The Innkeepers is a mumble core film at its heart with ambitions towards horror as a metaphor. Ghosts appear to be a metaphor for a life without purpose or direction, and the person is trapped by routine, drudgery and lack of ambition. Either you will hate it or love it. I ended up loving it because the dynamic between the two employees felt real. They had the camaraderie born of countless hours spent in close proximity doing a dead end job. The main character, Claire, feels like a real person albeit one who is extremely clumsy, has no idea what professionalism even means, but is a fundamentally likable human being-casual, clueless and always has your back. Claire has decided to help her coworker with his investigation into the paranormal history of the inn. The Innkeepers feels real until spooky things start happening then you wonder if it is really happening in the movie universe or a figment of the imagination of two bored soon to be unemployed people. When The Innkeepers finally answers that question, I couldn’t believe where it landed, and because the answer affected my mood, I would have to say that the film succeeded; however I understand why people may be less than satisfied because it takes some truly stupid moves to get there. The Innkeepers distinguishes itself from its hacky counterparts by effectively using POV audio to convey Claire’s experience. The Innkeepers succeeds in character development and audio, but may need to work on its narrative. In addition, I rewatched the final scene several times and did NOT see what everyone else who watched it in the movie theaters saw so the filmmakers will need to work on improving their product visually and anticipate what the film will look like on smaller screens.