Starry Eyes

The Innkeepers

Directed by Ti West.

2011. Rated R, 101 minutes.

Cast:

Sara Paxton

Pat Healy

Kelly McGillis

Alison Bartlett

Jake Ryan

Lena Dunham

George Riddle

Brenda Cooney

John Speredakos

An old, stale hotel on the last weekend it will ever be in business, with only a few people around, seems as good a place as any for a good haunted house flick. ENGH! Wrong answer. At least in this case. I’m not sure there are any right answers in the 100 plus minutes we spend in this drab setting. By drab, I don’t mean anything remotely “haunting”, either. I just mean “bleh.”

Things start well enough, I guess. As mentioned, the Yankee Pedlar Inn is going out of business and the owner is wisely on vacation elsewhere. This means we’re stuck with the only two dweebs who work here, Clare (Paxton) and Luke (Healy). For some strange reason, they think they’re Akroyd and Murray back in 1984. Get it? Sigh…kids these days. They think they’re Ghostbusters! He-dweeb spends most of every day tap, tap, tapping on his laptop, designing his website based on “real” paranormal activity. She-dweeb mostly just believes whatever flies out of his pie-hole and agrees to try and record the ghosts in the hotel. By record, I mean audio only, not video. Huh? Whatever. Legend has it that, way back when, a bride hanged herself in one of the rooms because her brand new hubby abandoned her. Instead of using her apparently active afterlife to find that bum and haunt his ass, she knocks around the Inn occasionally going “Woooohhhh” and scaring the guests.

Hey, I've tortured myself once by watching this movie and twice by sitting down to write this review. Consider this your chance to stop reading now. You already know how I feel about this so-called film. Therefore, I’m going to do something constructive while I bang out a few more paragraphs. I’m attempting to take the art of onomatopoeia to new heights, just like this, boom. Didn't you notice ENGH? Bleh? Okay, at least you understood boom. No? Sigh. Grab a dictionary and look up onomatopoeia. Damn, you’re lazy. Just click here. See what I did there? I’m sorry, you’re not lazy, unless you are…screw it.

We left off on guests, right? Hmph, the only paying ones are a lady and her son. We learn she’s pissed at her hubby and punishing him by spending the weekend away. Ha! Judging from her demeanor I’ll bet he’s not feeling so punished. As for the boy, probably about 8, he gets a treat when he gets to see she-dweeb in her undies. Boing! Good for you, child actor. Now, don’t do drugs. Unfortunately for she-dweeb, after a frightening moment (for her anyway) sends her running to he-dweebs room she sees him in his undies. Ladies, trust me when I say this: gag!

Anyhoo, the lady and her son leave and an alcoholic, former actress, current medium arrives. Every haunted house flick has to have one of those. She’s in town for a people-who-talk-to-dead-people convention but of course, gets pulled into the goings on at the hotel. Right before just about every action she knocks back one of those small airline bottles of booze. A little later, some random old dude shows up and yes, he’ll become part of the happenings, also.

What are these happenings, you ask? Whenever she-dweeb is alone (they man the front desk in shifts), she starts hearing stuff knock or clank or wind howling or the piano in the lobby starts playing by itself. At some point during all the commotion, she yanks the recording equipment off the desk and mostly captures herself whimpering. Nice. She finally gets a noise other than from her own body, screams, runs and tells he-dweeb or drunk psychic and then…nothing. Between these scenes, our dweebs have completely inane conversations. Seriously, it’s like “Hey, look at my website and ghosts are real blah blah blah.”

“I totally believe you ‘cuz sometimes people see stuff and blah blah blah.”

Okay, movie, either kill them now or kill me. I’m begging. Hear that? That’s the sound of brain cells oozing out of my ear, splashing to their death on my shoulder so they no longer have to listen to this dreck. I should have known better. Our director, Ti West, also helmed the equally bad and equally overrated House of the Devil. If you see this man anywhere near a movie set, please have the nearest person call 911 then physically restrain him until the cops arrive.

Regardless of my feelings on the matter, The Innkeepers drones on. Sigh. You know the drill. Eventually, he-dweeb picks up on the fact strange crap is really happening and drunk psychic says ‘get out.’ I’m paraphrasing, of course. As for the random old dude, I’ll let you figure it out. Will she-dweeb and he-dweeb escape the dead bride? Will you give a flying fox fleeing from a flock of pheasants? Dun dun dun DUNNNNN!

Compliance

Directed by Craig Zobel.

2012. Rated R, 90 minutes.

Cast:

Ann Dowd

Dreama Walker

Pat Healy

Ashlie Atkinson

Bill Camp

James McCaffrey

Philip Ettinger

Nikiya Mathis

Ralph Rodriguez

Sandra (Dowd) is the manager at Chickwich, a fast-food restaurant, and her day starts off on the wrong foot. One of her employees left the freezer open last night and almost fifteen hundred dollars worth of food is ruined. This includes much of the all-important bacon supply. She’s fairly certain it was the dopey Kevin (Ettinger), but doesn't have any proof. Oh well. Becky (Walker), the young blond who works one of the registers, thinks that Sandra thinks it was her. Becky professes her innocence and makes it known she can’t afford to lose her job. Smack dab in the middle of the busiest time of day, a police officer, Officer Daniels (Healy) calls the store and tells Sandra that he is with a woman who says Becky stole money from her. He instructs Sandra to bring Becky into the back so they can all get to the bottom of this matter. This begins with Sandra checking Becky’s pockets and even her purse. From there, things escalate to dizzying heights.

As events unfold, we’re simultaneously amazed and appalled by what we’re seeing. Our stomachs churn, forcing us to vocalize our displeasure. Not only are we upset with the man on the phone, but also with Sandra and others physically present for their roles in what happens to Becky. We pray in vain for one of them to grow a brain and get over their blind allegiance to authority, to simply ask themselves how any of this makes any sense. Sandra only occasionally shows the slightest reluctance while marching forward with her orders. The others only momentarily question her when she involves them at the officer’s behest, but fall in line. Only Kevin, the one we thought wasn't so smart, takes any sort of stand before it’s too late. The entire situation gets beneath our skin.

Our hearts bleed for Becky. As viewers, we share in her helplessness. Whatever belief we have in our fellow man to do what’s right, not necessarily the same as what they’re told is right, is dismantled right before our eyes. However, we wonder at what point will she stand up for herself, if at all. How complicit is she in her own victimization? To be clear, we don’t want to blame the victim. Still, even the movie itself wonders aloud if she could’ve put a stop to the whole thing herself rather early on. That said, we realize she is totally taken advantage of.

The performances of the two women in the lead roles are excellent conduits for our anger and sympathy. Dowd, as Sandra, perfectly echoes many we've all encountered in lower/middle management positions. She’s doing what she thinks is right from an organizational standpoint without actually thinking about what is really right. This is why she’s so willing to comply with a voice on the phone. We marvel at how naive she is, but don’t doubt for a second that there are plenty of real Sandras out there. As Becky, Walker pulls off a remarkable innocence that combines with the situation itself to make many portions of the movie very tough to watch.

That Compliance is so tough to watch is what makes it a compelling piece of American horror. The fact that the victims never see their boogeyman doesn't make him any less scary. In fact, it makes him more so. He does what anyone can. Behind a veil of anonymity, and with the illusion of power, it is much easier to get others to do your bidding, no matter how twisted. To make matters even more terrifying, the movie is inspired by true events from a few years ago. Many of the things that happen here really did take place. Again, there are real Sandras out there. And Beckys.

Now that I've built this movie up as a great horror film, get that idea out of your head. It is, but many will think it isn't. The problem is Compliance bypasses most of the genre’s traditional tropes and resembles nothing of the sort. There is no masked madman dismembering co-eds or ghosts trying to make us jump. If that’s what you’re looking for, look elsewhere. If you’re interested in a truly disturbing picture that deserves to be seen, this is for you.