Making a horror movie that relies almost exclusively on atmospherics
is tricky. After a point, the audience starts expecting some meat, be
it sundered bodies, chewing zombies, tortured pretty girls, the
obliteration of whole cities… whatever. This film mostly foregoes
fake blood and cheap scares, concentrating instead on its two quirky
leads as they work the front desk of a “haunted” hotel during its
final weekend in business. Luke, played by Pat Healy, at first seems
to be the one most committed to exploring the hotel's history of
otherworldly manifestations. But it is Claire, played by Sara Paxton,
who confronts the truth. Paxton is a B-movie staple who never manages
to impress; still, her (platonic) relationship with Healy is made
amusing by liberal doses of humor throughout. Healy — who has a
future role as Christian Gerhartsreiter, should Lifetime or some such
ever do a film on the “Clark Rockefeller” murder case — is nicely
offbeat. But this flick never really goes anywhere and the climax is a
yawn. — Jeff Schultz