Movie Review - The Innkeepers

The Innkeepers (2012)

Starring Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, and Kelly McGillis

Directed by Ti West

I was a fan of Ti West's The House of the Devil which provided an eerie and unsettling homage to horror films in the 1980s.  Unfortunately, I can't be as gung-ho about his latest foray into horror, The Innkeepers, a film that I felt with a few minor scene changes could've played on The Disney Channel as a Halloween-themed movie event.

What's the point of a horror movie if it's not scary?  I don't need the genre to cause me to jump out of my seat, but I at least need it to build a sense of unease and The Innkeepers which weaves a tale about a soon-to-be-closed supposedly haunted inn just doesn't ever gain any modicum of tension.  Thanks to the performances of Pat Healy and Sara Paxton as the two kinda dorky inn workers Luke and Claire, the film strikes a very odd tone in the humor department even dabbling into romantic comedy and never finds an appropriate balance.

I'd love to relay more of the story here, but there really isn't anything to discuss (hence the brevity of this review).  This is a movie that simply didn't work for me, plain and simple.  The 78% positive rating on rottentomatoes.com is rather shocking to this reviewer.

The RyMickey Rating:  D