Snidely Enjoying The Innkeepers and On the Inside

The Inkeepers (2011):  Immaculately creepy haunted inn story that revels in the scare. A little more character development than average, with a rapport between the snide slacker main characters that nestles the scary ghost shit neatly between their most earnest flaws. 

Also props to writer/director Ti West for adding to my "Sara Paxton can't breathe" collage.  

Alternate movie title: The Ghost Who Stole Everyone's Towels.

Side Note: Why are ghosts these days always so corps-y? I'm going to start a kickstarter project to raise money for ghosts to become certified in ghost first aid. (Bonus: first aid could lead to ghost sex, which the religious right is bound to find immoral.)



On the Inside (2011): I was sucked in by the cast, as I often am when it comes to technically and emotionally unremarkable movies. However, On the Inside did give me Nick Stahl just as I like him: a haunted, somewhat grotesque manchild.

He's just a pro at that.

Olivia Wilde also had a chance to shine as brightly as possible in a role that could have been about a thousand times more interesting or realistic. As with Wilde's character, the institution staff is not quite generic but still uninteresting--everything but the lone journey of Stahl's character seems to be written in a sort of shorthand void of complexity. The main characters, mostly inmates at a mixed security institution, are either psychos or victims (guess which one Wilde gets to play!). If the film has any point at all, it is to illuminate the nuances between maniacs.

And, apparently, to have Olivia Wilde looking good while getting assaulted.

Of course Stahl wins over the lovely Wilde, pretty much over the course of one evening. He does so by acting incredibly standoffish, and then occasionally acting very slightly less standoffish. Then he stops someone from raping her (after, you know, thinking about it for a few minutes), and then he bleeds out and dies. Not the greatest movie, but it is the ultimate first date with Nick Stahl.