The Innkeepers

The Innkeepers follows slackers Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) as they prepare to spend their final weekend working at a low-rent hotel, with Luke’s insistence that a ghost roams the halls eventually (and inevitably) prompting Claire to launch an investigation of her own. It’s interesting to note that, despite the horror-centric bent of the premise, The Innkeepers initially comes off as a subdued (and fairly typical) indie comedy/drama, as filmmaker Ti West generally emphasizes the off-kilter banter between (and quirk-filled exploits of) the protagonists. It’s an unusual choice that admittedly does work better than one might’ve anticipated, and there’s little doubt that the immensely likeable nature of the two central characters is heightened by Healy and Paxton’s engaging, personable work – with, in particular, Paxton’s impressively captivating performance standing as a highlight within the proceedings. The almost excessive deliberateness with which the sparse narrative unfolds is, as a result, initially not too problematic, with the periodic inclusion of distinctly suspenseful interludes – eg Claire hears a piano being played during one of her late-night jaunts – going a long way towards alleviating the decidedly uneventful atmosphere. It’s only as the movie lumbers into its progressively uninteresting midsection that one’s involvement begins to flag, as West attempts to pad out the film’s running time by offering up one lackluster sequence after another – with the pronounced emphasis on Claire’s exploration of the hotel lending the proceedings a palpable spinning-its-wheels sort of quality. By the time the incongruously bleak ending rolls around, The Innkeepers has certainly established itself as a half-baked ghost story that probably would’ve been better off had its horror elements been entirely excised (ie the chemistry between Clair and Luke is just that good).

** out of ****