ti West relates the compelling story at a deliberate pace, makes excellent use of the sprawling hotel location, takes time to develop the main characters, expertly crafts a quietly unsettling gloom-doom atmosphere, and pulls out the terrifying stops at the bloodcurdling climax. Moreover, West warrants additional praise for eschewing graphic gore and cheap jump-out-at-you scares in favor of focusing instead on a gradually mounting mood of dread and unease. Paxton and Healy display an engaging natural chemistry in the lead roles; they receive sturdy support from Kelly McGillis as former actress turned kooky New Age psychic healer Leanne Reese-Jones, Brenda Cooney as unrestful ghost Madeline O'Malley, Alison Bartlett as an irate mother, and George Riddle as the mysterious elderly final guest. Lena Dunham has a funny bit as a gabby and annoying coffee shop barista. Eliot Rockett's slick widescreen cinematography provides an impressive polished look. Jeff Grace's spirited shivery score hits the spine-tingling spot. An on the money scarefest.

I was hoping for a good ghost story but it failed to deliver. I was rather bored half way into the film. Mainly the two innkeepers are friends and flirt with each other. I think they like each other in "that way" but neither wants to make the first move - that's what I got out of it for the most part. OH then we have our ghost or spirit that is hardly focused on for most of the flick. Towards the end of the film they finally get to the ghost but by then I really didn't care, I just wanted the movie over with. It's true that about the time you think the movie is going to get good then it drops back down to more scenes of friends flirting again or other mundane things. 3/10

It's Friday night. You are bored scrolling through "Paranormal Activity"-like trailers looking for a horror film, something to watch that is a little bit more original than the hundreds of live action films and suddenly you come across this trailer. A horror story in a Hotel. A few ugly and scary characters in it. A piano playing on its own... done. You have a winner. Well, no, I assure you don't. This isn't a Horror film, it's a comedy-horror film wannabee that has all the ingredients: the creepy hotel, the ghost legend, the evp mic, the blonde girl and the nerd sidekick. Let's add a medium, a basement, some rain and BOOM: horror film. To me, that's how the writer came with the plot line. The script is terrible, there is absolutely no tension or fear whatsoever. Halfway through the film you'll find yourself bored, scrolling through other trailers regretting the decision of watching this movie. This is based on a true experience. Hope it's helpful. Shoutout to the editor for the trailer: made me fell.

The only really scary thing about this mess of a movie is how something so badly acted, so badly directed, so badly plotted, and so badly filmed could actually be made. Seriously: with all the possible scripts and treatments floating around Hollywood, how does a movie that has absolutely nothing going for it get financed and produced? Regardless, here's a piece of advice: please do not waste your time. You will feel as I do now, as though two hours of your life have vanished into thin air, two hours that you could have been doing something else, anything else, my God, you could have been sleeping, You could have been petting your cats. You could have been washing your hair. Think of all of life's possibilities. This is not one of them.