The Innkeepers - A Film Review of Sorts

I went into The Innkeepers with some expectations for a ghost story that would A) keep my interest, B) not include any beasties that were either sparkly or lusty, and C) hopefully live up to some of the hype I'd read about it.

Available on VOD (pre-theatrical and all that), The Innkeepers drops a heavy dose of creeptastic ambience on the viewer from the opening credits and builds from there. Once the flick starts proper, we're introduced to Luke and Claire -- our titular innkeepers who have the task of working the final weekend at The Yankee Pedlar, a very old hotel that for reasons I still can't put my finger on reminded of a New England version of the Outlook Hotel. Couple that with the fact that Claire and by association, Luke, are ready to embark on their next career step: hunters of ghosts, and you have the foundation for everything to follow including an appearance by Kelly McGillis as a washed up Hollywood starlet turned psychic, an odd old man set on visiting The Yankee Pedlar one last time before it shuts its doors along with a handful of others meant as much to take up space as they are to make the viewer wonder what's going to happen to whom.

The Innkeepers is divided up like a short story, into chapters and an epilogue that give it a relatable structure and again for reasons that escape me at the moment seemed to build on the style of the film's cinematography to give it the feel of an older film and set the tone for what is a subtle, atmospheric ghost story less reliant on shocks than it is on telling an interesting story from start to finish with characters you want to talk, yell, smack from the other side of the screen for all the reasons you watch a good horror flick in the first place.

And after the end credits roll, you'll be left sitting there looking at your TV pleased with what you've just watched, but if you're like me, with the nagging notion that writer/director Ti West may have just pulled a magnificent illusion on the audience as the story lends itself to different interpretations that could mean very different things depending on one's take of the events, leaving a sense of ambiguity that comes with the best weird tales despite presenting a very straight forward tale on the surface.