Introduction:
This movie has gotten a lot
of good buzz in horror circles and the director Ti West has been called one of
the best horror directors to come around in a while. His previous film, The House of Devil was considered one
of the best of the genre in 2009. Is The
Inkeepers as good as the buzz says or is this one haunted inn to stay away
from?
Summary:
Claire (Sara Paxton) has a
pretty dull job at the Yankee Pedler Inn, a picturesque old building that is
just about to go out of business. She minds the place with Luke (Pat Healy),
both of them going through the motions, goofing off and keeping the few guests
as happy as possible. They also spend some time hunting ghosts. You see the inn
has a history and a ghost story or two tied to it. Luke has actually
encountered the supernatural in the inn and Claire wants to have some spooky
fun too. This all leads to some “be careful what you wish for” especially when
a psychic (Kelly McGillis) sees some trouble in Claire’s future. Will our Innkeepers see some ghosts or become the
ghosts?
Good Points:
- Excellent acting by the leads makes you like and care about them
- Wonderful atmosphere builds the tension up to a boiling point
- Some funny and fun dialogue
Bad Points:
- Gore fans will be very disappointed
- Anyone looking for lots of scares will be disappointed
- Some may find the quirky characters annoying
Overall:
What a surprise this movie
turned out to be. It’s an old fashioned ghost story with some fun and quirky
characters. The first two thirds of the movie establish your leads and their
personalities, and slowly build up the ghost story and history of the inn. The
final third brings everything into play – including the guests to create some
really good jump scares and some solid tingles for your spine. An easy winner
for a spooky evening for fun. I’ll certainly be looking forward to more from
Mr. West.
Scores
(out of 5)
Visuals: 4
Sound: 4
Acting: 5
Script: 4
Music: 4
Direction: 4
Entertainment: 4
Total: 4
Curious about a full review,
sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.
This happened to be on satellite last night. I watched it because of your review. Ghost stories are not generally my genre, so I likely otherwise would have passed it by. It's not bad by the standards of such flicks. Thanks for the recommendation.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it. I've run into a few folks who found it too slow, but I ended up enjoying the characters so much I didn't mind the slow build. I saw another review that said it reminded them of "Clerks" in a haunted house - not a bad description. :)
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