{The Innkeepers opens at the Grand Illusion Cinema on Friday, February 3rd. It is also available through video on demand}

The Innkeepers is likely to be seen as a breath of fresh air by fans of scary ghost stories. Benefiting from a throwback vibe and deeper character construction than one has been trained to expect from a horror flick, it's a hard to turn away from package. I cared about what happened to the characters as the cranking suspense gave me a serious case of the creeps. It's a fun ride, even if the final wrap up was a bit under whelming. Though that probably says a lot more about how strong the first half was than anything else.

If the ending had fully delivered on my early-stage tension, I might not be in a condition to commit my thoughts to page. Director Ti West pulls strong performances out of his three main characters, Sara Paxton and Pat Healy as the innkeepers in question - and the hotel it takes place in. The Yankee Pedlar Inn plays itself, albeit I expect more evil, variation (sort of like NPH in the Harold and Kumar movies), with more brides who took their life on their wedding night and now haunt the space for eternity.

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It's ALL HAPPENING!

To complement their Can't Look Away: The Lure of Horror Film exhibit, the EMP has put together a special event of splatterrific proportions - a screening of my favorite Eli Roth film, Cabin Fever, complete with a Q&A involving the lead, Rider Strong (I guess some of y'all worshipped the guy with teen idol fanaticism when he was on Boy Meets World - a show which I actually never watched, but I admit: he is kinda dreamy!) on Friday, February 3.

Anyway! Cabin Fever is full of awesome icky goodness involving a bunch of college friends who hole up in a woodsy cabin, run into a dying guy who's bleeding out of every orifice, and end up contracting a vicious flesh-eating disease. EWWWWWW. The amount of blood, guts, and gore is extremely impressive, and I heart the crap out of the humor in this thing. Tickets are only $10 ($7 for EMP members), and it probably goes without saying, but this R film is not for the kiddos!

Buy your tix now!!! The JBL Theater is an excellent venue for drooling over appreciating guest speakers up close and personal.

Cabin Fever Screening and Q&A with Rider Strong
EMP JBL Theater, 325 5th Ave N
Friday, February 3, doors @7:30pm, film @8pm
Tickets: $10 ($7 EMP Members)

Not literally, of course. BUT! You guys. I have been to the EMP's new Can't Look Away: The Lure of Horror Film exhibit twice in the past 4 days and I think I'm in love. 

The ax from The Shining! Masks from An American Werewolf in London! A full-size Alien! Actual pages from Bram Stoker's Dracula! Guillermo del Toro's illustrated journal! Freddy's glove! Jason's mask! GROSS stuff from Hostel & Hostel 2! Tons of interview footage! A scream booth! Crazy shadow creature-making special F/X! An f'ing CRITTER!!! 

*whew* ok, okay, Amie. Remember to breathe. 

But seriously, like everything at the EMP, this exhibit is totally amazeballs. They blew this thing out with enough detail to keep both casual horror fans and diehard genre buffs happy, happy, and more happy. 

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So I pulled up this press release today intending to write about The Return of Slashacre and how awesome I think it's going to be when I zeroed in on this flier's photo of Andras Jones and made a HOLYSHIT discovery: I met this guy at a friend's birthday party last week, totally thinking to myself that he looked really familiar the whole time, and now (inside my head, thankfully) I'm like; "Omgoomgomgomg OMG that guy is Rick, the martial arts boyfriend in Nightmare in Elm Street 4: The Dream Master!!!!" It's probably a good thing I didn't realize this while talking to him, or my Elm street fangirl mode would have kicked in and the guy would have thought I was a complete idiot, droning on about Freddy and dream powers and how did you wield those weapons so expertly anyway?* Not that Renny Harlin's entry in the series is some kind of masterpiece, but it's still ridiculous enough to be highly entertaining.

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