The October Project 2: Day 26

``Yeah...I think this weekend's going to be it. We're going to get something good I can feel it.``


The Innkeepers 
(2011)
Directed by Ti West

From the director of House of the Devil comes a another exercise in subtle fear building. For most of the film the ``haunted-hotel`` plot takes a back seat to small comic moments meant to build empathy for the eccentric characters. Sara Paxton couldn't be more charming as Claire, the young night clerk of on old New England Hotel that she and her co-worker believe is haunted. She`s foolish and naive but her unfailingly positive attitude and surprising courage make her a heroine worth rooting for. Pat Healy is also memorable as her fellow clerk, the cynical, not entirely trustworthy, Luke resident expert on the Hotel's history of ghostly phenomena.
As the fright gags get ratcheted up and the film barrels to it`s abrupt conclusion the time spent with these characters proves well spent as we actually care about what happens to them.
Another winner from, not just a good horror director, but a talented indie filmmaker full-stop.

PS - Fun cameo near the beginning from Lena Dunham, who also played a voice on the phone in House of the Devil.