Ti West's film making background has been kinda hit-and-miss with me. "House of the Devil" struck me as one of the more over-rated indie horrors in recent years, though I'll admit I enjoyed his sequal to "Cabin Fever" for the most part. Despite being personally amused or disappointed by West's past films, there is no denying that the guy indeed has potential as a budding horror film maker. His latest joint, "The Innkeepers", is definatly his strongest film, in my opinion...
Two hotel desk clerks who moonlight as amatuer 'ghost hunters' begin experiencing different traces of paranormal goings-on in the old building...
While "House of the Devil" was a blatant 'throwback' to 70s-80s horror, I felt "The Innkeepers" did a much better job of propelling my nostalgic reverence back to a particular brand of severly entertaining 70s-80s genre pics. The characters in this are exceptionally well developed and likable, while the "horror" aspects are pretty much stripped down to their utmost simplicity. I didn't find this all that 'bad' since the performances were really lively and the writing and direction were sharp while the mood was fairly eerie at times. You could say the 'haunting/ghost' factor within "The Innkeepers" is relatively "subtle" - possibly to a fault if you're hoping for some kind of big complex mystery-type premise, but you can't deny the old school charm. Also, while the climax was adequatly creepy, I did feel like too much was left unexplained. That tends to be my major gripe with Ti West's films. The endings usually seem abrupt, unsatisfying and incomplete.
I would certainly recommend "The Innkeepers" for anyone else out there who has grown exhausted of fluff-horror novelty trash flicks known as the "Paranormal Activity" franchise and want to check out a newer ghost flick that that mixes small doses of casual humor with strong characters and an entertainingly slow burn...
Ti West's film making background has been kinda hit-and-miss with me. "House of the Devil" struck me as one of the more over-rated indie horrors in recent years, though I'll admit I enjoyed his sequal to "Cabin Fever" for the most part. Despite being personally amused or disappointed by West's past films, there is no denying that the guy indeed has potential as a budding horror film maker. His latest joint, "The Innkeepers", is definatly his strongest film, in my opinion...
