The Innkeepers – 3.75 stars

The pushback on the gore porn of Saw, Hostel, etc . . . is in full swing.   The Paranormal Activity flicks, The Woman in Black, Trick ‘r Treat, The Last Exorcism, and now, The Innkeepers all fall in a sub-genre that emphasizes pace, suspense and the little things that do not require splatter, chunks of flesh and no possible hope of escape.

The Innkeepers is about a haunted Connecticut inn on its last legs.  Two slacker employees (there are 3 guests and the workers can’t manage to have clean towels for any of them), one of whom is working on a website trying to trumpet the inn as a haunted locale, do 12 hour shifts on the inn’s last weekend in operation.  Bored, and stoked by a guest (Kelly McGillis) who is some sort of amateur medium in town for a convention, the duo pass the time filming and recording the inn in an attempt to engage its ghost.  They succeed, and the patience director Ti West exhibits in getting to a truly scary payoff is impressive.

It’s not flawless.  The principals are a bit stilted, though they warm to their roles; the humor is not always humorous; the character development is not super; and I wish we were given a little bit more on the history of the ghost.  But the strength is the feel and that feel is well-represented in the trailer.

Also, one caution – remember Kelly McGillis from Witness? 

This is McGillis from The Innkeepers