I've not seen many of Ti West's movies, and The Innkeepers was my first experience of his work when it was first released. At the time the film didn't really click with me, and I filed it away until I watched his truly horrifying The Sacrament, a film that's so realistic in its horror that it sent shivers down my spine. When Second Sight announced that they were releasing a new 4K UHD Limited Edition version of the film I thought that perhaps now might be a good time to give it another try, to see if perhaps my views on it have chanced in the near decade and a half since its release.
The Innkeepers takes place in the real life Yankee Pedlar Inn, though in a dramatized version of it that sees the old building on the edge of going out of business. Despite having been around for decades, illustrated in a great opening sequence showing the building's evolution over the years, not many people are staying there, and the place is only a week away from closing for good. The place is operating with a skeleton crew of two, Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healey).
The two of them have been largely bored at work, especially as there are only two guests in the building, and have been spending their time looking into the reported haunting inside the Inn. Years ago a bride took her own life in the hotel, and people have reported strange events ever since. Armed with an EVP recorder, a rather shoddy website, and the desire to catch something cool, they spend their shifts trying to contact the spirit walking the halls of the Yankee Pedlar. However, when spooky events begin to finally happen it sets them on a path that will put their lives in danger.
Horror is a broad genre, one that can do slow burn, that can be fast paced, it can have buckets of blood, or it can leave things to your imagination. You're never quite sure what you're going to get just from the label 'horror', and for much of the runtime of The Innkeepers I'd struggle to really consider it horror. Perhaps one of the best films to compare The Innkeepers to would be Kevin Smith's Clerks, a film with very little plot, that focuses on a handful of characters, and is mostly two people standing around chatting. The Innkeepers follows this mould, with the casual conversations between Claire and Luke being much of the focus of the movie.
Whether you consider this comparison to be a good thing or not would depend on your tastes, as the person who I first watched the film with loved both of those films, and I didn't really like them much. For me, too much of The Innkeepers was given over to personal relationships, meandering moments, and humour that didn't quite land for me. Yes, the characters are nice enough, with Sara Paxton doing a wonderful job in the lead role, but when 80% of the film feels like a relationship drama rather than a horror it's not really enough to keep me fully invested.
When the horror does appear on screen it felt a little too late to really salvage the experience for me. Spooky dead people suddenly appearing on the screen to make Claire scream and run away and not much more, after an hour of build up, honestly left me feeling a little short changed. I don't know why I felt like this, as some of my favourite horror films feature their main antagonist or object of fear very little, films like Alien, Jaws, or Sinister. But where I think perhaps those work more for me than The Innkeepers is that those films felt tense throughout, they had atmosphere, and characters were engaging. The Innkeepers has almost no tension, the film isn't all that visually engaging, and none of the characters are really memorable or all that entertaining.
I really hoped that by giving the film another chance I'd finally click with it, that I'd see what made a lot of people give it high scores and praise; but I guess The Innkeepers just isn't a film that does what I need. That's not to say it's bad, there's a lot of decent moments, a strong cast, and good dialogue. It's a competently made film that it's absolutely possible to love, so don't let my bad experience with it stop you from giving it a watch.
Alongside the film the new release comes with a slew of extra features. There are two audio commentary tracks for the movie. The first one features Ti West, who wrote, directed, and edited the film, along with Producers Larry Fessenden and Peter Phok, and Sound Designer Graham Reznick. The second commentary has West joined by actors Sarah Paxton and Pat Healey. The tracks are both decent, and offer different insights into the film. The second track has a bit more of a relaxed feel to it, with the cast reminiscing on what it felt like making the film, where as the other has more technical details and behind the scenes facts. There are also several new interviews, including Ti West, Pat Healey, Larry Fesenden, Director of Photography Eliot Rockett, Composer Jeff Grace, and Line Producer Jacob Jaffke. A behind the scenes featurette and a trailer round out the on disc features. As with other Second Sight Limited Editon's, The Innkeepers also comes with a slipcase featuring new artwork, 6 collectors art cards, and a 120-page book with essays and writing about the film.
The Innkeepers wasn't quite to my taste, but it's a competently made film that many will enjoy. The film has a strong fanbase and has been popular for well over a decade, and if you're one of those fans this new release makes for an excellent new edition packed with brand new extras.
The Innkeepers Limited Edition 4K UHD/Blu-ray is available now from Second Sight.