Reviews

Review: The Innkeepers

Ti West's spook show

By PEG ALOI | January 31, 2012

2.0 Stars

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The Yankee Pedlar Inn is about to shut down after 100 years, and its two hipster employees, tomboyish Claire (Sara Paxton) and nerdy Luke (Pat Healy), are trying for a few last-minute paranormal video grabs of the inn's many ghosts and spooks for Luke's DIY website. A famous but jaded medium (Kelly McGillis) checks in, and Claire is star-struck. Soon enough, the psychic activity heats up, and Luke (less a believer than Claire) gets freaked. The inn's lore tells of a wedding night gone very wrong, and Claire starts to see visions of the carnage; too late, she realizes her video equipment can't protect her. Ti West's spook show is atmospheric (thanks to the terrific hotel setting) and frequently funny; but the plot line is choppy, the dialogue often unnecessary, and the scares too sparse. West only manages to wrangle a tepid horror film out of a fine opportunity to explore the territory of paranormal belief in a down-to-earth way.

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