The Innkeepers: old school horror with new school sensibility.

House Of the Devil was one of the most impressive horror debuts of recent times, director Ti West crafting a finely tuned love letter to the genres 70s heyday, so it's wonderful to see that his second feature proves that HOD was no fluke. The Innkeepers is an old fashioned ghost story presented by a tactician gifted enough to breath new life into genre staples, it's also utterly terrifying.

West's brand of horror is all about cranking tension to almost unbearable levels, eschewing effects driven extravagance in favour of sheer filmmaking skill, he engineers his scares with the precision of a maverick.

He also understands that holding back is the best way to guarantee maximum levels of fear, just as HOD was an exercise in restraint, The Innkeepers promises so much but doesn't give up the goods until your nerves are good and frayed. It helps that everything from shot composition (all wide angles and cluttered mise en scene, built to confuse and misdirect) to fiendish sound design is employed to plant you firmly on the edge and keep you there, it is a truly special kind of scary movie that has you viewing the closing of a door through trembling fingers.

The other prime ingredient is character. There is a naturalism to the dialogue and performances that is key in making us care for Claire and Luke; trouble taking out the garbage, conversations about cheap sandwich bread and ruminations on wasted youth cause us to become enamoured with the titular hotel workers, making it all the more effective when they are scared out of their wits. Kelly Mcgillis' does the best she can with her world weary retired actress role but it's the central pair that impress the most, particularly Sara Paxton as the goofy antithesis of horror's scream queen archetype.

Gore hounds will balk at West's slow burn execution, but impressionable viewers looking to be scared senseless and haunted by nightmares for weeks to come, need to seek out The Innkeepers. I wait with baited breath for Ti West's next film.