Riddle's screen time is brief, he makes a serious impact and elevates the tension of the picture to a whole new level – helping transition the audience from the lighthearted humor of the first act to the genuine horror of the final act. His voice is absolutely perfect, sending tingling chills down the spine from the very first moment he can be heard, and his physical performance is simply a knockout. But the real show-stopper is 73-year-old George Riddle, who plays a mysterious and completely haunting old man who checks into the inn right before it closes its doors for good. Both actors deliver two of the most naturalistic performances of 2011 and deserve credit for making their characters both entertaining, and very real. She's perfectly paired with Healy's Luke, a man-child who seems lost without her, harboring a hint of despise for her hidden underneath his innocent crush. Sara Paxton makes Claire a goofy young gal, outgoing, but also really dorky, sweet and cute. This is largely anchored by the film's principal leads. At first, the narrative plays things a bit comical, but slowly slips into an all-out screamfest. However, for those with a sweet tooth for ghostly horror, or even vintage chillers reminiscent of the Hitchcock era or films like The Shining, The Innkeepers is one hell of a ride.
While The Innkeepers does manage to draw out plenty of slow-brewing, organic thrills and chills – even without the ghosts – those with a distaste for ghostly horror aren't likely to be that scared. Ghosts only seem to work for a select audience, whereas some see them as gimmicky and cheap. Honestly, like most ghostly tales, if you don't buy the idea of ghosts, the film isn't going to win you over. But when the amateur ghostbusters manage to uncover something genuinely supernatural, things spiral out of control. Luke is working on a website that documents the scary paranormal activity in the inn, and he's managed to rope Claire into the fun. The two hipster slackers are employees at The Yankee Pedlar Inn, which is set to close in just one week. The film follows 20-something Claire ( Sara Paxton, recovering from Shark Night) and her too-old-to-be-working-at-an-inn co-worker Luke (Pat Healy). The results are an occasionally funny, lively horror film drawn from likeable, quirky characters and a genuinely eerie set piece – a haunted inn. With The Innkeepers (we'll brush past West's wayward sequel to Cabin Fever – a film he vehemently hates) writer/director Ti West takes on the classic ghostly chiller template, spinning a refreshingly fun and scary new yarn that plays on vintage slow-brewing horror cues, juxtaposed with rapid-fire, intense thrills that grow more and more intense as the film progresses (not unlike the visual horror from Insidious, for example). The results were quite stunning (read our review of that film here). With his eerie take on '80s horror, The House of the Devil, he took a basic premise and designed the film to look and feel like a piece of vintage horror, right down to the tone and pace of the feature. Director Ti West is one of horror cinema's most ambitious young filmmakers, and that's made him one potential "master of horror" to keep an eye on over the years.