Well, 4th of July week. We gathered together for movie night delirious with the exhilarating thought of no work the next day and settled on the couch with the glorious knowledge that there was no alarm clock ticking like a bomb in our future that night… For the blissful moment of peace wherein we reveled in our “no work for a day; the alarm will stay off” temporary future, we thanked you George, Thomas, Ben, John, Patrick, and all our other brave forefathers who fought against tyranny, injustice, increased taxes, and oppression. Oh yeah, and for our freedom and this country and stuff….
Movie 1: The Innkeepers (2011, with Sara Paxton, Kelly McGillis)
You would think we’d celebrate the birth of our nation with some patriotic movies or some military pieces….No. We celebrated the birth of our nation with ghost stories and haunted houses! We started with The Innkeepers. A fairly recent movie that none of us had heard of but seemed promising. An old hotel called the Yankee Pedlar Inn was closing after one final weekend. The two young caretakers deciding to use the almost empty hotel to do some paranormal research into the haunting story of a Madeleine O’Malley….a poor tortured soul who hung herself on her wedding day and was hidden in the cellar by the hotel owners back in 1890. The movie was divided into 3 “chapters”, 4 if you count the “epilogue”. It was kind of neat, actually. They did a screen that looked like those old silent films with the fancy scroll to announce each chapter: “The Long Weekend”; “A Final Guest”; etc. The first act was great—good development of characters and introduction of the Madeleine story. Then, it sort of went downhill…. The second act/chapter really dragged. By the third act/chapter, we had checked out. We just didn’t care what happened really.
We all agreed that the acting was great. We really liked the characters. I get the impression we were all sitting there thinking what every 14 year-old-boy thinks when he’s making out with a nervous girlfriend… “This is good, but when am I gonna get some action??? I mean, is this it? Is this all there is? Really?” This movie was all build-up with no real climax. They spent so long holding a still shot that is meant to scare you into a “jump” when the paranormal activity started, that by the time something happened… we weren’t scared at all and started to get bored. So much potential here…. And it was just wasted.
Ratings: We all gave it 2 stars—and that was being generous. We gave it 2 because we felt bad for the actors, who had done really well.
One good line: “It’s, like, a moral imperative.” Said by the young maid about capturing paranormal activity on film/tape.
Movie 2: The Changeling (1979, with George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere)
NOW THIS IS A MOVIE ABOUT A HAUNTING!!!! None of us had seen this movie before, and we all loved it. For this movie to be 33 years old, the effects still hold up! I’m not going to talk plot because I HIGHLY recommend watching this, and I don’t want to give ANYTHING away. Great feature points: awesome, haunted house outside Seattle; horrifying moments (for more than one reason); George C. Scott’s performance—I’ve always liked him, but he was fabulous!; family secrets; grieving for lost children; gorgeous cinematography. It really is a must-see. I actually want to own this myself now.
Ratings: Jason gave this 4 stars; Kathy and I give it 4.5. We all really, really enjoyed this one.
Favorite moments:
1) We were so engrossed in the movie, which was at a very spooky and suspenseful moment, at the same time there was a loud, sharp knock on Jason’s door—we all 3 jumped and gasped/exclaimed. We were scared by the Jet’s Pizza delivery boy. It took us a good 2-3 minutes to get composed and answer the door; we were that shaken. We had gotten so engrossed in the movie, we mostly forgot pizza was on its way.
2) There are some gorgeous shots of the woods/forests surrounding Seattle and the outskirts where the haunted mansion is. Jason was saying he didn’t remember it being that green, and wondering if they had actually shot the movie there on location. To which I leaned over and replied very authoritatively: “Oh yeah, the entire Pacific Northwest is totally green and wooded. I’ve watched all the Twilight movies.”
**Note for this movie: We could not get it on Netflix or Amazon streaming... Netflix may have it on actual DVD. If you live in the Greenville area, you can rent it where we found it: East Coast Music & Video on Cotanche/Charles. Outside the Greenville area, look in your independent video stores.
God Bless the USA! Land of freedom, bravery, opportunity, pizza delivery and scary movies!
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