Excellent adaptation.

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

This one reminded me of those old TV Movie of the Week thrillers. Quirky and somewhat flat until the final sequence followed by an ending that misses the mark. Claire was cute and likable. The main guy was more creepy than funny. Maverick's girlfriend was underused. Worth a watch if you like jumpy ghost stories.

If you're looking for an actual horror movie, this isn't it. Unless of course, you fast forward through the first hour and twenty minutes. The "horror" doesn't last very long in this movie. The initial 80 minutes is spent in what if's and supposes. The owner is off in the islands and will return at the end of the week. Which makes no sense since the place is closing permanently at that time. The owner should be on hand to make sure everything is going according to plan. Claire and Luke are the only employees remaining at the inn, which is a week from closing. Yet, neither of them are doing anything to prepare for the closing. They spend most of their time sitting at the front desk whining about their lives. It gets to the point, you want something to happen just to shut them up. The four final guests are nothing special. A woman and her son are staying there while the woman contemplates divorcing her louse of a husband. Kelly McGillis (whom I feel is only in this movie as a recognizable name)is Leanne Rease-Jones, who is an actress turned mystic in town for a conference. She carries a pentacle she claims connects her to spirits. Yet, you never actually see any flashes of these spirits, just inaudible whispers and her making faces whenever they "speak" to her. She keeps referring to "They", yet who "They" are is never explained. When the old man arrives, things finally pick up pace. Not much pace, but enough for one good scare at the end. Giving it a 4 because I am feeling generous.

Like House of the Devil, Ti West's this new spook-fest takes its time to build up the characters & suspense. The story is pretty simple set in a beautiful premise...an old, haunted hotel. The shock factors is kinda low in here which may not satisfy some viewers and with white & fade eyes the main ghost looks kinda silly sometime. But the thing is it's a straight forward ghost story and what really interesting is how nicely Mr. West still managed to deliver an effective spooky tale through the doors, rooms & passageways of Yankee Pedlar Inn. Mr. West shows his craftsmanship as a promising director for genre films another time here by efficiently handling two major technical aspects in the film...the direction and the background scores & sound. The neat camera works & sound mixing beautifully created & maintained an unease & eerie atmosphere in every corner of the Inn (somewhat like The Shinning) throughout the film and that's the main strength of the film, IMO.

There is one thing that this movie will guarantee, "You may fall asleep halfway through with boredom and waiting for something to happen". It doesn't until the end when such a mundane existence leads to a slight mental breakdown, and that's it. The whole movie consists of just two slackers telling ghost stories to relieve their boredom, and there are an odd couple of creepy old people thrown in a pathetic attempt to revive interest. Yawn :( The moral of this movie is 'idle hands are the devil's workshop'. In other words, it's a tale of what results from idle boredom. For some bizarre reason someone assigned this garbage to the 'horror' genre. If it must be accredited to any genre, then just throw it into suspense, since you spend most of the movie waiting.