Let's check out something newer now, with Ti West's THE INNKEEPERS from 2011. I watched West's earlier flick, HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, for a previous Horrorfest and was impressed with it, so I was looking forward to this one as well.
THE INNKEEPERS stars Sara Paxton and Pat Healy as the 20-something employees of the soon-to-close Yankee Pedlar Inn. The inn has a macabre history involving a woman (Brenda Cooney) who killed herself at the inn after being left on her honeymoon. Our two heroes are both into ghost hunting, and view their last few nights working at the inn as their last chance to capture some real evidence.
The inn is sparsely populated, but among the few guests is Kelly McGillis as an actress-turned-psychic in town for some kind of psychic convention and, later, a creepy old man (George Riddle) who requests one of the third floor rooms even though they're not furnished anymore.
Like HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, THE INNKEEPERS is a really slow burn, relying more on suspense and character work than on shocks or thrills. There are a few legitimately good scares throughout the movie, and a thrilling conclusion, and the character stuff between the two leads is nice (they're both likable enough), but the overall story didn't keep my interest as much as HOUSE OF THE DEVIL did.
I'm not sure if it's just the premise or what – HOSUE OF THE DEVIL had more questions built into it from the beginning than THE INNKEEPERS does. The more questions you have, the longer you can tolerate suspense, because you want to figure out what's going on. In THE INKEEPERS there's nothing really to figure out – either the place is haunted or it isn't, and I'm guessing since this is a horror movie, it is.
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