The Innkeepers

Name: The Innkeepers
Director: Ti West
Released: 2011
Cast: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis

Transcript

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JenniferOh my god, Halloween is a Saturday this year.

LeeYes.

JenniferIf only we'll be allowed parties by then.

LeeHold on.

AdamIt gets better, it's a Saturday, but it's also the Saturday that the clocks go back.

JenniferOh, yes, when that's.

AdamSo you get an additional hour of Halloween.

JenniferPerfect. Perfect.

LeeLoving that.

JenniferYes.

ChrisAlthough that might confuse all the ghosts that'll come out an hour early and be like, oh no, quick turn back.

LeeYeah, unfortunately I think Halloween might night might not be the best night to record because.

JenniferWe'll be out for Halloween.

LeeWe'll have people knocking. Oh yeah, and we'll want to out by then. Um, but yeah, so.

ChrisThat could be it, you could like scare the people as they knock and they're all just screams.

JenniferYou want me to pretend to be trick-or-treaters throughout the night.

LeeJust knocking in the Hello.

AdamNow what we do is we'll pull all our money together and I'll admit I won't be I won't be making much of a contribution in that sense.

AdamBut we'll pull all our money together and just get actors, but like real big fucking names.

JenniferYeah.

LeeIt's Sam Raimi. It's Sam Raimi.

AdamYeah.

JenniferHi Sam.

AdamIt's Snoop, everyone.

AdamJack Black's in the house.

LeeDo you know what? You talked about Snoop. I obviously, we don't have TV, so we don't watch TV.

LeeWe watched TV the other day for the first time, Snoop doesn't advert for just eat now.

AdamYeah.

AdamBecause and I tell you what, it's just he couldn't give a shit.

AdamHe is I consider him the Vincent Price of hip hop.

AdamHe never he never doesn't bring his A game, which admittedly isn't, you know, exceptional.

AdamYou say fizzle dizzle.

ChrisSo wait, you mean he's consistent?

AdamYeah, he's consistent but also he's like, I don't care, I might not get another thousand dollars, right here we go.

ChrisNo, the best thing I ever saw him do was huge vegetables.

ChrisDid anyone else see that?

AdamNo.

ChrisNo.

ChrisI look it up, but randomly saw I don't know if it was a documentary, but it was just like, you know, a huge vegetable competition and he was there, you know, appreciating the huge vegetables.

JenniferWhy not?

LeeSo I suppose yeah, it's a lot of food at one place, really.

Chrisyeah, you can be.

LeeI think you said you liked growing carrots.

AdamYeah, I reckon that's the point.

LeeExcellent, right, so talking of A game.

LeeGood evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to horror, I'm Lee.

ChrisI'm Chris.

AdamI'm Adam.

JenniferI'm Jennifer.

LeeUh, and we are here this evening to cover what I think is one of the most underrated films of the last decade, spoiler alert, but we shall get onto that in a little bit once we've covered off the obligatory extras as we do.

LeeUm, so, Chris, have you seen anything in the last week since we last recorded?

ChrisYes, I watched something that was a little bit similar, it turned out to tonight's extravaganza.

ChrisAnd it was one of the shorts by London Horror Society and it was a an award-winning short by Oliver Park called Vicious.

ChrisAnd the story revolves around a young woman who is in the process of dealing with the death of her sister.

ChrisOne night she comes home to find her door unlocked.

ChrisIt turns out that she might not be alone.

ChrisAnd that's pretty much all I can say about it.

JenniferOh, okay.

LeeOkay.

ChrisDefinitely yeah, definitely worth a look.

ChrisI'll say the style excellent, you know, similar to tonight's showing.

JenniferFantastic.

LeeHow long was the short?

ChrisUh, I think it was something like 11 or 12 minutes.

JenniferCool.

ChrisYeah, but yeah, definitely worth a watch.

LeeWhat was it called again?

ChrisIt's called Vicious.

LeeExcellent, was that on uh YouTube or?

ChrisYes, yeah, and the the YouTube playlist.

LeeOh for London Horror Society that's it.

JenniferYeah, I think you linked to ages ago.

LeeYou did.

LeeI've looked at lots of stuff on there, but I don't know that short.

LeeUm, Adam, have you seen anything horror related?

AdamI haven't seen anything, I've heard something.

AdamUh, so I'm going to go with that because I.

ChrisWas it someone screaming?

AdamNo, although I have heard that.

JenniferWas it you screaming?

AdamYeah, it's it's my alarm clock.

AdamYou hear me screaming, oh, I'm awake, yeah, that's it.

JenniferYou set Clare as your yeah, your sort of ring alarm there just to scream at you.

AdamNo, I think I think sadly I am her ringtone, she's just has to list me screaming terror.

AdamAs I as a as I face the dawn.

JenniferNice.

AdamUm, but I've been, uh, it's weird because I'm meant to mention this podcast when back when we did Quatermass and the Pit, um, and it was just I'd started listening to it because it was a Nigel Kneale podcast, um, so it was covering like Quatermass and the stone tape and things like that.

AdamUm, and I forgot to mention it then and they're called Bergcast, which is B E R G as in British Experimental Rocket Group, cast.

AdamSo they're Bergcast, but the reason I mention it is I'm now sort of catching up with the stuff they've been releasing because I don't think they'd actually covered Quatermass and the Pit when we when we did, I think they were still sort of like doing the BBC stuff.

AdamAnd so I've sort of picked up listening to it again, but as they've entered lockdown, one of them writes horror shorts, like horror short stories.

AdamAnd so as little bonus episodes on Bergcast, they've they've sort of started docking them out, but they release uh episodes where it's just this guy reading his the horror stories he's written, he's one of the presenters of the show.

AdamUm, and then the other guy, the other guy who's on the podcast just comes in at the start and says that he is the man in black, and we present a terrible tale this evening.

JenniferYeah, did he do the sound effects as well?

AdamOh yeah, and it's that sort of thing where it's it's just like an old sort of like you'd get on Radio 4 or something like that, you know, it's just someone reading and they're banging a wind effect or something crashing or whatever like that.

AdamBut yeah, um, so yeah, they've uh, so you can find them when you look up the podcast.

AdamBut the podcast itself is really good because they are just going through everything that Nigel Kneale who, you know, is a massive sci-fi horror influencer, uh, sorry, that I don't mean he's on Instagram.

AdamIf anything, the poor man's dead, so.

AdamUm, but that that constitutes fraud.

AdamAnd, um, but yeah, no, it's a really, really good podcast, but the stories they're uh, as I say, they're original pieces, but I think they sort of stand up in they're certainly standing up in terms of other stuff that Nigel Kneale would have done.

AdamBecause obviously he did like the adaptation of The Woman in Black and things like that.

JenniferInteresting.

AdamAnd uh, yeah, but definitely, uh, yeah, so that's definitely worth checking out.

JenniferCool.

LeeSounds excellent.

ChrisSounds good.

JenniferOn the to-do list.

LeeI have indeed, I have indeed.

LeeUm, so in prep for this evening, well, I say in prep we watched The Innkeepers last night.

LeeAnd then today, um, to keep it a bit Ti West, uh, we re-watched Your Next.

JenniferWe did.

LeeUm, I that film holds up so well, um, I've forgotten just how funny it is.

JenniferYeah, I'd forgotten the twists, I was just thinking, oh yeah, it's just one of those normal horror films, and then the twists started kicking in, I'm like, oh yeah.

LeeUh, yeah, fantastic.

LeeAgain, it's one of those I I'm not a fan of home invasion movies, but I think this I still think this is more of a comedy based in a home invasion movie, black comedy definitely, but comedy nonetheless. Um, yeah, it.

ChrisIt takes that edge off that you don't like.

LeeYeah, yeah, because it is it's really gruesome and violent and brutal, but it's equally ludicrous and hilarious. Um, and everybody in it is mental.

LeeUm, so Ti West didn't direct, it was Adam Wingard, but Ti West is in it as a kind of, uh, not cameo, but he is in it for a very short period.

LeeUm, yeah, playing a film director, which is kind of amusing.

AdamYeah, he's he's he's done a few, um, as an actor, he's been in a couple, yeah, Your Next, something called Silver Bullets, and he's in House of the Devil.

LeeHe is indeed.

LeeUm, yeah, which is another one I would have quite liked to have had a chance to catch up with that again.

LeeI've seen that three or four times.

LeeYes.

LeeBut yeah, would gladly have watched that again.

AdamWell, I, I would say wait because I, I can't see us not wanting to cover it on the show if we did.

LeeI totally agree, yeah, I I think it's again it's yeah, kind of space it out from this one, don't want to do them too close together, but yeah, that definitely needs to be covered, it's fantastic film.

LeeUm, yeah, and very similar to this evening's kind of very slow burn but once it kicks off, shit in hell does it kick off.

LeeUm, yeah, so that's it really.

LeeAlso, I've been I've gone back, I mentioned it about a year ago now, I was reading the Essex Witch Museum mysteries, the first and more, um, yeah, I so I read the first one and I started reading the second one and then it got to that point where I didn't read it for a couple of weeks and then I couldn't remember where I was, so I kind of abandoned it.

AdamOh, yes.

LeeUm, and I've started it again on like Tuesday, uh, yeah, and I've managed to get through, I'm almost finished it now, so I've got through in about a week, which for me is is very quick to get through a book, I've been really carving time out.

LeeUm, yeah, really good, so I know we have a lot of people who ask us about books and stuff and I'm a bit shit and I don't read anywhere near as much as I should, um, but yeah, anybody who does read, who listens to us, who didn't catch that last time, yeah, the Essex Witch Museum mysteries, uh, supernatural mysteries, uh, set in Essex, really, really good.

LeeWell worth checking out.

JenniferIndeed, yes.

JenniferAnd I have also been reading, I have been reading They All Love Jack, the bustin' the Ripper.

AdamOh, Bruce Robinson's well.

JenniferYes, that was a recommendation from uh, Wesley last uh, last time we all chatted.

JenniferSo I ordered it sort of that night, you know, late night, got there a couple of days and then I realized how thick the book is.

JenniferWhen it arrived.

AdamIt's ridic.

JenniferHe didn't mention that I don't think when he was recommending it.

ChrisSo say again, what, what is they all love Jack and what what exactly is it about?

JenniferSo it's about Jack the Ripper and it's basically, um, yeah, talking about all the other Ripper, you know, theories that have gone before it, basically saying how they're all wrong and putting forward, obviously, this guy's own theory.

JenniferUm, I mean, it seems, you know, reasonably academic, I mean, his language isn't particularly, like he swears in it and, you know, he's quite humorous in it, so you're sort of left thinking a little bit, is this a serious, you know, he's putting all the sort of references and things in, so you're thinking, okay, I presume I could check these and they would be serious, but the other part of you sort of thinking, hmm, don't know.

JenniferUm, but you know, yeah, it's it's quite convincing, so.

JenniferYeah, and I'm enjoying it.

AdamBecause obviously it's uh, Bruce Robinson is the writer and director of Withnail and I.

JenniferOh, I did not know that.

AdamYeah, and I and when you said, oh it's quite sweary, I was like, yeah, probably.

JenniferGo on, do a quote from now.

LeeIt can't be Uncle Monty.

AdamMonty, you terrible cunt.

AdamIt's been a bad month, I don't care, haven't seen Gil down the fucking labour exchange.

JenniferI can introduce Chris to this as well, although you've seen it, yeah.

JenniferIt's an old one, but it's uh, yeah.

LeeUm, a friend.

AdamWhere's it coming from?

LeeIt's it's so it's uh, it's the story of two um, drunks, two drunks, basically, go away to the country for the weekend.

AdamI I think they prefer the term actor.

JenniferOne of them is Richard E Grant, who is hilarious.

LeeYeah.

LeeUm, but they so they go off to this house in the country and the a friend of ours went to a screening, um, where they'd set up an an outdoor screen in next to the cottage from the film.

JenniferOh, wow.

LeeSo you were sitting in the grounds looking at the cottage to the right and to the left was the screen showing the.

JenniferOh my God, they're watching the film as they went.

LeeI'm guessing it's Withnail and.

AdamI was going to say is it Withnail by any chance.

LeeBye Danny if you're listening.

JenniferYeah, it's good fun.

LeeYeah, um, so yeah, have to check that out.

AdamBut the the film yeah, Chris, if you've not seen Withnail and I, it's hilarious.

LeeIt's one of those films that's so quotable and it's funny when you watch it because I didn't see it until later on in life and there were lots of the characters who kind of get mimicked in other stuff, you know, like with when you see classic horror films, you go, oh yeah, I'd never seen but yeah, you know the character because it gets mimicked so frequently.

ChrisThey they keep getting referenced, yeah.

LeeYeah, and you get that a lot from uh, from Withnail and I, so.

LeeScrubbers!

LeeUm.

LeeI love it.

LeeSo, um, yeah, uh, so this evening's main event.

AdamThat's why.

LeeI should never bro out Withnail and I.

JenniferSorry.

LeeGonna be holing here the quoting lines from it, it's fantastic.

JenniferSo The Innkeepers.

LeeYes, so we have covered The Innkeepers.

LeeUm, Ti West, as we mentioned earlier, is one of his earlier films as well.

LeeUm.

ChrisOh, I've not heard of him before, but you mentioned him, you know, in a way that suggests he's he's done a few.

LeeUh, I think the problem is he did House of the Devil and then he did this and I was totally blown away by by both of them and then the next film he did after this was an anthology movie, which I was like, could this get any better? Um, and I hate that film with every fiber of my being.

LeeUm.

AdamVHS.

LeeYes.

AdamBecause he also he also did I think he did at the same time he did one for ABCs of Death.

LeeYes, he did. Yes.

AdamYeah.

AdamAnd I, but.

AdamI found out, I I thought House of the Devil was his first film, but there's there were two before it.

LeeI have got The Roost on DVD and I've never got around to watching it.

AdamOh, because no, I'd be interested to see that myself because I think it it sounds like it could be good.

AdamFour friends marooned on a mysterious farm on route to a wedding are terrorized by various creatures and zombies.

LeeYeah, it was I think it was one of those I I think it I saw House of the Devil and had to immediately buy it.

LeeUm, but I don't know why I never got around to watching it.

LeeBut yeah, it's on the shelf, so uh, I might have to dig it out and give it a go.

AdamAnd and then after this, I mean he's done he's done a hell of a lot of TV.

LeeI noticed that he's doing like show like individual episodes on a lot of shows now like The Exorcist and things.

AdamYeah.

AdamA lot of it's sort of on brand and it like you say, it's like The Exorcist and South of Hell.

AdamApparently there's a Scream the TV series.

JenniferYeah.

LeeThere is a Scream the TV series, I think I watched the first episode.

LeeBut again, it's kind of, uh, yeah, I don't want to knock it because as we've as we say ad nauseam, it's great to get younger people into the into the fold and introduce them to horror, but it is aimed very much a sort of teen audience, so uh, yeah.

ChrisWouldn't you have said Scream was a bit as well?

JenniferYeah, Scream the films really were aimed, weren't they?

LeeUh, I don't know, I don't.

JenniferNo, we lined to.

AdamJust near the age.

ChrisYeah, yeah.

LeeYeah, it's true, yeah.

ChrisCause we were like 20s.

JenniferYeah.

LeeIt is true, yeah.

JenniferOh, shit, I keep forgetting now we've got.

LeeUm, so Chris, what did you make of The Innkeepers on your first watch?

ChrisWell, I I'm sure you know that I loved a lot about it, the style, I was drawn in straight away and I was glued to it.

ChrisAnd they executed it, you know, immaculately.

ChrisUm, and and yeah, I think I mentioned earlier to Adam that I thought he was thinking of The Shining and I suppose that's because it had, you know, some similarity being or at least a tell, yeah, and and that, you know, it's it's an old enough looking hotel.

LeeThe hotel.

ChrisIt's.

JenniferI think it's probably a 70s hotel that's never been up uprated is the idea perhaps.

LeeOh no, it's late.

LeeIt's late 18 late 1800s.

ChrisYeah, but it looks like it's been modernized but just that not that recently, so so it's a bit of a an uncanny Valley sort of a a look for me.

ChrisUm, so you know that that sets the scene really well.

ChrisUm.

ChrisAnd then the the cast were great, um, yeah, you know, that the sort of the interactions between the girl and Luke, I've forgotten her name.

LeeClare, okay.

JenniferEasy one to remember.

ChrisI don't I couldn't think it was a he said it or he must have done, but I remember her saying Luke quite a lot, but then I think that's because Star Wars, well, oh yeah, well that's true.

ChrisUm, but yeah, so so that was yeah, so much about it was was fantastic.

ChrisUm.

ChrisI'll say the bit that it turns out I struggle with now and then we can go back to all the great stuff.

JenniferOkay.

ChrisSo at the very end, I it turns out that I'm probably struggle with straight-forward ghost stories.

ChrisBecause it turns out you want a twist.

ChrisYeah, that must be it.

ChrisI I'm not sure exactly what it might be because, um, because I I always wanted ghosts to be real and they never were.

ChrisAnd so I was always disappointed whenever we went to try and find one, it's like, well, it hasn't turned up for me, turned up for all these other people that told me it was going to be here.

ChrisSo I I think that just stuck, you know, because we had the white lady at the top of our there was meant to be like, you know, a pond there and go up there and it's it's dark and.

JenniferYou went three times around it in the night and she would appear to you.

ChrisBut she appeared, she appeared for countless other people, it was guaranteed.

JenniferAllegedly, yes.

ChrisWell, well, I realized, you know, I realized that as I got older.

LeeYou're a bit like Luke with this, when she says, I for you to hear me before, now I didn't.

ChrisExactly, right.

ChrisSo that's why, you know, that was great, so many bits in it, you know, just the fact that he's sitting there, they're bored, just the whole build up, it was all well, it almost had a bit of a reality TV feel to it, at least to begin with.

LeeWith the pacing, yeah.

ChrisHigh production, yeah, it was just it was really seemed like yeah, okay, you know, I'm learning about them, this is their life, okay, that's great.

ChrisIt was totally involved in it, but yeah, it's just that.

ChrisAnd maybe if we watch more, I might get used to it.

ChrisBut there's just something.

ChrisAnd I would we had it with the um I suppose forgotten the name of that one, what was the what was the reality one that you all love?

LeeHell House LLC.

ChrisNo, no, um, no, it was the the news.

JenniferOh, Ghostwatch.

ChrisGhostwatch, yeah.

ChrisYeah, and and so I I guess it that might have been part of it that it's there must be something.

ChrisSo I think what we got to do, we need to watch more ghost ones and I'll see if I get used to it just being is a ghost.

ChrisUm.

ChrisWhereas yeah, I saw maybe it's even Scooby Doo, you know, there's always another explanation.

ChrisSomehow.

JenniferYou like the science.

LeeThat always always let me down though, I was always like, it didn't like and you know, I was I've been re-watching them recently.

LeeWell, I always got Well, I always got Yeah.

LeeYeah, I'm like 30 odd episodes in and I'm still every time like, oh.

JenniferIs it still wasn't the ghost.

LeeNo, it wasn't the.

JenniferIt's still the old man in the mask, is it a ghost?

AdamThis this is why I can't understand why there is there's a old uh, there's a detective called Carnacki, who's like from around the same sort of time as like the turn of the century, like sort of Sherlock Holmes and stuff like that.

AdamUm, and there are series of short stories, but they've switched between the two.

JenniferOh, yeah.

AdamSo you get like Scooby Doo ones and you get real hauntings.

JenniferSee that would be excellent.

AdamAnd that's so much better as well because you don't have that foregone conclusion.

AdamLike if you're if it's Sherlock Holmes, you know that he will solve it and it'll be rationalized.

AdamOr or yeah, or you get the other way of it, it's like you don't know how it's going to turn out.

ChrisYeah.

AdamUm, and I just I can't understand why that hasn't been adapted because I don't think there is, it's Carnacki the Ghostfinder.

AdamAnd it's it's not that it's not that it's not that many stories, I think there's like sort of 10 or so in all.

AdamBut.

ChrisSo it's interesting you say that because so like, you know, I love I love the stories, the ghost stories are great, you know, they're they're fascinating, they're exciting, but somehow when it's a film.

ChrisAnd they're still presenting it as if it's real, I don't know how that changes it, it's like when it's a story and you can talk about, look, this ghost existed here and you got the background to it, or it's great, but somehow it changes for me just slightly when it's a film and I feel like it should not stick with it being that as being the absolute answer, but that's just.

JenniferBut there is the absolute answer.

JenniferI didn't think at the end.

ChrisOh, go on.

JenniferWell there was the possibility, wasn't there, when he said I was banging on the door trying to get to her, so was it all in her head and the bad guy was the ghost?

ChrisOkay, so yeah, so I was absolutely going to yeah, come to that.

JenniferOkay, then let's get to it.

LeeUm, but what but what you I think that's the reason I loved this as much as I did from the very first time I saw it.

LeeUm.

LeeI think like you said, Chris, like Luke and Claire are such lovable, believable characters.

LeeI said to you.

JenniferOr that lovable.

LeeOh, I thought they were like he's a bit.

ChrisThey they played the characters, you know, I think perfectly, yeah.

ChrisAnd yeah, you know, like.

LeeI was like, I'd love to work with them too, they're literally just been my dream, working with an and it was just they were just hilarious and just yeah.

AdamI think I think it's also good that I think it's good that the timing of this because this is 2011, I'm I'm rather glad because, you know, it's very the way they do their relationship where clearly uh Luke has, you know, he's got he's got a thing for her.

ChrisYeah.

AdamAnd she's not aware of it and they're just mates, but I think it is played very nicely in it, whereas I think now they I think they may have even upped it where it'd make him more a bit of a creep because he's into her.

ChrisYeah.

AdamBut he's not hitting on her at any point, that that doesn't come into it.

ChrisNo, I was expecting that to happen.

AdamBut yeah, I don't I think so it can just be and you do like them.

ChrisYeah.

AdamRather than if it was like, oh you know, he's a bit, oh he's a bit savable, fuck him.

ChrisAnd not think you.

AdamOh he gets oh he gets ghosted.

AdamHe's a good ghost in him.

AdamSo I think it is nice that it comes just before a period where it would be like, well we're going to frown upon this and uh, yeah, so yeah, I think we'll make him a bit creepy.

ChrisThat's why I think yeah, the execution, the whole thing was just so well done.

LeeI love the chapter cards as well, that's something you don't see very often in films like that where they've broken it into the the three acts.

ChrisYeah.

LeeYeah, and I really like that.

AdamDonker did that, didn't it, I can't remember.

LeeDonker did do that, I believe, yeah.

AdamYeah, and we I don't think we mentioned it then and that was like you say, it's quite it's a it's quite an old-fashioned sort of thing, but it really yeah, it's uh unusual to see it now.

ChrisBut when done well, yeah, works.

LeeYeah.

AdamAgain is that is that the sort of thing where it's like it's an old building, so we're harking back to an old time.

LeeOh yeah, cuz.

LeeThe credits were all the the old pictures from the, the Yankee Pedler, obviously, is a is a real place.

AdamYes.

LeeSo.

ChrisIs it, yeah.

AdamIt's it's a real place and they filmed it there.

ChrisOh, nice.

LeeSo.

ChrisYeah, yeah, that that adds a little extra to it as well.

AdamWell, also it is meant to be haunted.

JenniferAh.

ChrisOkay.

AdamSo it's the full works.

ChrisYeah, yeah, fair enough.

JenniferWhere is it?

LeeI think it's Pittsburgh, I believe.

AdamIt's in Connecticut.

LeeOh Connecticut, sorry.

AdamYeah, Torrington, Connecticut, um, first opened as the Connelly Hotel in July 1891.

JenniferWow.

AdamUh by Frank and Alice Connelly and they died in 1910 when their knee sorry, their niece took over when they died, not because they died, you know.

JenniferNo, not yeah.

AdamUm, and then a couple of years later she sold it on, uh, in 1940 they added a a restaurant in there called the Yankee Pedler and then the hotel was renamed that in 1956.

JenniferOh.

AdamAnd then it's been through various hands over and over again, it seems to be sort of like quite a bit of a revolving door of people and then, uh, closed for renovation in December 2015 and it hasn't opened since.

JenniferOh.

AdamAnd it's probably not going to basically.

JenniferOh, no.

AdamBecause yeah, it was I think they ran out of funds refurbing it and then it was just no one wanted to buy it because it was then they'd have to put so much more money in.

AdamUm.

AdamBut apparently yeah, the the list of the hauntings is uh room 353 where Alice Connelly is rumored to have died, subject to strange smells and apparitions, her spirit is said to roam the hallways courteously checking in on guests.

JenniferOh, that's nice, that's a nice ghost.

AdamYeah, Room 295 also noted for weird smells.

AdamI think the place stinks.

JenniferThat's why it shut down, isn't it?

AdamThat's what they were renovating, trying to get the smell out.

JenniferGet the damp out.

AdamYeah.

AdamUh invisible forces getting into bed with the residents, a gray-haired man in a black suit who could be Frank Connelly.

JenniferWell.

Adamcan be seen using the phone in the barn, that sounds a bit far-fetched.

Adamnot unlike any of the rest of it, obviously.

AdamAlice's rocking chair in the lobby is said to move on its own, you know, they put the rocking chair in the lobby.

LeeOh that the rocking chair.

AdamAnd presumably quite easily set up a mechanism of some sort.

AdamUh, visitors and guests have reported the standard lights going on and off, doors opening and closing, being pushed or moved by invisible forces as well as bad dreams.

JenniferHuh.

AdamTi West stayed there when he was making House of the Devil and he was talking to the staff that he got all the stories of the place.

AdamAnd then yeah, so they filmed it in the real Yankee Pedler Inn over 17 days and they all lived in the hotel.

LeeWow.

AdamThat's amazing.

AdamThere's like 50 old rooms, so they all just stayed in the hotel while they were filming, so they just rolled into work.

JenniferYeah, nice.

ChrisSee that like that adds a lot to it for me, that, you know, that if anything removes some of of it, like if if he just made it up.

JenniferHmm.

AdamYeah.

ChrisYou know, then it seems like, well, all right, maybe change it somehow, perhaps, but yeah, no, if he if he really has just yeah, based it on all of that, that's right.

JenniferAnd he even for that all at the end, did he, you know, before, you know, these are basically.

ChrisYes, no.

AdamWell, I mean, really, cuz I mean, it's the only ghost they say about in this is the hanged woman and that's not something that's in, you know, they don't have any suicides or anything.

AdamI mean, it'd be a shy ghost story if it was just, oh, this woman came in and said, you stay all right, and you went, yeah, and she went, lovely, and then went.

JenniferAh.

AdamAnd suddenly you forget.

AdamYeah, nothing.

AdamAll right, my love.

AdamGood, okay, thank you.

AdamIt's just I it's not selling me anyway, I don't.

LeeNo.

LeeYeah, but it's just I I think the shots and things were creepy as well.

LeeA lot of it was um, I realized this time rewatching it, um, there was quite a lot of camera movement and stuff which made it feel uh, more like you were more like you were there, I think.

LeeLike not found footage, but yeah, it just felt more, I don't know.

AdamYeah.

LeeReal, like real.

AdamI I suppose I suppose the thing is they are filming in just genuine rooms and stuff.

LeeThey probably very limited on space.

AdamIt's that claustrophobia you're probably coming out in it.

JenniferAre they just shaking the camera because they can't fit in the room?

AdamIs that.

LeeYeah, out, yeah.

AdamStand still, you're your arm out me.

LeeBollocks.

AdamAnd they're really heavy.

JenniferHmm.

LeeUh yeah, it's a lot of shots in this, there was lots that there was lots of strange angles.

LeeI love the like the shot down the staircase as she was coming up, um, and stuff like some of the shots, yeah, were just really nicely like really strangely framed, they were shot in a really odd angle.

LeeWhich yeah, I think helped the kind of just made it feel slightly uneasy because everything.

JenniferThat said, that uncanny Valley sort of feel.

LeeExactly, yeah, why are we seeing it from this strange.

LeeYou know, like there was uh lots of shot so at the shots, as you say, when she was in the bedroom, uh when she goes in and lays down the first time, all those shots are from right up in that very top corner.

LeeAnd as you say, that probably is a space.

JenniferHe might have planned it.

LeeYou know, benefit of the doubt.

AdamI think I think it's that I think it's that thing of like necessity actually creates a nice inventive look to the thing.

AdamAnd also it is like you say it's uncanny Valley everything.

AdamYou're like, why is this slightly wrong, it's not chilling or anything else like that, it's just like what's up with that.

LeeYeah.

AdamIt's just, you know, everything's just not quite right.

LeeYeah.

LeeUm, yeah, and I love the um, the idea of the woman as well who uh, she recognized like the celebrity staying there and then it turns out that.

JenniferThat's kind of fun, wasn't it, sort of added a little bit of oh excitement and yeah, yeah.

LeeAnd again, those interactions were quite kind of realistic as well, which she was very keen to speak to her and then realized she didn't really have anything to say of any value and it all got very awkward and yeah.

ChrisAlso I quite like the way that developed later on when she admitted, yeah, I'm just not a very nice person, really.

ChrisBut I'm willing to, you know, help you a bit here.

ChrisYeah, sort of I yeah, they it was enough of a character development to keep it interesting.

ChrisBecause obviously there weren't many characters, isn't it, in total.

LeeNo.

AdamI said, really, there's what, five people, five speaking parts, maybe.

LeeYeah, yeah, there aren't many, are there?

AdamNo.

LeeUm, yeah, it's funny Lena Dunham being in it as well, who's obviously gone on to massive things just playing that little small part where she.

AdamShe plays the barista, yeah, in the coffee place.

JenniferWell, yeah.

LeeOh.

ChrisShe annoying barista.

LeeYeah.

LeeIt's funny, I hadn't put two and two together before, but yeah, the fact that she goes in there, orders her coffee, the woman starts talking at her and then when she gets back, she says, oh yeah, they ran out.

JenniferYeah.

JenniferAnd Jennifer's like, she literally just got bored of listening to her.

JenniferAnd walked away.

LeeEven take.

JenniferWho does that?

JenniferBut it adds that element of almost realism or almost just sort of thinking about that.

JenniferI'm like, that's so rude, like she surely she works in this street all the time and she's got to see this girl.

LeeIt's the last day, why did she do it?

JenniferWell, I know, I was horrified by that.

AdamI think I think that's where it is.

AdamI think that was that was something I got because obviously it's my first watch on it.

LeeOh, was it really?

AdamYeah, I think yeah.

LeeOh, sorry.

LeeI didn't realize that.

JenniferYou had the DVD, we thought you'd.

AdamNo, I had the DVD because I bought the DVD of House of the Devil and by the time I bought the DVD of House of the Devil, The Innkeepers had come out, so I thought, well, they're both they're both on sale, so I got them both.

AdamUh, I've watched House of the Devil.

AdamI haven't watched The Innkeepers.

AdamAnd then and then it got it got left at home when I moved in with Clare, uh, because it was like in a different part or whatever like that and just didn't come with.

AdamAnd, um.

LeeIt's not on bloody Netflix.

AdamIt's not bloody Netflix, nah.

AdamAnd, um, but it was, uh, I think really, cuz obviously, I watched now having watched it, it's like the first, well, basically the first hour and 10 minutes, it's a film that and again, I'm really shocked that this film wasn't bigger, but again, I think that the possible reason I think you might find it disturbing, Jennifer, is the same reason why maybe it wasn't.

AdamAnd you get it's weird cuz all I'd ever heard of it was lots of people saying, well, a few people saying it was boring because it but there was always like nothing happens for ages, so I was like, right, I'll like this film then, what you mean is, what you mean is slow burn and you're impatient.

AdamUm, so there was that, there was that element to it.

AdamThere was a lot of people just saying, oh, it's like the scariest damn thing I've ever seen.

AdamAnd then there was a few where they were like, yeah, misguided comedy and I'm like, so how is it the scariest film or some people have just thought it's a comedy.

AdamAnd now having watched it, I understand.

JenniferYeah.

AdamBecause and I I think bear with me, I think I might have even possibly found the root of Jennifer's unease with it.

LeeOh, good.

LeeOh yeah, sorry. I apologize, my fault, we we meant to just say what we were covering next and we've done 15 minutes.

JenniferThis was years ago, by the way.

JenniferI was very young.

LeeIt was about three years ago.

LeeYeah, exactly.

AdamYeah.

AdamUm.

AdamAnd I think that's the thing actually.

AdamI mean, obviously I know it's the film he's most well known for.

AdamBut I didn't realize that was actually 1960.

JenniferYeah, I just saw the date of that at the top.

Jennifer48.

LeeIt doesn't feel that old, you know, it feels in.

JenniferWhat?

LeeUh let me check for you.

LeeUh North by Northwest.

LeeI can't remember.

LeeAh let me check for you.

LeeUh let me check for you.

LeeAh let me check for you.

The Innkeepers

About

Cast

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The Innkeepers

About

Cast

Transcript

Ep 167 Least Haunted

Xmas Bonus 1 Crooked House

Bonus Ep Casting Kill

Listen anywhere you get podcasts