Films that dramatically divide opinion can
be a worrying prospect for the selective viewer. After all, when a film can be applauded
as the ‘scariest movie of the year’, and yet dismissed by other (more taciturn)
critics as ‘utter shite’, who are you supposed to believe?
Out this week on DVD, after a
blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cinema release, Ti West’s ghostly yarn The Innkeepers
is just such a film. How brief was its theatrical run? Well, let’s just say the
issue of Total Film that gave its big-screen debut a five-star review, is still
resting against my toilet cistern. But don’t let its hurried appearance on DVD
put you off; it’s no reflection on the film’s quality. Instead, this is a
low-fi, slow-burn chiller made for peanuts, so it’s not as though anyone involved
was expecting a triumphant three-month stint in the local Cineworld.
Coming so soon after celebrated spookers
like The Woman In Black and The Awakening, The Innkeepers feels like a
curiously subdued oddity. Whereas the former reveled in their moody period
detail - all peeling wallpaper and flickering candle-light - The Innkeepers takes
a wryly contemporary view of the things that go bump in the night. At the
Yankee Pedlar Inn, it’s more likely to be the drunken actress on the second
floor falling out of bed, than the vengeful spirit of a jilted bride.
Most haunted house films tend to feature a
cast of incredulous victims, who spend the first hour in a state of perpetually
irrational disbelief. However, West’s quirky contribution to the sub-genre
opens with his two lead characters updating a website dedicated to the phantom rumoured
to haunt the rundown hotel where they both work. Interestingly, our
protagonists are fully conversant with ghost story lore and actively seek out evidence
to support their growing belief in parapsychological phenomena.
In the same way that Scream revolutionised a
tired format by making its characters fully aware of slasher movie rules, here
we have a film about people who don’t freak out when a door closes of its own
accord. They’re too busy filming it and uploading it to YouTube. The downside,
if it can be called that, is that the first hour of the film is very light on
conventional scares. Instead, West allows us to spend time with his laconic
leads. And they’re a pretty entertaining pair, spending most of the weekend
bickering and bantering with each other, as well as the few guests who are
making use of the hotel’s final days in business.
It’s this decision to focus on character
and humour, rather than sudden shocks, that seems to have put off most viewers.
Perhaps they missed the film’s tagline: “A Ghost Story for the Minimum Wage”, which implied that this might have
more in common with Clerks than Insidious.
Adding to the unusual
mood of the movie is former Hollywood pin-up Kelly McGillis, playing a one-time
actress who’s now a spiritualist and healer. Looking almost as lived-in as her
shabby hotel room, McGillis represents one of the most enduring archetypes of
paranormal cinema – the ‘Madame Arcati’ figure. And yet, despite the build up, McGillis
isn’t given a whole lot to do, other than gaze blankly out of windows, and occasionally
swing a crystal pendulum. Even her panicked exposition in the final act seems
like more of an afterthought than a major plot driver, adding to the sense of
ennui around the entire proceedings. As a consequence, it’s hard not to think
about the fact that, whilst Tom Cruise presumably keeps an aging self portrait
in the attic, his Top Gun co-star seems to have spent the last decade living in
one.
Nonetheless, things do
pick up in the final half-hour, and there are a handful of decent scares to be
had. But die-hard horror fans complaining about the film’s insouciant tone are
perhaps missing the bigger point. Midway through the movie, it becomes clear
that, irrespective of any supernatural disturbances, the real ghosts haunting
the hotel are its aimless and disenfranchised employees. As played by Sara
Paxton (perky and cute) and Pat Healy (A Connecticut Yankee in Simon Pegg’s
Court), the two front-desk jockeys are trapped in the limbo of their own
unfinished business. But before they can set their spirits free, they need to
figure out what their business actually is.
No comments:
Post a Comment