Interacting awkwardly with guests (watch out for Top Gun’s Kelly McGillis as a washed-up actress-turned-alcoholic-psychic), they inhabit a geeky bubble that’s quite adorable.
It’s a carefully crafted style that mounts an atmosphere, but the secret to The Innkeeper’s hold is its central couple. His slow camera patiently pans across a room or down a hallway, leaving noises off-screen until the last moment – or just unseen altogether. West understands the logic of horror, the build-up of suspense and the release, but gets far more pleasure out of the former. It’s natural, then, that the first major shock comes from a prank – a long-held camera shot that ends with a sudden bang. Half in love with the old place, as well as (you suspect) each other, they spend their shifts racing to ring the front desk bell and making each other jump. Running around the mostly empty Yankee Pedlar Inn, our two colleagues change towels and collect keys with surprising enthusiasm. Joining lacklustre staff members Claire (Paxton) and Luke (Healy) for the last few days of business, West’s workplace hangout feels closer to The Office than a horror movie – and that defiantly low-key shamble is both its best feature and its biggest flaw. Is it the ghost of The Shining lurking around the corner? Ti West does well to avoid it in his haunted hotel flick, The Innkeepers. There’s something about corridors that freaks people out. Watch The Innkeepers online in the UK: Shudder UK / Amazon Prime / Apple TV (iTunes) / Prime Video (Buy/Rent) / Google Play
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