The Inkeepers

Writer-director Ti West goes where many have gone before with “The Innkeepers,” a flat-footed tale of a haunted hotel. The Yankee Pedlar, which looks to date from the early 19th century, is a money-losing operation about to close. But desk clerk Luke (Pat Healy) wants to find proof of the hotel’s ghost – Madeline O’Malley, a bride who died there – before it closes. And the nerdy Luke has enlisted Claire, played by Sara Paxton, to help him. But they don’t want video. No. They’re only after audio. As with King’s “1408” and “The Shining,” West wants this well-kept Connecticut hostelry to cast its spell and give us chills. But he lazily wrote no back story for it and makes no effort to give it a haunted history or vibe. He pointlessly breaks the movie into titled chapters, e.g. “Chapter Three – A Final Guest.” One of the inn’s guests is a faded actress turned psychic (Kelly McGillis). West wastes her in a glorified cameo that has her doing little more than mentioning the “danger” in this situation. Worst of all is the film’s pacing. Nothing remotely scary happens for the first 40 minutes, and not much that occurs afterwards – repeated trips to the dark and dank basement – manages much of a jolt, either. As Stephen King himself might have put it, “Scary isn’t here, Mrs. Torrance.”