The Innkeepers (Ti West)

[Dukefrukem]

Didn't notice the ghost first time round. Had to go back and watch for it. Subtler than the skull at the end of Psycho.

I didn't either until it was discussed in this thread.

[Dukefrukem]

Really? This was deathly dull, one of my least favorites of the year.

:|

[Pop Trash]

I still find that end scene

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with the main guy exiting the hotel as the paramedics drag out the body of his coworker pretty powerful. He has a look on his face of both confusion and existential dread. Even if there were no ghosts, it would still be a tragic accident where one day he is hanging out and being bored at work with his quirky coworker, the next day she is a lifeless corpse.

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[Bosco B Thug]

Re-watched this recently, and it sits better knowing where it's headed. And for about half of its running time, it becomes about

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a girl who really needs sex. Not to be chauvinist or anything, it really seems to tilt that way.

]

[ciaoelor]

That is, outside of the girl's horrible stupidity in the final third of the movie.

Based on the conversation she had with Pat Healy and the actress, both focusing on her cluelessness regarding her future beyond working at the hotel, I'd hazard a guess that she was too fascinated by the presence of a ghost to avoid it, even though she was clearly frightened by it. Finally she was experiencing something beyond the banal. Sort of the same thing can be said of Pat Healy's character, who is trying to create a paranormal website despite the fact that he doesn't believes in them, has never seen one, and would be too frightened by an encounter with one if he did. But in a feminist twist, I guess, the seemingly fragile heroine happens to be the bravest (albeit the most naive) character between the two. I don't think it was stupidity that lead to her downfall. If anything, I'd say her dimmest moment happened as she was trying to dump the trash bag.

I don't know, maybe I'm wrong... The Haunting sort of told a similar story, didn't it?

I re-watched this last night and enjoyed it more than I did the first time. I love the first two-thirds of Ti West's last two movies. I love hanging out with the characters (or character in House of the Devil's case). Pat Healy stole the show for me. His affection for Sara Paxon shines through the smart-ass sarcasm without coming across as too sentimental.

[ciaoelor]

Re-watched this recently, and it sits better knowing where it's headed. And for about half of its running time, it becomes about

[

Show Spoiler

a girl who really needs sex. Not to be chauvinist or anything, it really seems to tilt that way.

]

Care to explain why/how...

[Bosco B Thug]

Care to explain why/how...

Well, I was intending to be a bit glib... but basically, it's a portrait of arrested development, suggested in the character's entire passive being, but then being qualified with moments such as

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her noticing Luke's internet porn and using it to snark him (which suggests a complete romantic disconnect on her part), the moment where she brushes off Luke's company because she sneaks a peek at his underoos, and the barista bit where she's troubled by a boyfriend story.

]

[ciaoelor]

Well, I was intending to be a bit glib... but basically, it's a portrait of arrested development, suggested in the character's entire passive being, but then being qualified with moments such as

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her noticing Luke's internet porn and using it to snark him (which suggests a complete romantic disconnect on her part), the moment where she brushes off Luke's company because she sneaks a peek at his underoos, and the barista bit where she's troubled by a boyfriend story.

]

OK now that's interesting. I guess she wasn't made to look like a "tom boy" for nothing.

So what do you think about her fascination with the supernatural as an escape from her mundane life?

[Bosco B Thug]

OK now that's interesting. I guess she wasn't made to look like a "tom boy" for nothing.

So what do you think about her fascination with the supernatural as an escape from her mundane life?

Oh, I agree with everyone that it's a very striking subtext. But I'd even put it in alternate ways, like it's not really a fascination, but it's actually as mundane as everything else. Ghost hunting in this movie is as unrewarding as Luke's website designing, which is as unrewarding as their job, which is as unrewarding as being a ghost scaring people for no reason.

[Rowland]

A very positive piece is up for this over at Reverse Shot, as a segment of their yearly tradition of horror write-ups leading up to Halloween. This ought to reinforce trans' dislike for the film.

[MadMan]

My thoughts: http://madman731.wordpress.com/2013/...-2012-ti-west/

And I really dug this a lot. Too bad The Roost is not on Netflix at all in any form.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Recommended this to my sister last night. Hope she cottons to it, but she's a huge fan of House of the Devil, so I figure she can't blame me if it sucks.

[megladon8]

Has Ti West's sci fi project starring Liv Tyler been cancelled?

I thought it sounded really interesting, but looking at his IMDb now it shows his next project as being another low-budget horror.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I don't know if it's been canned, but I'm pretty sure The Sacrament is his next feature, and hopefully it brings his The tetralogy to a satisfying close.

[Irish]

Had an enjoyable but somewhat disappointing ghost movie night tonight.

This was a... frustrating film. Essentially, West just doesn't seem to be pushing himself. His love of horror is rather quaint, and it shows in his films that are alternately fascinating and self-realized, and complacent and middling. The best scene in this film is the utterly fascinating scene where

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Claire sees the ghost behind Luke and West never shows it to us

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but it's this great height of symbolically evocative film-making in a film where the rest is lockstep marching along stock-creepy painted lines, a resistance to any bold statements in favor of almost indulgent subtlety (problematic even in West's investment in buoyant character touches/humor, which is lovely but excessive and diluting), and the aforementioned horror geekness that is lulling instead of demanding.

Most damning, though, is an epilogue that should feel absolutely necessary and somehow manages to force feed us pointlessness. That last shot is maddening in its throat-shoving insistence on West's debilitating love of modesty.

^ This!

I wish I could split my vote on this one. A huge yay to the first half, big nay to the second. Liked the character, the premise, all the interactions.

West's "direction" kept getting in the way. He wants so badly to "play the audience like a violin," but he does this through a neverending stream of cheap jumpscares & zero atmosphere.

There are moments of sharp brilliance here. Others that seem wildly inept. Frustrasting in the extreme.

[Spun Lepton]

Been a little tough to nail down an overall opinion for this one. Pretty damn solid from a technical aspect. Good acting, good characterizations, good pacing, good dialogue, it looks and sounds good. But, ugh, there is so much time spent on minutiae that by the end I just didn't care. The shining moments ("she's behind you") are sullied by stretches of boredom.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I never felt bored, and the positive elements you cite (West's skill at pacing, dialogue/character, acting) are elements very few horror films try to accomplish. The characters especially are distinct, vivid, personalities. Glad you sorta-maybe liked it.

[Skitch]

Finally got around to seeing this after the fantastic House of the Devil and the pretty good The Sacrament. The first 3/4ths of this was a chore to get through. Snore city. The last 15-20 finally starts getting on with it, then its over. I felt none of the emotional build up I did with HotD or Sacrament. Its shot well, I didn't hate it...maybe I'm just really damn sick of same old same old ghost movies.

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For all the time spent building the characters, there being no resolve or answers at the end is maddening. Why were the ghosts pissed off? Why did they kill her? Why HER over anyone else?

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I've watched this end room shot five times and I don't see shit. Are you guys fucking with me?

Edit: watched end five more times. I still see nothing. :|

[Peng]

Similar throwback exercise as The House of the Devil, but I prefer this over that more acclaimed one. West's earlier film feels so hermetically sealed in its style to me somehow, to the suffocation that makes the third-act turn feels a bit jarring. This one opens up to more human elements, with various guests in the inn and especially the bored interplay between Sara Paxton and Pat Healy, which adds to the spooky atmosphere and later well-employed scares immensely. 6.5/10