Starring Sara Paxton, Pat Healy and Kelly McGillis
Written & Directed by Ti West
With the Toronto After Dark Film Festival that wrapped up this past Thursday, the feeling of missed friends and mild abandonment that most of the festival goers are currently experiencing missing the daily routine that the festival provided is rampant in the film fans of not only in Toronto but for those that came into the town for the sixth annual event. It just might be time to experience some of those warm feelings once again. The closing night gala not only gave festival goers some warm feelings but some genuine cinematic thrills. Let’s take a look at “The Innkeepers”.
“The Innkeepers” centers on the final days of operation of the Yankee Pedlar Inn, a quiet New England hotel with a history of paranormal activity which has seen better days. On the hotel’s final weekend of operation, its final two employees Luke and Claire (Healy & Paxton) are determined to find proof that ghosts are haunting the halls of this old hotel, throw in the hotels final customer Leanne a former actress turned spiritualist, you’ve got a weekend that none of them will ever forget.
A genuine old school ghost story; “The Innkeepers” is a masterful cinematic stroke at creating the claustrophobic and tense mood of a good old fashioned locked in horror flick. Rarely even leaving the setting of the hotel, writer/director Ti West crafted a near perfect slow burn that was more about what we didn’t see then what we did. Through his unique use of camera angles, music and lighting we didn’t have to have a ‘boo’ type of moment every few minutes in order to keep the audience interested, compelling characters and effective story development kept the viewers on the edge of their seats throughout the entire film. Rather than clutter the story with too many characters and a complex plot, he kept it simple and it works so very well, proving once again that in the right hands “Less can be more”.
The core cast was likeable and they had some legitimate chemistry with one another. Paxton & Healy were likable and we were emotionally invested in their realistic and awkward relationship. We cared about these characters as they explored the dark recesses of the hotel, and wanted to see how it all plays out; the character development wasn’t meant as buffer between scares it made them more effective. Kelly McGillis was wonderful in a role that was rife with self-deprecating humor as the former actress now a new age spiritualist aiding the paranormal hunters in the hotels last weekend of existence.
If you’d like a film that doesn’t just want to shock you with violence and give you a genuine and entertaining fright filled experience at the movies, stay tuned to when “The Innkeepers” will be hitting a theatre near you.
4 out of 5 stars.
“The Innkeepers” will be hitting Video On Demand services in the United States on December 30th 2011, and will roll out at theatres in the early weeks of 2012.
To learn more about the Toronto After Dark Film Festival which ran from Oct. 20-27 at the Toronto Underground Cinema, and get info on all the films that played there as well as award winners from the festival, you can check out their website right here.
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