Scream Bloody Entertainment

A ghost story for the minimum wage

Two employees working at a declining hotel start to unravel its mysterious past as they begin to record supernatural occurrences.

- decent scares
- the comedy elements
- outstanding musical score
- the setting
- Sara Paxton

- lack of an actual story
- unsatisfying ending
- cliche after cliche
- weak writing
- unoriginal to the core
- lackluster make-up and special effects

- moderate violence and gore
- high scares and frightening scenes
- low nudity and sexual themes
- moderate profanity

- if you hear creepy sounds, follow them to their source
- cyclops always have only one eye
- apparently telling ghost stories to gullible children while their parents are around is a good idea
- when a psychic tells you to get the hell out of there you better get the hell out of there
- ghosts are always proficient at playing the piano
- abandoning a girl in a haunted hotel is not the best way to win her heart
- it doesn't matter if you're in grave danger, there's always time to grab your things before you leave

With The Innkeepers, director Ti West manages to capture the dread associated with ‘haunted house’ fares, but on a narrative level his attempt falls flat. Things happen throughout the movie for no apparent reason, and every cliché that has a place in the story is relentlessly squeezed in. ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t go there, and definitely don’t follow the creepy noises down in the basement.’ And yet everything happens, and we never find out why. Worst of all, the conclusion of The Innkeepers lacks any kind of closure, with not even a bad twist ending thrown in there. Sara Paxton turns in a fun and animated performance, and some of the scares are quite competent, but in the end it’s all for naught. The Innkeepers is no House of the Devil, unfortunately.

horror meter: 3 checked-in stars (out of 5)