And The Vision, That Was Planted In My Brain....Still Remains.

The sound....of silence.

Here's something that within most horror films today just cannot be tolerated.  No present-day movie going audience wants to WAIT for a buildup of suspense or even fathom having to expect something that isn't going to happen right away.  Viewers want gratification that is absolute.  And they want it immediately.

As the recent release of The Woman In Black creeps into theaters this weekend, it is of note that the studio producing the film is none other than the British film company, Hammer.  Who, in years past gave us some of the great icons of suspense and horror, including a Count Dracula played by Christopher Lee that didn't sparkle and could act.  It should also be considered that Hammer, along with great directors such as Hitchcock, Polanski, and the great Carol Reed did use talents in order to give the audience a buildup within their films.  It's not to say that all these films were great, but they included an amount of tension that, unless it's an indie film uncontrolled by a big Hollywood studio, isn't present today in about 90% of horror pictures or even suspense thrillers.

But wait, Mr. FUMoR....didn't you put a poster for some movie called The Innkeepers at the top of this blog review?  Yes, and that's why I prefaced this entry with the previous paragraphs.  While not a masterpiece of the macabre, Ti West's new film plays with the audience's emotions and yes, doesn't give full gratification for what is going on within 15 minutes.  As a side note, Quentin Tarantino has mentioned the term of "situation movies", which are most of the time, films he dislikes.  A situation movie is where the entire premise of the movie is set up within the first 15 minutes, and then the film spends the next hour and a half just trying to live up to that premise.  To this blogger, that's quite unoriginal.

"There's no room here for ghosts....or Mary and Joseph."

The Innkeepers involves two hotel clerks (or innkeepers....wow! There's the title!) who decide to discover the strange history of the building in which they are employed.  While not quite a ripoff of recent projects such as the Paranormal Activity films, The Innkeepers, while interesting does tend to tread into familiar territory.  However, the execution is what the makes the movie work.  

Ti West's previous movie, The House Of The Devil, was bombarded with review after review of utterly identical statements which said, "It's boring and nothing happens.  I fell asleep.  It's so stupid when you think something is about to happen and it doesn't."

No, no, no....those would be the words rightly reserved for typing a review about The Godfather.  That however, is for another post, another day.  West mimics here what so many of the greats like Polanski and Hitchcock and even Hammer studios tried to do back in the day, which was.....creep you out, not give instant gratification.

Now of course, this blogger is a horror fanatic.  Blood 'n gore is fine in a movie like Friday The 13th.  Phony scares and jump-out-of-your-seat cheesy stuff is great too, but at certain times, we just want to see that a horror film is trying to give the audience something different, aka...as the mainstream audience would say, boring stuff.  

But it's NOT boring. It's cryptic horror, not satisfaction guaranteed.  And The Innkeepers, while not perfect, offers up some great set pieces and great scares, one scare in particular...which is how much 25 years can take it's toll on Kelly McGillis.  This was the hot blonde from Top Gun in 1986?  Quite frightening.

Unfortunately, the sound of silence will still leave a mark on the audience.  There will be those that will finish watching The Innkeepers and say it was the most boring thing they had ever seen.  And there are those who will go see The Woman In Black and expect Harry Potter And The Hellish House Of Horrors.  Have we all but forgotten a film like John Carpenter's Halloween, that movie relied more on the atmosphere and intelligence of its audience, rather than going for cheap scares?  Perhaps, but then Michael Myers always was a quiet soul. 

The Innkeepers (2011), Directed by Ti West
Grade: B