The Innkeepers (film)

{{Infobox film

| name = The Innkeepers

| image = The Innkeepers Poster.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Ti West

| producer = {{Plainlist|

Derek Curl
Larry Fessenden
Peter Phok
Ti West

}}

| writer = Ti West

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| music = Jeff Grace

| cinematography = Eliot Rockett

| editing = Ti West

| studio = {{Plainlist|

Dark Sky Films
Glass Eye Pix

}}

| distributor = Magnet Releasing

| released = {{Film date|2011|03|12|SXSW|2012|02|03|United States}}

| runtime = 101 minutes{{cite web |title=The Innkeepers (2012) - International Box Office Results |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=innkeepers.htm |work=Box Office Mojo |accessdate=21 April 2018}}

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $750,000{{cite web|url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Innkeepers-The|title=The Innkeepers (2012) - Financial Information|work=The Numbers|accessdate=21 April 2018}}

| gross = $1.2 million

}}

The Innkeepers is a 2011 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Ti West.{{cite web |url=https://dreadcentral.com/news/35609/dark-skys-innkeepers-next-project-ti-west |title=Dark Sky's Innkeepers Next Project for Ti West |publisher=DreadCentral.com |accessdate=2011-03-05}} It stars Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, and Kelly McGillis.{{cite web |url=https://dreadcentral.com/news/37470/another-photo-from-ti-wests-the-innkeepers-now-with-100-more-orb |title=Another Photo From Ti West's The Innkeepers, Now With 100% More Orb |publisher=DreadCentral.com |accessdate=2011-03-05}} Its plot follows two employees at the Yankee Pedlar Inn who, during its last weekend of operations, attempt to document the alleged supernatural activity in the building.

Plot

In the final operating week of the Yankee Pedlar Inn, a once-grand hotel, Claire and Luke are the only employees working. Claire, an asthmatic college dropout, and Luke, owner of a website chronicling the hotel's supposed hauntings, are both ghost hunting enthusiasts fascinated by the hotel's "haunted" history. They were especially interested in Madeline O'Malley, a bride who hanged herself when abandoned at the altar, and whose body was hidden in the basement by the hotel owners.

Luke checks in an older woman, whom Claire recognizes as Leanne Rease-Jones, a former actress. While delivering towels to her room, Claire is starstruck and has an awkward encounter with Leanne, who is initially cold toward her. The following night, while taking out the garbage, Claire notices Leanne watching from her room window and waves, but Leanne moves away from the window without acknowledging her. Claire hears noises coming from the hotel's garage, where there is a door leading to the basement. She padlocks the door and returns inside. She uses Luke's ghost-hunting equipment to record EVPs in various places around the hotel. While recording, she hears faint voices and music, and sees the grand piano in the lobby play by itself.

Claire awakens to Madeline's apparition in her room. She later runs into Leanne in the hallway. Leanne reveals she is in town for a psychics' convention, having left her acting career to become a medium. She warns Claire not to go into the basement. Later that day, an elderly man arrives and asks for a honeymoon suite on the third floor, and Claire obliges him.

Luke and Claire investigate the basement. They encounter disembodied voices and other paranormal activity, which scares Luke into leaving the hotel. Panicked, Claire asks Leanne for help. Leanne makes contact with a spirit and tells Claire they need to leave the hotel immediately. Claire rushes upstairs to retrieve the elderly man, only to find a suicide note and discovers his body in the bathtub, his wrists slashed, with Madeline's apparition hanging from a rope. Claire runs downstairs and finds that Luke has returned to the hotel. As Luke goes upstairs to find Leanne, Claire hears noises coming from the basement and approaches the stairwell. Startled by an apparition of the elderly man, she falls down, injuring her head.

Disoriented, Claire walks into the basement room where Madeline's body was kept. She tries in vain to open the door leading to the garage, forgetting she had locked it. Confronted by Madeline's apparition, Claire dies of an asthma attack.

The next morning, Luke tells police he heard Claire's screams coming from the cellar but could not open the door to save her. Luke and Leanne leave with the police. Leanne comforts Luke, saying that Claire couldn't have been saved.

The film ends with a view of Claire's room where her barely-visible apparition looks out the window. As she turns towards the viewer, the door slams shut.

Cast

Sara Paxton as Claire
Pat Healy as Luke
Kelly McGillis as Leanne Rease-Jones
Alison Bartlett as Gayle, the angry mom
Jake Ryan as Boy
Lena Dunham as Barista
George Riddle as Old Man
Brenda Cooney as Madeline O'Malley
John Speredakos as Officer Mitchell

Production

While filming The House of the Devil, the crew stayed at Yankee Pedlar Inn{{cite web|last=Presnell|first=Riley|title=Ti West Believed 'The House of the Devil' Set Was Haunted, So He Made a Movie About It|url=https://collider.com/ti-west-house-of-the-devil-the-innkeepers/|website=Collider|date=August 28, 2023|access-date=October 19, 2023}} and some of the crew had strange experiences there.{{cite web|last=Smith|first=Nigel M.|title=Ti West On the Real Haunting That Inspired 'The Innkeepers'|url=https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/ti-west-on-the-real-haunting-that-inspired-the-innkeepers-49292/|website=IndieWire|date=February 2, 2012|access-date=October 19, 2023}} The Inn staff believed the location to be haunted and this inspired West to write and direct his next film, The Innkeepers.

In January 2010, Ti West was named as the director of the Dark Sky Films project.{{cite web |url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/18898 |title=Ti West Tells Tale of Haunted Hotel in 'The Innkeepers' |date=30 January 2010 |publisher=Bloody-Disgusting.com |accessdate=2011-03-05}} Sara Paxton, Pat Healy and Kelly McGillis signed on in May 2010.[https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/20155 "First Look Inside Ti West's Haunted Tale of 'The Innkeepers'!"]. Retrieved 2011-03-05. The film is produced by Derek Curl, Larry Fessenden, Ti West and Peter Phok. for Dark Sky Films in partnership with Glass Eye Pix.{{cite web |url=https://dreadcentral.com/news/37200/casting-news-ti-wests-the-innkeepers |title=Casting News on Ti West's The Innkeepers |publisher=DreadCentral.com |accessdate=2011-03-05}} It was shot in Torrington, Connecticut.{{cite web |url=https://dreadcentral.com/news/38496/tour-haunted-location-ti-wests-the-innkeepers |title=Tour the Haunted Location of Ti West's The Innkeepers |publisher=DreadCentral.com |accessdate=2011-03-05}} West shot several scenes in the actual Yankee Pedlar Inn in Torrington, Connecticut.{{cite web |url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/20877 |title=A Look at Ti West's Haunted Location for 'The Innkeepers' |date=13 July 2010 |publisher=Bloody-Disgusting.com |accessdate=2011-03-05}} The film was shot on 35 mm film.{{cite web| url = http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/ti-west-the-innkeepers#page2| title = A Visit to Ti West's Haunted Hotel - Interview Magazine| date = 7 July 2010}}

Soundtrack

The score is composed by American musician Jeff Grace.{{cite web |url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/blogs/film/2010-07-12/ti-west-the-innkeepers |title=A Visit to Ti West's Haunted Hotel |access-date=2011-03-05}}

Release

The film premiered at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in March 2011. Dark Sky Films set for a limited theatrical release on February 3, 2012.{{cite web |url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/20177 |title=An Orb or Just Dust in New 'Innkeepers' Image |date=12 May 2010 |publisher=Bloody-Disgusting.com |access-date=2011-03-05}} Ti West narrated and presented his film on the "Get Lit" Winter Party on December 22, 2010, in The Purple Lounge at The Standard Hotel on the Sunset Strip, Hollywood, California.{{cite web |url=https://dreadcentral.com/news/41540/exclusive-event-coverage-dread-gets-lit-lit-post-and-adam-green |title=Exclusive Event Coverage: Dread Gets Lit with Lit Post and Adam Green |publisher=DreadCentral.com |access-date=2011-03-05}}

Critical reception

The Innkeepers received generally positive reviews from critics. The film has a 79% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 121 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "It doesn't break any rules of the genre, but The Innkeepers serves as additional proof that Ti West is a young director that discriminating horror fans can trust".{{cite web|title=The Innkeepers|url=https://rottentomatoes.com/m/the_innkeepers/|work=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=November 13, 2022}}

Roger Ebert awarded the film a score of three out of four stars, concluding: "Ghost movies like this, depending on imagination and craft, are much more entertaining than movies that scare you by throwing a cat at the camera."{{cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-innkeepers-2012|title=The Innkeepers movie review & film summary (2012) {{!}} Certain guests never check out|last=Ebert|first=Roger|author-link=Roger Ebert|date=February 1, 2012|website=RogerEbert.com|access-date=29 March 2022}} David Harley of Bloody Disgusting gave the film a score of three out of five, commending the performances but writing that, "once the tone shifts from light-hearted comedy to balls-to-the-wall horror, it makes the two halves feel like separate films [...] in the end the whole is not as great as the sum of its parts."{{cite web|url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/film/4460/review|title=The Innkeepers|last=Harley|first=David|website=Bloody Disgusting|access-date=January 25, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110325022231/https://bloody-disgusting.com/review/4460|archive-date=March 25, 2011|url-status=dead}} Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film two out of five stars, calling it "bafflingly bland and unatmospheric", and writing that it "annoyingly fails to do anything with the kooky situation it elaborately establishes, and there are no real shocks or laughs."{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jun/07/the-innkeepers-review|title=The Innkeepers – review|last=Bradshaw|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Bradshaw|date=June 7, 2012|website=The Guardian|access-date=March 29, 2022}}

Jeffrey M. Anderson of the San Francisco Examiner selected The Innkeepers as the 8th best film of 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.sfexaminer.com/various-perspectives-of-the-top-10-films-of-2012/|title=Various perspectives of the top 10 films of 2012|website=SF Examiner|access-date=October 24, 2016}}