Innkeepers Can Keep Their Inn, Thank You

There's a lot of promise in Ti West's The Innkeepers which unfortunately never quite emerges. It's the story of two hotel clerks with an interest in ghost hunting looking into the spooky goings on in their old inner city inn. The slow burn storytelling is a plus as it generates both atmosphere an tension (just ask John Carpenter), the deep focus, slowly dollying camerawork is admirably professional and old fashioned especially in this era of hand-held horror films and the characters appealing, amusing and down to earth...making rooting for them a lot easier.

But the script is too meandering, the scares ineffective, the story unoriginal and a bit too obvious and it feels like a lost opportunity to do something really frightening. In fact the most terrifying aspect of the entire enterprise is how old Top Gun star Kelly McGillis has got. Good on her for aging naturally in front of the camera, but in this age of bottox and nips and tucks, it's a shock to see her short haired, gray and wrinkly. After all, she's the same age as Kim Cattrall, Sela Ward and Sharon Stone. Holy crap!