The Innkeepers and Ti West

This write-up will contain spoilers for both The Innkeepers and The House of the Devil and since I don't know that many people who have seen one or both, I might be writing to the ether. Be that as it may, I remain undaunted.

Ti West is going to make a legitimately great movie one of these years. He's got amazing sensibilities. In a world of fast-cuts and hand-held cameras he is steady, deliberate, composed, and competent. The House of the Devil got plaudits for being a throwback to the pacing and aesthetic of horror films from the '70s and '80s and this patience continues with The Innkeepers. It's not just that the films are deliberate, the timing is immaculate. West's sense of rhythm does much of the heavy lifting for the mood and tension. Yet, I can't say that any of his films are any more than good (and I think he'd agree with me regarding Cabin Fever 2).

Bad-ass poster

The House of the Devil spends its run-time building up to a bloody finale and revealing our hero (Samantha) is the victim of a demonic plot (not unlike Rosemary's Baby). However, with the exception of one amazing and shocking moment in the middle of the movie, House of the Devil struggles to stick the landing. So much effort is spent recreating a genre long past that it feels like fortifying the script was lost in the shuffle. I remember being disappointed in the end that Samantha doesn't die after shooting herself in the the head. It seemed like a copout that existed just so she'd live with the knowledge that she is carrying demon spawn, but I can think of any number of ways to have her dead (which only feels right for the movie) AND have the evil threat live on.

The Innkeepers is no different. There is an amazing sense of place and watching in an old theater with its own history heightens the sense of isolation and mystery. One definitely doesn't want to be alone in their after hours after watching The Innkeepers, which is a highly effective horror movie in spite of its shortcomings. Throughout the screening, I kept thinking it would be a fun practical joke to play on the audience to ratchet up all this tension only to reveal in the end that there is no haunting and I almost got that. I firmly believe that much of what we see in the movie is in the head of Claire, one of the two remaining workers at The Yankee Pedlar Inn. True, the inn may be haunted, but what Claire is experiencing is separate from the actual hauntings. One of my viewing buddies brought up a point that I'd have to rewatch the film to confirm, but I believe to be correct, that an early scare is reused during the climax that seriously points to the conclusion I made above. I respect the decision to treat the haunted house subgenre this way as it really gets to the heart of how we scare ourselves irrationally, but it may also be completely justified.

What hurts The Innkeepers almost irreparably is that so much of the action is completely contrived. It doesn't feel like that because the characters are uninteresting (they are totally enjoyable), but because the script again feels half-baked. Someone needs to do something and instead of it being an organic process, the script just makes it happen. Sure, Claire is scared shitless, but she's totally fine being left alone. "You just saw a dead body and wants to leave immediately? Well, sit here in the lobby while I go look for that last customer instead of waiting outside and across the street. Or hey, why don't we go together?" It's enough to drive one mad.

The worst offense, though, is that West kills Claire off in the end! We spend the whole time getting to know and care about her (and she is eminently likable, especially in a moment when she takes a trash bag to the dumpster [even though it presents it like it's the first time she's ever done the job, which makes it feel like an excusable contrivance since it's amusing]) only to kill her off in the end. It just doesn't fit with the rest of the film. I wish I could switch the ending of The Innkeepers with the ending of The House of the Devil. It would work perfectly if not for the demon fetus. It feels like West was writing these movies simultaneously and mixed up the endings.

Even with the shortcomings, I find myself looking back fondly on each of these films (and I've only had a day to think The Innkeepers over. Imagine what three months will do to it). As I said, Ti West is going to make a great movie some day and I hope he sticks with the horror genre. There needs to be more people making scary movies without feeling the need to wink at the audience. West's films are going to hold up and I will continue to look forward to his movies (though his next one is apparently starring Liv Tyler, so I might be speaking too soon).