The Innkeepers (film)

Last updated
The Innkeepers
The Innkeepers Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ti West
Written byTi West
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyEliot Rockett
Edited byTi West
Music byJeff Grace
Production
companies
Distributed by Magnet Releasing
Release dates
  • March 12, 2011 (2011-03-12)(SXSW)
  • February 3, 2012 (2012-02-03)(United States)
Running time
101 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$750,000 [2]
Box office$1.2 million [1]

The Innkeepers is a 2011 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Ti West. [3] It stars Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, and Kelly McGillis. [4] 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.

Contents

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

Production

While filming The House of the Devil , the crew stayed at Yankee Pedlar Inn [5] and some of the crew had strange experiences there. [6] The Inn staff believed the location to be haunted and this inspired West to write and direct his next film, The Innkeepers. [6]

In January 2010, Ti West was named as the director of the Dark Sky Films project. [7] Sara Paxton, Pat Healy and Kelly McGillis signed on in May 2010. [8] The film is produced by Derek Curl, Larry Fessenden, Ti West and Peter Phok. [3] for Dark Sky Films in partnership with Glass Eye Pix. [9] It was shot in Torrington, Connecticut. [10] West shot several scenes in the actual Yankee Pedlar Inn in Torrington, Connecticut. [11] The film was shot on 35 mm film. [12]

Soundtrack

The score is composed by American musician Jeff Grace. [13]

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. [14] 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. [15]

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". [16]

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." [17] 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." [18] 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." [19]

Jeffrey M. Anderson of the San Francisco Examiner selected The Innkeepers as the 8th best film of 2012. [20]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Hamiltons</i> 2006 American film

The Hamiltons is an independent 2006 horror film directed by the Butcher Brothers. Cory Knauf stars as a teenager who must decide whether to help the victims that his older siblings have kidnapped.

<i>Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever</i> 2009 film by Ti West

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever is a 2009 American comedy horror film directed by Ti West and stars Noah Segan, Rusty Kelley, Alexi Wasser, Marc Senter, Rider Strong and Giuseppe Andrews. It is a sequel to the 2002 film Cabin Fever and the second installment in the Cabin Fever franchise. The film is about a high school prom that descends into chaos when a deadly flesh-eating bacteria spreads via a popular brand of bottled water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ti West</span> American film director

Timon C. West is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, and occasional actor, best known for his work in horror films. He directed the horror films The Roost (2005), Trigger Man (2007), The House of the Devil (2009), The Innkeepers (2011), The Sacrament (2013), X and its prequel Pearl, and the Western In a Valley of Violence (2016). He has also acted in a number of films, mostly in those directed by either himself or Joe Swanberg.

<i>100 Feet</i> 2008 American film

100 Feet is a 2008 American horror film written and directed by Eric Red and starring Famke Janssen, Bobby Cannavale, Ed Westwick and Michael Paré.

<i>Night of the Demons</i> (2009 film) 2009 American film

Night of the Demons is a 2009 American horror film and remake of the 1988 film of the same name. It was directed by Adam Gierasch, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jace Anderson, and stars Edward Furlong, Monica Keena, Bobbi Sue Luther, Shannon Elizabeth, Diora Baird, and Michael Copon.

<i>The House of the Devil</i> 2009 film by Ti West

The House of the Devil is a 2009 American horror film written, directed, and edited by Ti West, starring Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, Greta Gerwig, A. J. Bowen, and Dee Wallace.

<i>Paranormal Activity</i> 2007 film by Oren Peli

Paranormal Activity is a 2007 American supernatural horror film produced, written, directed, photographed and edited by Oren Peli. It centers on a young couple who are haunted by a supernatural presence inside their home. They then set up a camera to document what is haunting them. The film uses found-footage conventions that were mirrored in the later films of the series.

<i>The Hole</i> (2009 film) 2009 film by Joe Dante

The Hole is a 2009 American 3D dark fantasy horror film directed by Joe Dante and starring Chris Massoglia, Haley Bennett, Nathan Gamble, Bruce Dern, and Teri Polo. The film follows Dane and Lucas Thompson, two brothers who move into their new house with their single mother, Susan. Dane and Lucas, along with their new neighbor Julie Campbell, discover a trap door in the basement, leading to a bottomless pit, and accidentally unleash a supernatural force that manifests itself into any fear of the person who looks into the hole.

<i>The Last Exorcism</i> 2010 American film

The Last Exorcism is a 2010 American found footage supernatural horror film directed by Daniel Stamm. It stars Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Caleb Landry Jones, and Louis Herthum.

<i>51</i> (film) 2011 American film

51 is a 2011 American horror film directed by Jason Connery and starring Bruce Boxleitner and John Shea. It is part of the After Dark Originals lineup. The film premiered on the SyFy Channel on February 26, 2011.

<i>Haunted Poland</i> 2011 Polish film

Haunted Poland is a 2011 horror film in the found footage genre, pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by Maso & Co Productions. Told cinéma vérité-style, Haunted Poland depicts the contents of recorded tape filmed by a couple Ewelyn, and Pau who visited Poland to meet and visit family. However, our duo soon find themselves disturbed by all manner of strange phenomena upon visiting the girl's hometown where she once played with a ouija board. The film premiered at the AIFF on November 20, 2011.

<i>Cassadaga</i> (film) 2011 American film

Cassadaga is a 2011 American independent horror thriller film directed by Anthony DiBlasi. The screenplay is the feature-length debut for co-writers Bruce Wood and Scott Poiley. The film stars Kelen Coleman, Kevin Alejandro, Louise Fletcher, Rus Blackwell, Hank Stone, J Larose, Amy LoCiero and Christina Bach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yankee Pedlar Inn</span> Historic hotel located in Torrington, Connecticut, USA

The Yankee Pedlar Inn is a historic hotel located in Torrington, Connecticut, US. The inn, which now has 52 rooms, was built for its original owners, Frank and Alice Conley, in 1891. It was originally given a colonial New England architectural style.

<i>Amityville: The Awakening</i> 2017 film directed by Franck Khalfoun

Amityville: The Awakening is a 2017 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Franck Khalfoun and starring Bella Thorne, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Cameron Monaghan, Mckenna Grace, Thomas Mann, Taylor Spreitler, Jennifer Morrison, and Kurtwood Smith. It is the tenth installment of the Amityville film series and a direct sequel/metafilm taking place in the "real world" outside of the continuity of the series which establishes The Amityville Horror (1979), the sequels from 1982 to 1996, and the 2005 remake of the original film as fiction. Its plot follows a teenager who moves into 112 Ocean Avenue with her family, who shortly find themselves haunted by a demonic entity using her brain-dead twin brother's body as a vessel.

Entrance is a 2011 American psychological horror-thriller film directed by Dallas Hallam and Patrick Horvath and was written by Hallam, Horvath, Karen Gorham, and Michelle Margolis. Suziey Block stars as a barista who lives a repetitive and anxious life in Los Angeles. When her beloved dog disappears, she decides to give up and move back home, but first she invites all her friends to a going-away party.

<i>Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort</i> 2014 film by Valeri Milev

Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort is a 2014 American slasher film directed by Valeri Milev. It serves as a reboot and the sixth installment in the Wrong Turn film series.

<i>Hell House LLC</i> 2015 American film

Hell House LLC is a 2015 American found-footage supernatural horror film written and directed by Stephen Cognetti and produced by Joe Bandelli. The film, shot as a documentary, follows a group of Halloween haunted house creators as they prepare for the 2009 opening of their popular haunted attraction, Hell House. Tragedy strikes on opening night when an unknown "malfunction" causes the death of 15 tour-goers and staff. The film reveals the lead-up to the tragedy and what really went wrong that night, the details of which have remained a mystery to the public. The film was released on a number of video on-demand platforms, including Amazon Video, Shudder, YouTube, Vudu, and iTunes, on November 1, 2016.

<i>House on Willow Street</i> 2016 film

House on Willow Street is a 2016 South African supernatural horror film written by Jonathan Jordaan and Alistair Orr and directed by Orr. It stars Sharni Vinson, Steven Ward, Zino Ventura, and Gustav Gerderner as kidnappers who take a young girl, played by Carlyn Burchell. It premiered at the London FrightFest Film Festival.

A Lady in Red or Red Lady is a type of female ghost, similar to the White Lady, but according to legend is more specifically attributed to a jilted lover, killed in a fit of passion, or woman of vanity. In all cases, the Lady in Red is wearing a scarlet or blood red dress. She is said to typically be friendly in disposition, with a story attached to historic hotels, theatres or other public places, with a higher frequency of reports.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Innkeepers (2012) - International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  2. ↑ "The Innkeepers (2012) - Financial Information". The Numbers . Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Dark Sky's Innkeepers Next Project for Ti West". DreadCentral.com. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  4. ↑ "Another Photo From Ti West's The Innkeepers, Now With 100% More Orb". DreadCentral.com. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  5. ↑ Presnell, Riley (August 28, 2023). "Ti West Believed 'The House of the Devil' Set Was Haunted, So He Made a Movie About It". Collider . Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  6. 1 2 Smith, Nigel M. (February 2, 2012). "Ti West On the Real Haunting That Inspired 'The Innkeepers'". IndieWire . Retrieved October 19, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Ti West Tells Tale of Haunted Hotel in 'The Innkeepers'". Bloody-Disgusting.com. 30 January 2010. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  8. ↑ "First Look Inside Ti West's Haunted Tale of 'The Innkeepers'!". Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  9. ↑ "Casting News on Ti West's The Innkeepers". DreadCentral.com. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  10. ↑ "Tour the Haunted Location of Ti West's The Innkeepers". DreadCentral.com. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  11. ↑ "A Look at Ti West's Haunted Location for 'The Innkeepers'". Bloody-Disgusting.com. 13 July 2010. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  12. ↑ "A Visit to Ti West's Haunted Hotel - Interview Magazine". 7 July 2010.
  13. ↑ "A Visit to Ti West's Haunted Hotel" . Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  14. ↑ "An Orb or Just Dust in New 'Innkeepers' Image". Bloody-Disgusting.com. 12 May 2010. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  15. ↑ "Exclusive Event Coverage: Dread Gets Lit with Lit Post and Adam Green". DreadCentral.com. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  16. ↑ "The Innkeepers". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  17. ↑ Ebert, Roger (February 1, 2012). "The Innkeepers movie review & film summary (2012) | Certain guests never check out". RogerEbert.com . Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  18. ↑ Harley, David. "The Innkeepers". Bloody Disgusting . Archived from the original on March 25, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
  19. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (June 7, 2012). "The Innkeepers – review". The Guardian . Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Various perspectives of the top 10 films of 2012". SF Examiner . Retrieved October 24, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.