Movie Review: The Innkeepers (2011)

Brief Summary :
 It's the last weekend The Yankee Pedlar Inn will be open ever, as such, there are only 2 innkeepers on staff and a measly handful of guests. The Pedlar Inn has a long told ghost story about a woman who died years and years ago and now haunts its halls. The innkeepers think that maybe this last weekend they will get the chance to find proof of her spirit in the hotel.
Cast - Sara Paxton, Pat Healy & Kelly McGillis
Genre - Horror, Thriller
Runtime - 100 min

 I didn't hate it. I also didn't love it. It's not memorable but it's enjoyable to watch. It's another ghost story movie set in an old creepy hotel (although the lobby is quite cute :P). What I found to be refreshing about it was that all the characters, for the most part, actually believed in the ghost story.

The Yankee Pedlar Inn has had a notorious ghost story for the ages (doesn't every old hotel have one?). It's about a woman who died there in the late 1800s and who was left to rot in the basement for three days before the staff could smuggle her out (they thought it would be bad press). Most people say it's just an old ghost story, something to scare the children, however Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) not only believe the story but are determined to prove it using and an EVP sound recorder. They want firm proof to put on Luke's web site that he has created based solely on the paranormal activity found at The Yankee Pedlar Inn.

I think both main actors were cast perfectly. Luke comes across almost effortlessly as the nerdy, techie-dork with a paranormal ghost website. We have no problems believing why he might think the ghost is real. Claire, they really had to cast well. Sara Paxton made us all believe that she was the naive girl, who might believe anything anyone told her. And Luke told her to believe in ghosts, so she does. It was refreshing to not have all the characters running around stating firmly that "they do not believe in ghosts" and that "nothing will happen" until of course inevitably it does.

In this film the tension builds slowly, offering us a few standard pop-out scares, while maintaining the building mystery surrounding the aforementioned dead woman of the Pedlar Inn. I thought the filmography and score complimented the mounting apprehension perfectly. It definitely made my nerves a little raw.

The Pedlar Inn receives some other guests that weekend, a retired actress turned healer (Kelly McGillis) and an old, strange, creepy man requesting the same room in which he spent his honeymoon many many years ago (George Riddle). Both new players change the game at the hotel in their own ways, adding to the dread that the Innkeepers have been feeling.

There is a perfect target audience for this movie, teenage girl slumber parties will just eat this right up. It's not very gory, relying mainly on slowly building tension, unlike most slice-em-up teen horror flicks. I'd feel fairly comfortable giving this to a group of girl about 13+. Sure they won't sleep that night, but there's nothing really bad in it (or I didn't think so anyways).


My peeves for the movie are:

1) Uhhh...so were they ever going to explain what happened to Madeline O'Malley? They seemed to be building this big mystery up around 2 other spirits who were present and what happened to Madeline and why her soul was trapped in the hotel. They just never finished the story, which really disappointed me.

2) I HATED the "chapter" breaks. They really broke the film up. And the last one was a complete cop out. "OH IT'S GETTING INTENSE --- must be time for a break! " Really? C'mon! Let's just end it.

My first thoughts about the ending were a) they ran out over budget and had to finish the movie quickly with no explanation of...well ANYTHING! Or b) Hey, did M. Night Shayamalan write this? His films are always fantastic right up until the end (except Lady in the Water, which was just bad all around).

Overall, I loved the dramatic tension that the film had. I was hooked, my heart was pumping, and I was a little anxious at times. I loved the casting specially Sara Paxton who played her naive, young, curiosity-killed-the-cat character perfectly. But the complete lack of a finished storyline, made it a movie I would never watch again (but I'm not upset I watched it once).

Overall : 6.5/10

Watch the trailer for The Innkeepers here!

What did you think overall? I see it's getting very very mixed reviews. Either love or hate? Which side did you land on?