The Innkeepers is likely to be seen as a breath of fresh air by fans of scary ghost stories. Benefiting from a throwback vibe and deeper character construction than one has been trained to expect from a horror flick, it's a hard to turn away from package. I cared about what happened to the characters as the cranking suspense gave me a serious case of the creeps. It's a fun ride, even if the final wrap up was a bit under whelming. Though that probably says a lot more about how strong the first half was than anything else.
If the ending had fully delivered on my early-stage tension, I might not be in a condition to commit my thoughts to page. Director Ti West pulls strong performances out of his three main characters, Sara Paxton and Pat Healy as the innkeepers in question - and the hotel it takes place in. The Yankee Pedlar Inn plays itself, albeit I expect more evil, variation (sort of like NPH in the Harold and Kumar movies), with more brides who took their life on their wedding night and now haunt the space for eternity.
The ghost story itself isn't frightfully original. Though it certainly gave a wimp like me more than a few starts. While the climax didn't make me stand up and say "wow!", the setup was strong enough on its own to overcome the mild disappointment I felt based on first half expectations. For fans of the suspense horror persuasion (who don't mind a bit of humor in the mix) The Innkeepers is worth a trip to the theater. For those thoughts in a bit more detail you can jump over to my fuller review.
No comments:
Post a Comment