The Innkeepers (2011) dir Ti West

You're better than this, Ti! Come on!

You know when you're a kid and you do something really, really stupid and your parents find out and give you the 'ol, "Now, I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed." That's pretty much how I feel after watching "The Innkeepers."

With his debut flick, "House of The Devil," Ti West really impressed the shit out of a lot of horror nerds with his super tense and straight forward approach to a story about a college chick who has a run-in with a satanic cult. Anyone who watches that movie, myself included, would conclude that West has a good handle on what's scary, how to pace things well and also how to surprise your audience without coming across as cheap. Well, it's like he literally forgot how to do every single one of these things with "The Innkeepers." I mean, this movie is so unredeeming and shitty that it makes me question how "House of The Devil" turned out like it did. This is a huge step backwards for him.

First of all, making a compelling movie about ghosts and hauntings is pretty difficult. There aren't very many good ones out there and certainly not any recent ones. And there was nothing compelling about the source material here: an awkward asthmatic 20-something girl and an utter bridge troll of a ginger dude both working at an old ass hotel, half-assedly trying to capture its ghosts on film before the place closes. Who gives a shit?

I mean, god dammit, there's even a scene in the beginning where the ginger asshole tricks the girl into watching one of those pop-up scary videos that you used to trick your roommates into watching in like 2002 because it was "hilarious." If West was trying to call out filmmakers for using cheap pop-up scares, well, he fucking failed hard because he pretty much does the same thing for the movie's big moments. Also, he egregiously overuses dutch angles throughout movie to try and convey that "things are getting weird, dude! Whoa!" When shit finally starts happening, it's just so unremarkable because of the lack of investment into the characters and it's not in the least bit scary or creepy. Bummer.

Despite multiple warnings from trusted horror buds, I still had semi-high hopes for this flick. Even paid to watch it OnDemand like a chump. I hope West can bounce back, but it's gonna have to really be something special to wash out the taste of this one.