The Innkeepers (2012) dir Ti West

I was able to watch an early release of The Innkeepers a few days ago and meant to write a review sooner but I having some time to think about it might have been a good thing. 

You all know how big of a fan I am of Ti West's House of the Devil and how excited I was for The Innkeepers.  Well, The Innkeepers is in no way, shape, or form as good as House of the Devil which isn't really surprising considering that HotD is one of the best American horror movies of the last ten years.  Innkeepers isn't great and I don't think most viewers are going to like it much at all.  Personally I enjoyed it though it has several problems.  On the upside:

• The acting and dialogue was convincing and natural.  Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) have a co-worker/friend rapport that is pretty familiar.
• Ti West edited his film really well.  There were a couple of moments where the cinematography and editing were really sharp. 
• I now have a crush of Sara Paxton and will watch movies with her in them (not a build a shrine crush).
• Pat Healy looks and sounds like a bizarro Josh in this movie (though he looks more like my buddy Josh instead of me Josh).
• Kelly McGillis is still awesome.
• West manages to create dynamic tension through out the movie (and pulls some brilliant tricks to confuse or defuse the tension) but ultimately Innkeepers stumbles once it really should turn it up to 11.  It's tough to explain without any spoilers so just watch the movie.

I am looking forward to watching this again because it was good and enjoyable (and I love Yankee haunted house/inn movies) and it was far superior to a lot of the crap I've seen over the last few years.  I'm planning a follow up review to this one when I watch Innkeepers again.